Bonus Review: Forever and a Day

Forever and a Day
By Jill Shalvis
Publisher: Grand Central Forever
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Grace Brooks wasn’t looking for a job as a dog walker, but when a misdialed call leads to an offer of the job, she needs the money badly enough to take it. She can only hope her high-achieving super scientists parents never find out that their adopted daughter is reduced to such work. She hasn’t told them that her promising career as a CPA for a banking firm in Seattle came to an abrupt end when she rejected the horizontal position her boss saw as part of the job. Lucky Harbor was exactly one gas tank away from Seattle, but Grace has found friends and a sense of belonging in the small town. She hasn’t found a steady job however, and unlike her friends Mallory Quinn (Lucky in Love) and Amy Michaels (At Last), her social life is sadly lacking as well. What she doesn’t know is that the phone call about a dog walking job she never sought is going to change everything.

Josh Scott hates chaos, but that’s what his life has become.  Five years earlier, his parents were killed in an automobile accident that left Josh, already the single father of an infant son, responsible for his sixteen-year-old sister Anna, who was left a paraplegic by the same accident, and for his father’s medical practice. Things haven’t become any easier. Josh works two shifts each week in Lucky Harbor ER and volunteers once a week at a local clinic while keeping the practice he still thinks of as his father’s going, parenting a five-year-old who has been in a barking stage since Anna introduced a pug puppy into the mix, and riding herd on Anna who is in full-throttle rebellion against her limited, boring life. When his baby sitter bails on him, he really is desperate. He needs help, and Grace needs a temporary job.

Grace is still looking for a job beyond Luck Harbor, one more in keeping with parental expectations. Josh is still determined to avoid a relationship that would mean one more person depending on him. But the chemistry between them proves stronger than their resolutions, and their hearts recognize they are meant to be together long before their heads concede the victory to love.

Forever and a Day is the sixth novel in the Luck Harbor series, the third in the Chocoholics trilogy. It’s my favorite of the series. Grace and Josh are a delight together. Their relationship between them grows in a credible manner with an appealing blend of humor, sexy scenes, and genuine communication. Grace allows herself to become the free spirit she was meant to be, and she balances Josh’s sense of responsibility that weighs too heavily upon him at times. Toby and Anna play important roles. Josh’s love for son is shown in heartwarming scenes, and his relationship with Anna has the complications that one might realistically expect given their particular circumstances. I especially liked seeing Grace’s relationships with Toby and Anna develop naturally rather than seeming to be mere extensions of her relationship with Josh.

Fans of the series will enjoy seeing Mallory and Amy enjoying their HEAs, but the book can be appreciated as a standalone. I’m a fan of small-town contemporary romances, and Shalvis has created one of the strongest series in the subgenre with her Lucky Harbor books. There is the strong sense of community that is the heart of such books, but the focus is on the romance between Grace and Josh. If you’re a fan of Shalvis, I predict this book will become one of your favorites. If you’ve never read Shalvis, I highly recommend beginning with this one. It’s a definite winner.

The trend for small-town contemporary romances shows no signs of slowing down. Do you like this subgenre? Which series is your favorite?

Happy Christmas Reads 2: Holiday Hideout

Holiday Hideout
By Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, Julie Kenner
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: November 1, 2011
3.5 Stars

This holiday anthology from Harlequin centers on a cottage owned by two sociology professors, Ken and Jillian Vickers, who bought it after they fell in love again there. When they began renting it out over holiday weekends, their renters routinely told them that a weekend at the cottage had renewed an old love or introduced them to a new one. So the Vickers determined to collect data in order to discover the secret of the Lake Tahoe cottage.

The Thanksgiving Fix by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Beth Tierney usually spends Thanksgiving with her parents and her siblings, their spouses and children, but she’s spending this Thanksgiving alone because she’s weary of her family’s determination to find the right man for her. Beth is not opposed to marriage, but having reached thirty with only romantic failures behind her, she’s decided to “embrace her singleness.” She has a responsible job as manager of a Reno hotel, she’s proud of her competence, and she’s not sure she has the time or energy for a permanent relationship. Coinneach “Mac” McFarland is the handyman who takes care of the Vickers cabin. He’s planning on heading to his parents for the holiday where his mother has lined up another date for him, certain that this time she’s found one who will make her son the perfect wife and give her grandchildren. When a winter storm interferes and Mac can’t make it home, Beth invites him to share her Thanksgiving, and four days later, after board games and bed games, Beth and Mac are planning a lifetime together.

The Christmas Set-Up by Jill Shalvis

Jason Monroe and Zoe Anders are assistant architects in the same firm. Everyone in the office is aware of the sexual tension between them, but neither of them is willing to act on the attraction. Then Jason’s younger brother Mike, a draftsman in the same firm, sets them up, sending Jason off to spend Christmas in the Vickers’ cabin and stealing Zoe’s memory stick with the specs for the project she and Jason are competing for—with a promotion as the carrot. Zoe, furious at what she thinks is Jason’s cheap trick, heads for the cabin. Instead of a thief, she finds a naked, vulnerable man who touches her heart and raises her temperature. Soon Jason is unwrapping an unexpected Christmas gift, one that promises year-long, life-long happiness.


The New Year's Deal by Julie Kenner

Cleo Daire and Josh Goodson were college sweethearts with big dreams of grad school and beyond, but the death of Josh’s father meant Josh had to take over Goodson Mining, the largest privately held gold mine in Nevada. Cleo couldn’t give up her dream of Harvard law school, and so they broke up but agreed to meet on December 30 five years later. When that time arrives Cleo is on the fast track to success at a D.C. law firm and needs an expert witness for a big case. Josh is growing restless under his family’s determination to oppose his ideas for expanding the company. With a little help from their former undergrad professors, they find themselves spending New Year’s at the Vickers’ cottage where they discover old dreams have a new life, one that’s worth risking everything for.

Holiday Hideout is an entertaining read. None of these stories made me want to corner friends, demanding they had to read this book, but the anthology is a pleasurable way to spend an hour or two. The Thompson story had touches of the humor I appreciate in this author’s books, but I had trouble believing in first meeting to wedding plans in four days. Readers who believe in love at first sight may not be bothered by this. Shalvis’s story has the terrific dialogue and sizzling scenes I expect from her, and I liked the workplace romance. Surprisingly, my favorite was the story by Kenner, an author I had not read previously. I always fall for reunion stories, and I thought this story had great sentimental appeal. The magic cottage seemed contrived, and the characterization of the Vickers inconsistent. I couldn’t buy them as both warm-hearted professors interested in the lives of former students and academics using these people as guinea pigs.

What are your favorite tropes for contemporary love stories? Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you read Christmas anthologies?