Don’t you just hate plot problems? They kill an otherwise enjoyable book. Everytime I thought I was going to be able to enjoy Kit Garland’s Sweeter Than Sin, I’d be hit by a problem in the plot or with the characters that I just couldn’t get past.

Kate was taken in by the Remington family as a child, and ever since she could remember she has loved Charles Remington – the oldest of her adopted brothers. They share a love of fiction and adventure, and when Kate was sixteen, all her hopes for the future are ruined when Charles announces his engagement to another woman. Innocent Kate receives a note telling her to come outside and is seduced by her other adopted brother, Jude. Ashamed, she runs away. I guess I can’t blame her. I’d feel pretty lousy if I had yearnings for one of my “brothers” and then slept with the other. This incestuous beginning got the book off on the wrong foot.

Six years later, Charles, having called off his engagement because of his feelings for Kate, finds her by accident. She is writing for a Denver newspaper under the name of one of the characters they created. When he finally puts together the pieces of the puzzle as to why Kate fled, he goes after her, and discovers that she has not only had his brother’s child, but that she is a widow, and in danger.

Their reunion is a touching one, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that Kate is still only twenty-two years old. It just didn’t seem believable that a gently bred sixteen year old girl would run away from home because of one indiscretion. I thought she would have at least waited until she found out she was indeed pregnant. Also, around the same time Kate is reunited with Charles, she discovers that her paper has been given a large loan – enough to set her back on her feet. Even when Charles admits to having met her lawyer, she doesn’t immediately put two and two together when it should be obvious. When the thought finally does cross her mind, it is fleeting and easily swept aside by Charles. I had to shake my head. And am I to believe that Charles canceled his engagement because of a sixteen year old girl he had seen for a matter of hours out of a six month period? I’m not saying these things are completely unbelievable, but they weren’t suitably supported in the book for me to accept them.

There are some good elements to this book, but I just couldn’t get into the characters. Charles claims he broke his engagement because of Kate – a sixteen year old girl he hadn’t seen in months? Then he marches back into her life after six years and expects her to accept it and let him in? Kate, who for all appearances is very capable of taking care of herself and is very intelligent, suddenly seems very weak, allowing Charles to dictate to her like a child. One minute she’s strong and capable and the next she’s sobbing in his arms – while he becomes aroused.

The sexual encounters in this book don’t quite live up to the passion these two have supposedly felt for each other over the past six years. There is plenty of lusty thinking going on, but there seems to be little tension between them, and most it comes from Charles, who seems to sprout an erection at the drop of a hat.

All in all, the characters and the plot devices used by the author cancel out what few promising elements there are in this book. There were just too many holes in the story, and I just couldn’t bring myself to like the characters. Even Kate’s son Walter annoyed me, and he was just a kid. Avid fans of western romance might be more accepting of this book. The men are tough and rugged and Charles is no exception. If you like arrogant, completely alpha heroes, then you might enjoy Charles. I, however, soon get tired of all the arousal, jaw clenching and commanding without any resistance on the heroine’s part. Sweeter Than Sin did next to nothing in satisfying my romantic sweet tooth.