Always On My Mind (Lucky Harbor #8)
by Jill Shalvis
Blurb:
THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING
After
dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking
show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she
returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend,
Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack's ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a
little fib - that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to
be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle ...
No-strings
attachments suit Jack just fine - perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak
away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their "just friends"
rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do
best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will
Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called
Lucky Harbor?
Review:
Ever
since I happened upon this series in the library over a year ago I have been
hooked on the wonderful world of Lucky Harbor and lifelike characters that
call the city home. The continuing
antics of Lucky Harbor have become a bit more complicated of late, as former residents
return to town and newcomers find their homes with these crazy townies. Shalvis keeps you laughing through the entire
story, as well as making you fall in love with the characters and become emotionally
invested in seeing them reach their HEA. If you haven’t picked up this series
yet, I guarantee you are missing out.
Our
return to Lucky Harbor has us following the lives of a sexy fireman and the
pastry chef that captured his heart when he was a boy and never really gave it
back. Leah has returned to her home town, broken and reverting to her safety
net of running away from her troubles, to help keep her grandma’s bakery running while she
recovers from surgery. But being back
brings with it all the fears, hang-ups, and vulnerabilities that she ran from
years ago. Not to mention it brings her
back into the sphere of the only man she ever let into her heart—the man she ran
from after a youthful night of idiocy. When
she makes another monumentally dumb mistake, dragging Jack into a fictional
relationship, the magnetic pull between them and the unresolved feelings lead
to some pretty explosive arguing—and even more fiery lovemaking. But the
passion and love between them begins to overwhelm them both and soon they are
both returning to their usual escapes. Leah
tries to run from her emotions and Jack works to push her away.
Jack
and Leah are complicated and so is their past.
They once shared the deepest connection two people can have, but when
Leah ran from the chance of having a relationship with Jack, he gave up on ever
having a real relationship with a woman.
Jack feels his past and his lifestyle have made him a bad bet for
marriage and family. Though he’s a
wonderful man—strong, sexy, Alpha and as close to a hero as humanly possible—he certainly has his flaws. Though he
has legitimate concerns, he is letting the past color his perceptions of his
present and future, while accusing Leah of doing the exact same thing. Leah spent her childhood with a tyrant who
spent every moment of her life demeaning her and dragging her down. Jack was the only one she could turn to, the
one that helped her cope with her father’s degradation, but when her attempt to
seduce him forces their relationship into a different direction, she can’t
handle the fears of inadequacy and runs from him. And she has never really
stops running. Her father’s voice has always been in the back of her mind,
keeping her from accepting the good things in life and sabotaging herself at
every turn. Thankfully she finally pulls up her big girl panties and decides
that there is something worth fighting that inner voice for—Jack and the chance
to be with him forever.
From
the beginning of our story both Jack and Leah are intensely attracted to one
another, but they are both vehemently denying (to themselves and others) that they
feel anything. When they are finally forced to deal with one another, the heat
between them become volatile, and even though the intensity seems to both
surprise and disturb them, neither of them can accept just what that intensity
might mean. Finally coming together in a single moment of irresistible sexual
need they amaze themselves and each other with the emotion that accompanies the
hot “no-strings attached” sex they both promised. Sadly their own reservations and fears
keep driving them to deny their love, even as they burn up with sexual tension radiating from them.
In the end that emotional connection and the understanding of each other’s
neuroses are the only things that allow them to overcome the obstacles they’ve placed
between them so they can be together.
All-in-all
the return to Lucky harbor was another success.
Getting to know more about Jack and Leah and watching as they finally
admit their attraction and fall in love proved one of the most enjoyable stories I’ve
seen unfold in a while. Though they each
certainly had their issues to work through and outside influences pushed and
pulled at their relationship, seeing them find happiness together gives me hope
for a brighter world full of love. I should probably take a moment away from
the relationship aspect to mention there was a dangerous undercurrent with this
story as an arsonist wreaked havoc on LH and its inhabitants, which had a surprising
conclusion in and of itself. But the
most important part of this book for me was the romance, so back to that. :) When they
are finally faced with the choice of going all in or folding on their chance
at a future together, both Leah and Jack finally step up and admit their
love and that being together to face their issues and the problems the world
throws their way will always be better than going it alone. Their love definitely conquers all. Great work, Jill, and I can’t wait to see
what antics you get up to with the story between Ben and Aubrey, since you’ve
given us a teasing glimpse of their future.
I so wish I could travel to Lucky Harbor because this little town seems to
have an overabundance of hot, alpha males that I could grab for myself. Keep up
the great writing and you’ll always have a fan in me.
Rating: 4.25 stars
Rose Rating:
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