Talk Sweetly to Me - Review

Talk Sweetly to Me by Courtney Milan
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: NetGalley

Description:  Rose Sweetly has spent most of her life trying to stay below the radar.  A brilliant mathematician in her own right she works with a renowned astronomer as his computer.  All is going well until advice columnist and well known ladies' man Stephen Shaughnessy moves in next door.

Genre: Romance

Why I Picked This Book:  I've been told to read Courtney Milan so often it's basically reflex it request her books.  I decided it was time to read one and a novella was a good place to start.

My Impression:
Pros: Rose was a really wonderful character.  While she is incredibly gifted at math it never felt like a gimmick that the author inserted into the book. It felt like that was who Rose genuinely was.  I was impressed by how much we got to know Rose, her sister and even her sister's husband who wasn't present during the book.  This is the first historical romance I've read where there was any kind of racial issue.  Once again, Milan wove this into the book without it feeling artificial or preachy.  The romance itself was very sweet in a lot of ways and nice to read. Novellas generally suffer from their length by making it confusing or difficult to understand who is who or why they know each other.  Milan manages to give a very clear picture in only a few sentences so I knew who Rose was, I knew who Stephen was and I knew why they knew each other without taking to much time to explain this.  While this is part of a series it was completely stand alone.  This novella really left me wanting to know more of the characters and looking forward to reading a full length book from Milan.

Cons:  Rose struck me as almost childlike in the first part of the novella which made her flirtation with the older more experienced Stephen seem a little jarring.  While the characters themselves were remarkably developed it did suffer a lack of emotional depth but this was due mostly to the length.  A minor complaint but the pun Stephen makes with Rose's last name annoyed me a bit.

Overall:  I was impressed with how real the characters seemed in only a short book.  Despite the shallowness the story I enjoyed this read.  If this is what Milan can do with a novella I look forward to seeing what she can do with a full length book.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?:  Absolutely!

Would I Recommend this Book?:  Yes!  I think any historical romance fan would enjoy this.