#Women’sFiction

Title: In Her Candy Jar
Series: Svenssons
Author: Alina Jacobs
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Womens' Fiction
Format: Kindle

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Alina Jacobs’ books

So Alina has written quite a number of books in a very short time.  She writes at night as she is an architect by day – but when does she bake? Or look at Instagram for baking ideas? I say this because baking of cakes, muffins, biscuits and the like, appear in nearly all the books as being main characters. And the contents are inspiring for the amateur baker – inspiring them never to try anything quite so complex!
[PS, I asked her directly, and she admitted she didn't bake, but got inspiration from others on the Net.]

She has a number of series running - all about (at the moment) hot brothers who have turned themselves, after a bad childhood for different reasons , into billionaires. Oh, and they all seem to look alike. 
The Svenssons all look like blond Vikings and the Frosts all have whitish hair and like the cold weather, and the Holbrooks have brown hair. They are all 6 foot 5 or more. 
The Frosts have a sister who is mentioned, Belle, The Holbrooks have a sister, Dana, who is mentioned, and the Svenssons don’t quite know how many sisters they have – their father is on his, at least, 11th sister-wife, as he runs a polygamist cult in the desert. He keeps the girls well secreted away as they are valuable resources in such cults; the boys are sent off to Harrogate and the eldest boys – Remy, and Hunter, and any others who happen to be in residence. They estimate that there are around 100ish boys that their father has had through his wives. So plenty for Alina to write about, although some are quite young when this series starts. And we don’t have the names of all of them yet, nor which wife is their mother, although nearly all wives have multiple children.

The boys that marry in this series seem to fall for curvy girls/women – which makes sense that they would like similarly built women, as the Svensson genes are very predominant and the father marries blond girls to enhance the ‘look’.

And the wives in these stories usually manage to cook something for the majorly hungry boys – imagine having over 30 people for EVERY meal! Help always needed to feed hungry young stomachs.

 In the series about the Frost brothers, they relate what happens at a reality TV show about Baking at Xmas and the bakers that the brothers fall for.

The Svenssons tend to have a variety of girlfriends and wives, all of whom can cook to some extent, but may have other jobs too.

The Holbrooks get involved and involved with, the artisans of the Weddings in the City co-operative.

 I found myself confused with the Svenssons particularly. And with there being so many of these guys at all ages from the triplets at 28 months to Remy at well over 40 it was tricky, so I was delighted when I found the book in which Alina identifies all the Svenssons and which wife they come from. It is worth noting that not all of them visit Harrogate, as at some point there was a major rift and some live in Boston or Seattle. [books on these will follow]
But full brothers tend to stick together. 
The young boys are put on a train by their father and sent from his desert home to Harrogate, a journey of around 72 hours. Alone. Henry being the youngest to whom this ever happened at age 4 or 5, they weren't sure. But Hunter normally knows when they are coming because he has paid his father for them! The brothers have founded several companies together. Some consultancy, some real estate, others computing. They prefer to do this than work for other people. They then employ the younger guys as Interns and Juniors to learn the business. The Holbrooks operate in much the same way, although there are far fewer of them.

So here goes – Svenssons.

1.       Merla Vee

                               i.            Remy : Rural Trust - a veteran who came out with some small mental issues that make him very shy and very fond of animals.

                               ii.            Hunter : Lawyer : very controlling as he keeps order with all the boys that come to him. When they arrive, the young boys tend to be semi-feral, with no social graces, unable to speak properly, and very underfed.

                             iii.            Gunnar : Romance Creative: TV Guru.

                             iv.            Mace :CEO Svensson Pharmatech

                               v.            Archer : CEO Greyson Hotel Group - appears very laid back but has a surprisingly  successful business.

                             vi.            Garrett: CFO Pharmatech: lots of medicines and other such items.

                            vii.            Weston : CEO ThinkX: consultancy of various types especially projects.

                          viii.            Blade: COO Thinkx

                              ix.            Parker: CTO Pharmatech

2.       Athlyn

                              i.            Greg : CEO Svensson Investments: tends to be the funder for all the investments and improvements for the family.

                              ii.            Walker: COO Quantum Cyber: the very technical end of the businesses. including Security and Govt contracts.

                             iii.            Mike : COO Greyson

                             iv.            Beck: CFO Greyson

                              v.            Liam: COO Platinum Provisions: amazing cooking implements with great precision.

                             vi.            Carl: Managing Partner Investments

3.       Amyra

                                 i.            Salinger

                               ii.            Unknown how many more

4.       Mary Beth

                               i.            Crawford

                               ii.            Josh : Svensson and Svensson Law

                             iii.            Eric: Svensson and Svensson law

                             iv.            Unknown how many more

5.       Sueanne

                               i.            Unknown how many

6.       Brenna: younger boys

                              i.            Tristan: college

                             ii.            Eli: college

                             iii.            Isaac: high school

                             iv.            Calvin:

                             v.            Ronan

                             vi.            Theo

                            vii.            Payton

                          viii.            Andy

7.       … not yet named with children

8.       …not yet named with children

9.       Idonna

                               i.            Bruno

                              ii.            Oris

                             iii.            Ellis

                             iv.            Orlando

                              v.            Scout

                             vi.            Oscar

                            vii.            Arlo

10.   Payslee

                              i.            Adrian

                              ii.            Nate

                             iii.            Billy

                             iv.            Henry

11.   Kimberly

                                 i.            Davy

There are also triplet toddler boys, as yet with no name or mother identified.

List of books in series:

Holiday Romance:

Eating her christmas Cookies

Eating her Baked Goods

Tasting her christmas Cookies

Tasting her Chocolate Cake

Frosting her Christmas Cookies.

 Svenssons:

 After his peonies

In her candy jar

His candy crush

On his paintbrush

Paint him

In her pumpkin patch

                  This is one of the stories about the Svenssons and how Garret is trying to rescue all the boys his father had had with his 9, and counting, wives.

See also Japanese Pancakes – which again are a new item of baking to me, but sound delicious.

 In her pumpkin pies

Between her biscuits

Peaches and cream

Peony for your thoughts

After her fake fiancé

After her wedding cake

In her jam jar

In her pumpkin butter

Tulips together

Weddings in the City

Bridezillas

Short engagement

Wedding bells

Wedding mayhem

 Now I have read all the books and the freebie Epilogues provided by the author, but I won’t review them - but I recommend them all for a lighthearted, humorous look at a type of life most of us will never encounter. The boys all tend to be adventurous, inventive, entrepreneurial right from a young age, and end up with money - lots of it. Their romances don't go well but they end up happy. The main pull of these books for me is the humour and the amazing set up of the family. An author who starts with a potential 100+ characters to follow as they grow up has ambition! Several families and good female friends get involved at various points and then there is a lot of cake involved!