ARC REVIEW OF Sweet Victory (Fighting for Love) by Gina L. Maxwell

This is Xander and Sophie’s story. Sophie is determined to carry on her grandmother's legacy and in order to carry on said legacy, she needs to marry or her uncle will pull the rug out from under her and take the family bakery away from her. This is one she and her grandmother did together, ran together until she got very sick and now her uncle is trying to be a miser and steal the business away from her. But what her uncle may not know may be her saving grace to stop him from stealing out from under her the business-- Taking over the bakery came with a very important stipulation, her grandmother insisted in order for her to maintain ownership she must be married by the age of thirty. If she cant find a husband, then she is doomed and she loses her bakery, the one thing that has given her peace and joy in her life where everything of late has gone wrong.
Xander James comes ready to help so he jumped in and tried to save the day-- a marriage proposal and a partnership which will give them both what they want. Sophie isn’t sure because Xander has a rep for being a womanizer but he is an awesome MMA fighter. What’s a girl to do? She ends up putting her faith in Xander. What they thought was just a business deal ends up being more than either expected or wanted.
I did like the pacing of this story and the contemporary feel of a modern forced marriage deal. It was flavored with the angst of how both MC felt –doing it for the good yet not sure why when they sort of felt trapped. What I didn’t like knowing was that Xander was still sleeping around on Sophie during the beginning of their marriage. Yes, it was a marriage of convenience but still, there was a chemistry between them and I didn’t get the feeling he was going to be faithful. This is only my opinion but I felt like this detracted from a little of the story. The overall tones and the emotions more than eased on the way and the ending was sweet. Xander and Sophie definitely belonged together.

My rating: 4.5 stars ****
"I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***