Always On My Mind by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jill Shalvis is an author I tend to drop everything for… especially the Lucky Harbor boys. I can’t help it. She has this way of making me forget everything that’s going on in my life for a few hours…letting me jump into the small town that is Lucky Harbor. Where the view is quaint and picturesque and the guys are all drool-worthy. And after the month I’ve had, I needed this book more than anything else in my life.
Leah and Jack have been friends forever… Or at least since they were in the 6th grade and Leah moved to Lucky Harbor. She immediately formed a friendship with Jack, who despite being two years older, become somewhat of a protector.
Leah grew up with her father hovering over her screaming at her telling her she wouldn’t amount to anything, that she’d never succeed in life and she would always screw things up. Even with her mother who tried to support her positively and Jack who tried to show her that her father was wrong, she never believed in herself. She runs at the first chance and never follows her plans through.
Leah is back in Lucky Harbor though, helping her grandma. She left culinary school to take part in a reality cooking competition and the whole town is watching and hounding her, wondering if she won or not. Winning means $100,000 and the chance to own her own bakery. Even though she’s back, she’s determined to get out of Lucky Harbor before the last show airs.
Jack has lived in the shadow of his father’s heroism his whole life. When his father died on the job, he was determined he would follow in his footsteps and become a firefighter too. Now he heads up Station #24. However, seeing how ruined his mother was after the loss of his father, he is determined never to give his heart so thoroughly to anyone.
With their stormy history slowly revealing itself, Leah tells a little white lie that puts these two on the path they have avoided their entire lives. Watching what happens was a wonderful mess to see.
One thing Jill excels at, and that I appreciate is her ability to take you to the town, to connect with the characters and like I said above, just forget about everything else going on for a couple of hours.
I love a good friends to lovers story, and Jill has given us one here. The connection that Jack and Leah had was believable and poignant and their chemistry was wonderfully done. I think though, that I would have liked a bit more about the night she left town. I feel like that wasn’t explained as well as it could have been. However, it didn’t take away from the story at all.
Romance books are always hit or miss for me, but I can usually count on Jill Shalvis to entertain me. Is the storyline completely new and different? No, it’s apparent that Jill has a formula for her stories, but I will say that it totally works for me. Every. Single. Time.
Grab this one when it comes out… and if you haven’t started the Lucky Harbor Series, you’re seriously missing out on some of my favorite guys in romance!
Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advance copy for review!
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