Review: Sugar on Top by Marina Adair

She's sassy and sweet
The last thing Glory Mann wants is to become chairman of the Miss Peach Pageant in Sugar, Georgia. Spending months hearing nothing but the clinking of pearls and judgment? No thank you! But when Glory is forced to take the rap for a scandal she didn't commit, the judge sentences her to head the committee. Even worse, her co-chairman is rugged, ripped . . . and barely knows she's alive.

He's ready and willing
Single dad Cal McGraw can't take any more drama in his life. After a difficult divorce, his little girl became a boy-crazy teenager and his hands are full. The last thing he needs is to spend his down time with the town bad girl. Glory is pure trouble—tempting and tantalizing trouble. But he can't deny the strong chemistry between them-or how her touch turns him inside out. Now as squabbles threaten to blow up the contest and the town of Sugar itself, Cal must risk everything on the sexy wild card to get a second chance at love . . .

Cal has spent his life since the death of his parents taking care of everyone:  his brothers, his grandmother, his wife (now ex-wife), their child.  When Glory, with what can only be described as her perpetual bad luck, practically falls into his lap, he sees another person he can help, despite willing himself to stay far, far away from her. 

Glory is not a popular woman in Sugar, though she's determined to turn her life around for the better regardless of what the townspeople think.  She's thankful for Cal's help -- and his interest --  but she's quite capable of handling her own problems, thank you very much.

 With Sugar on Top, we revisit Sugar, Georgia, the small town introduced in Ms. Adair's book, Sugar's Twice as Sweet.  While things tend to be a little over-the-top in small-town romances, I thought Glory and Cal were a delight as a couple.  I believed in their chemistry a little more than Josie's and Brett's, and I may have liked their pairing a little more.  They did have a MISUNDERSTANDING regarding Cal's daughter, Payton, though they were able to get to the bottom of the matter and straighten it out quickly. 

I'm glad to see Charlotte will be featured in Book 3, A Taste of Sugar, and I do hope Sheriff Jackson Duncan and Lavender Spencer will progress their mutual attraction past trading jabs and barbs at each other. 

(A very special thank you to Forever Romance, Hachette Book Group, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Sugar on Top.)