Accidentally on Purpose
By Jill Shalvis
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: January 24, 2017




Elle Wheaton is smart, assertive, and tough. She is a whiz at her job as the general manager of the Pacific Pier Building, and she has found her tribe in the core group of fiercely loyal friends who work in the building and in surrounding businesses. She is also ambitious, devoting time and money to pursuing a degree in accounting. Her life now is very different from the difficult one she knew as a child. However, Archer Hunt, head of Hunt Investigations, is an ever-present reminder of her troubled past. She cannot ignore him, despite her efforts to do so. She cannot forget what she owes him, and she cannot control his effect on her libido.
Archer has unobtrusively kept an eye on Elle over the years since he blew
his cover on an undercover operation in order to protect a
then-sixteen-year-old Elle and ended his career as a cop in the process. It was
he who recommended her to Spencer a year ago for the general manager’s job. But
Elle is no longer that vulnerable teenager; she has become a smart, sassy, sexy
woman. Archer has promised himself that he will keep ignoring how attracted he
is to the grown-up Elle because she deserves someone who will not remind her of
a past she has fought to escape. He keeps his promise until he has to watch
Elle dating someone else. However, moving from friends (of a sort) to lovers is
complicated by their shared past, which is not as past as they thought. Old
enemies pose present danger, and Archer will have a close call, retreat to his
default attitude, and be forced to do some major groveling before he and Elle
begin their HEA.
Accidentally on Purpose is the third book in Shalvis’s
Heartbreaker Bay series, and it has the clever repartee, sizzling attraction,
and friends-as-family theme that delighted fans of the first two books. The
tension between Elle and Archer in those books signaled readers that these two
were meant for each other, and their story has been highly anticipated. The
story has sufficient steam and emotional power in the romance and in the
characters’ separate family complications to please lovers of sexy contemporary
romance who are just discovering Shalvis as well as eager readers already
enamored of Elle and Archer.
I belong to the latter group. I like the tribe of friends Shalvis has
created for this series, and I like the San Francisco setting. I began reading
this book already invested in seeing Elle and Archer finally become a couple.
With characters as stubborn as these two, a push-pull relationship was almost a
given, but it seemed to me that the sequence of no-yes-no became a bit
repetitious—not enough to ruin the story but enough to make it less than a
five-star read. The flaw is a minor one, however, and the book is still a
winning addition to a solid series. It is a must for those who enjoyed the
first two books, and I recommend it to readers who like a mix of sizzle, humor,
and heart in their contemporary romance reads.
Next up is Chasing Christmas
Eve (September 26, 2017)—Spencer’s story. That’s the one for which I have
been waiting most eagerly. I’ve already preordered my copy.
~Janga
Thanks, Janga! Like you, I've enjoyed getting to know this group of friends and have been eagerly anticipating Elle and Archer's story. I have Accidentally on Purpose on my tbr and am hoping to find time to get to it this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy her books. She is one of the few contemporary authors that I know I'll enjoy her story!
ReplyDeleteI friend just recently recommended this book and now I cannot wait to read the whole series. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this series but I've read several others. Need to get started.
ReplyDeleteI like this series and am looking forward to this one. Great review!
ReplyDeleteYou have given me a reason to find the books in this series and get started. I like the idea of a strong support group who care for one another. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy Jill's humor - both in her books & on her blog
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