M.J. Pullen

4.5 stars.

Fast-paced with a wonderful cast of characters, The Marriage Pact by M.J. Pullen is an engaging novel about friendship and love.

Marci Thompson has made a career of temp work, but her latest job has lasted much longer than her previous gigs. The other big difference on this job is her six month relationship with her married boss, Doug Stanton. Their romance is exciting and passionate but being "the other woman" is beginning to wear thin. However, Marci continues to remain hopeful Doug will finally leave his wife and fully commit to her. When her thirtieth birthday rolls around, her college friend Jake Stillwell reminds her of the pact they signed ten years earlier that if neither was married by their thirtieth birthday, they would marry each other. Marci has always loved Jake, but she is also heavily invested in her illicit romance with Doug which makes it very difficult for her to know which man she should choose.

Despite being a bit self-absorbed, Marci is a likable and mostly sympathetic character. She is ashamed of her affair and despite knowing she should end their relationship, she lacks the willpower to make a clean break from him. She has a long history of avoiding conflict and her knee-jerk reaction when things go wrong is to run away. A snap decision brings positive changes for her life, but it is not until she is on the verge of losing what she holds most dear that Marci reflects on what she truly wants.

The supporting cast of characters is well-developed and for the most part, likable. Suzanne is Marci's best friend and she provides her with unconditional support. Jake is very sweet and just like Suzanne, he is willing to drop everything to help Marci when she needs assistance. Rebecca is the least appealing of the friends since she is more concerned with pursuing her own agenda than supporting Marci when everything begins to fall apart.

The Marriage Pact by M.J. Pullen is a charming novel with a realistic storyline. The characters are multi-faceted with true to life flaws and imperfections. An entertaining read that will leave readers eagerly anticipating the next installment in The Marriage Pact series.… (mais)

Sugar Street by M.J. Pullen
Book #1: Sugar Street Series
Source: NetGalley
My Rating: 4/5 stars

The ladies of Sugar Mills are no joke and when they set their minds towards a course of action, there isn’t going to be any stopping them. Jess, Delia, Carras, and Maizy are a force to be reckoned with, especially when their collective backs are up against the wall and their happyish lives are being threatened.

In the beginning, the plan was simple. All four women, involved in long-term, committed relationships were simply looking to reignite the flame of passion in their partners by inspiring just the tiniest bit of jealousy. If their husbands could see another man interested in their wives, maybe the heat, the passion, the recklessness, the spontaneity of days long would past, would find their way back into the women’s lives. None of the Sugar Mills women want to see their marriages come to an end, but each sure would like to have back a little of what made their relationships so damn hot so long ago.

With the help of a well-placed friend, Jess, Delia, Carras, and Maizy agree to split the fees for a short-term “relationship” with one very hot tennis pro. Parker is young, strong, talented, tremendously hot, and fully aware of his place in the ladies’ lives. Parker is to be friendly arm candy, to be conveniently in the same places as the women, and to be utterly attentive to their presence. With his youth and good looks, and just a bit of luck, each woman’s respective husband will see Parker as competition and work to reclaim what is theirs; that is, work a bit harder to keep their wives’ attention.

As the saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions . . . .

As the days go by, each woman does, in fact have her time with Parker and he certainly lives up to his billing. He has all the right words, knows just when and how to boost a woman’s ego, and is the perfect listener. To a fault, Parker is the perfect companion! Unfortunately, Parker is also in way over his head and though he puts up a great front, his own personal life is in a shambles, and is going to have serious consequences for the Sugar Mills ladies. If the fantastic four can’t figure out how the plan went so badly, so quickly each is going to risk losing everything they set out to preserve and improve.

The Bottom Line: WOW and welcome to Sugar Mills!! Sugar Street isn’t so much a romantic comedy as it is the story of four women who are trying to make sense of lives and marriages that haven’t gone exactly as the fairly tales promised. Jess, Delia, Carras, and Maizy may be friends (mostly!) and a group, but they are also individuals with cares, concerns, and secrets they just aren’t willing to share with the group. On the surface, the goal of each woman is the same, to reignite the passion in their marriage. However, there’s a great deal of depth beneath the surface and as the plot unfolds, the reader gets four individual stories and four individual sets of circumstances. Through their struggles, each woman reveals more to the group about her personal situation, her circumstances, and her real reasons for contracting with Parker. What no one expected is how events unfold, how each woman rises to the occasion, and how the group comes together to protect themselves and their lives. Overall, no matter how misguided these women were in the beginning, they came together to help one another rather than throwing one another under the bus to protect their individual interests. In general, I liked the group dynamic, but I liked the woman as individuals even more, especially in the end when each was forced to face the consequences of her actions. I can’t say I loved this book, but I did like it quite a bit and found the premise and plot intriguing. By the end of the read, many things were resolved, but not all and there is quite clearly going to be a return to Sugar Mills and the lives of these four terribly interesting women. I can’t wait to see what these four get into next time around.… (mais)

3.5 STARS

Sugar Street is a book about four women who are struggling in their marriages and are looking for a way to spice it up their marriages. I think almost everyone who is married goes through struggles, goes through times when their life seems hum-drum boring, especially when children are involved. I was intrigued at how their arrangement would work. It made sense, but there was never a doubt in my mind that something was going to happen to them due to their arrangement.

There are so many clues as to where this story was heading, what was going to happen to the four women. Yet, even having an inkling of where MJ Pullen was taking the reader I could not help but keep reading until I found out if my hunch was correct. I won’t give the ending away but I was correct but there were so many twists and turns throughout the story that I doubted myself many times.

If you are looking for a crazy, fun, middle age women story then please go get your own copy of Sugar Street ASAP.… (mais)

Linda Zagon's review Jul 26, 2018 · edit
really liked it

My Review of “Sugar Street” by M.J. Pullen Freshwater Ink Publishing Aug. 2018

Can you imagine the havoc a handsome tennis teacher/ male escort for hire can do to a group of friends with problems in their marriages? Of course there is a discount for friends to utilize his services. M.J. Pullen, Author of “Sugar Street” has written a unique, satirical, enthralling novel with this premise. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The story takes place in the present , and only goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The setting for this story centers around an affluent town, and club. The author discusses the institution of marriage, marriage crisis, friendship, jealousy, betrayals, and unrealistic expectations and hopes.

The author describes her characters as complicated, and complicated. This novel is about four women in troubled marriages, each with their problems, and an extremely handsome tennis pro , who is also a male escort. The women are friends and frenemies and agree that the idea is to make their husbands pay attention, and get jealous. No one can envision the consequences , the danger and risk that happens. I recommend this novel to those readers who appreciate dark humor and women’s fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my review.… (mais)