Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Review -- The Sweetest Thing

The Sweetest Thing
Lucky Harbor -- Book 2
By Jill Shalvis
Publisher: Forever--Grand Central
Release Date: March 29, 2011







Many of you who visit the blog know how much I loved Simply Irresistible, the first book in Jill Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series. I was instantly captivated by the three estranged sisters (Maddie, the mouse; Tara, the steel magnolia; and Chloe, the wild child) who were brought together after inheriting a ramshackle inn located in Lucky Harbor, Washington, from their mother when she died. Maddie found her HEA with Jax in Simply Irresistible and in The Sweetest Thing, Tara gets a second chance at love with the very sexy Ford Walker.

Seventeen years ago, 17 year old Tara Daniels came to Lucky Harbor to visit her mother for the summer and promptly fell for a guy who gave her the attention she desperately craved. The only problem was she ended up pregnant. After giving the baby up for adoption in nearby Seattle, Tara returned home to Texas. She was determined to get things right in her life and later married NASCAR star Logan Perrish. Tara was the perfect wife to Logan and gave him her all...which ended up being too much and she lost herself in the process. They eventually divorced and she recently returned to Lucky Harbor after her mother died. At first, she was going to stay only as long as she had to, but she ending up getting sucked into helping her sisters renovate the inn—which made her even more determined to get something right in her life. Working at the local diner to help make ends meet, Tara begins to see Ford around more often. She tries to ignore him and the feelings he evokes in her, but some things are too hard to resist.

Ford Walker has come a long way since that long ago summer spent with Tara. He grew up poor but in time made something of himself when he became a world famous and Olympic gold medalist sailor. He still loves to sail, but now he’s happy running the Love Shack, the town bar, with his pal, Jax. Ford is knocked off his feet when Tara returns to Lucky Harbor and they discover the old feelings are very much still there.

“How is it that we still feel the pull?”

Ford stepped into her, letting her feel
exactly how much he still felt it.

“I mean, it shouldn’t still be here,” Tara whispered against his throat as his arms came around her. “I shouldn’t...”


Ache for you.

“Some things just are,” he said softly against her hair. “Day turns to night. The ocean tide drifts in and out. And I want you, Tara. Damn you, but I do. I always have.”

Then, her ex-husband comes to Lucky Harbor with the single-minded purpose of winning Tara back. And if that wasn’t bad enough, someone else comes to Lucky Harbor to meet and get answers from the people who gave her up at birth.

I love this book! I just can’t say enough, how much I do. Maddie, Tara, and Chloe are nothing alike, yet each have characteristics that I share. Tara is the oldest (like me) and likes to be in control. She wants things done her way and I am that way with certain things in my life. Many people think she’s uptight, but Ford knows differently:

He wasn’t much into being bossed around, even by an incredibly beautiful woman who was anal retentive and a bit of a control freak.

Well, unless they were in bed. He didn’t mind then, not as long as he got to return the favor.

But there was something about Tara that drew him in spite of himself, that snagged him by the throat and held tight. Maybe it was the tough-girl exterior, which he knew barely covered a bruised and tender heart. He’d seen that heart once...


Like any relationship, Tara and Ford’s takes work. They each have to deal with their own shortcomings in order to be together. Ford let her go the first time because he felt that she was made for better things than being stuck with him. And Tara felt like Ford wasn’t the type to stick around for the long haul. I love both characters and enjoyed watching them reconnect and deal with their problems in a completely mature way.

This book had me laughing out loud—from Ford and Logan trying to show each other up, to Tara and Chloe’s sisterly bickering, to the townsfolk creating a Facebook page to see who Tara would end up with. It also made me tear up when Ford and Tara’s daughter, Mia, had heart-to-heart talks with each of her parents. And of course, it had me sighing during the deliciously sexy scenes between Tara and Ford.

I adore this series and Ms. Shalvis’s writing—I just can’t get enough of her books. As you can guess, I am very much looking forward to Chloe’s story, Head Over Heels, which comes out in December. In the meantime, I’ll reread my copy of The Sweetest Thing because it really is the sweetest thing.

~Andrea


You can order your copy of The Sweetest Thing here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository (Free worldwide shipping)
Books-A-Million
Borders

20 comments:

  1. It sounds like I must read Jill Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series. Thanks for the heads up.

    marypres@gmail.com

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  2. Andrea, you've made me even more anxious to read this series. How wonderful it sounds!

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  3. Oh, marybelle, if you love fun contemporaries, you'll love Jill's Lucky Harbor series. It really is good. :)

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  4. PJ, you would LOVE this series. There's just something extra special about it. It's obvious that Jill Shalvis has sisters as she writes them so well.

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  5. Great review, Andrea! I haven't read any of Jill Shalvis's books before but this series sounds fantastic. I like reunion stories where the hero and heroine got together when they were young, separate, grow up and come back together better and stronger and really able to appreciate what they now have with each other.

    The premise of this book reminds me a bit of Robin Welles' Still the One which I really liked.

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  6. Thanks for the review. I am going to check these books out. They sound like great reads.
    Love & Hugs,
    Pam

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  7. Love the review! I cannot wait to read this book!! :)

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  8. Thanks, Lisa! I know that you would like this series since we have similar taste in books. I have that Robin Wells book in my TBR pile, so it sounds like I need to move it to the top!

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  9. Thanks, Pam! I hope you do check them out. They really are wonderful. :)

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  10. Thanks, Trisha. I can't wait until you read it, too!!

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  11. Great review, Andrea! I have Simply Irresistible on my TBR pile, and I'll definitely be adding The Sweetest Thing.

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  12. I'm so thrilled you're enjoying this series! Thanks so much for having me on your blog!

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  13. Fantastic review Andrea! Looks like I have yet another author I need to seek out. Sounds like something I'd really enjoy too. You ladies really make me spend the $$!

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  14. Ahhhhh! I can't wait to read this one. I LOVED Simply Irresistible too! Lol!!!

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  15. Thanks, Gannon! You definitely need to move SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE up! :)

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  16. Thanks so much for stopping by, Jill! I hope you're feeling better! :)

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  17. Thanks, Jennifer! I really hope you'll give this series a try!

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  18. Yay, Monica--another fan of this series! Isn't it awesome? I hope you enjoy THE SWEETEST THING!

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  19. I don't read much contemporary romance, but this is a series I could enjoy. I'll be looking for it.

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  20. I just gave book #1, Simply Irresistible 4 stars on Good Reads. I laughed and smiled a lot, but the storyline wasn't very original, just well done.

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