Title: Always On My Mind (Lucky Harbor, Book 8)
Author: Jill Shalvis
Release Date: September 24, 2013
ARC provided by NetGalley
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?
Book Review
Best friends Jack and Leah have always stood by each other. But Leah tests the boundaries of their friendship when she tells Jack's mother they are involved.
Leah always felt the pressure to be perfect. Her verbally abusive father told her, If you can't be the best, Leah, don't bother being anything at all....words that still ring inside her head, causing her to never finish anything. Her only escape from her father's scathing words were in the arms of her best friend and neighbor, Jack.
At what could be the turning point of their relationship, Leah runs away from Lucky Harbor and the beautiful possibilities she could have had with Jack.
Now, Leah returns to Lucky Harbor to help out her grandmother run her bakery, while she waits for her world to crash around her. Leah has been on the reality t.v. show, Sweet Wars, and contractual obligations prevent her from telling anyone whether she won the jackpot or not. And Leah plans to leave Lucky Harbor...again...before her friends and family can find out she has failed...again.
Not one to stick around long enough to form any real attachments Jack is glad to have his friend, Leah, back in town. And it's obvious Leah doesn't care as much as he did all those years ago...right?
But one tiny lie tangles up the lives of Jack and Leah, having them pretend a relationship that doesn't really exist.
But who is or isn't really pretending?
Jill Shalvis has done it again with Always On My Mind. It is a sexy and sweet read that makes the reader wish a town such as Lucky Harbor truly existed. One filled with such quirky oddities like Lucille a gossipy senior citizen who has a penchant for stirring up trouble. Kevin, an adorable Great Dane who will eat anything, and loves to nuzzle any female crotch--really, he doesn't discriminate, folks. And a great supporting cast of secondary characters that make you feel right at home.
Great review. I have heard so many good things about this series. Like the sound of this best friends, neighbors. Do they have to be read in order or can they be stand alones?
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is one series you HAVE to read in order, but it's my OCD that insists that I do, :)
DeleteLet me know when you get to them. This one is a fave. LOVED Jack.