Lucky in Love (by Jill Shalvis)

Lucky in Love rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Release Date:  May 22, 2012

Lucky Harbor series rating:  N/A (haven't read them all)

Published by:  Forever, an imprint of Hachette Book Group

Lucky in Love is book 4 in this series and can be read in order or as a stand alone novel.

How are the sex scenes?

Yummy and borderline descriptive.  Shalvis sometimes gives details, other times lets it happen behind closed doors and often times gives the reader a cursory glance.  Her characters also make quite a bit of noise...

How are the story lines?

Humorous.  I particularly loved Lucky Harbor's Facebook page  (it's a character in itself) and the tension between Amy Michaels and Matt Bowers.

Would you read it again?

I think so.  I also plan to invest in the previous novels to read the entire series.  Heck I already have "At Last" waiting to be reviewed.

Summary

Mallory Quinn is a life long resident of Lucky Harbor and all around good girl who enjoys helping those in need  - whether they want it or not.  Feeling smothered by her family's and town's expectations, she gets encouragement from her chocoholic group to seek out Mr. Wrong.

Enter Ty Garrison.  An ex-Navy Seal medic potentially suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and living in Lucky Harbor just until he gets medical clearance is exactly the wrong type of man Mallory doesn't need.

Encountering each other in a snow storm, Mallory is taken back by Ty's good looks.  She would probably have enjoyed his conversation if he was not rendered unconscious by that large tree branch and she probably wouldn't have asked him out if her chocoholics group had not encouraged it.  So she really shouldn't be angry with him for standing her up.  But she is.

Mallory and Ty try to maintain a private...relationship, but people get in the way, emotions get involved and someone always gets hurt.

Review

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis is a contemporary romance novel set in fictional Lucky Harbor, Washington.  Where the first three books star sisters Maddie, Tara and Chloe, Lucky introduces us to Mallory (Lucky's heroine), her waitress friend Amy Michaels (heroine for book #5, At Last) and their newly acquired friend Grace Brooks (heroine for book #6, Forever and a Day).

Mallory and Amy's friendship with Grace occurs suddenly, but Shalvis did write them bonding in a crisis so the believability should be there for most, even if I don't buy it.

The trio forms a group called Chocoholics and agrees to meet on a regular basis to discuss jobs, men and the lack of each other's love lives - over a slice of chocolate cake. 

Continuing with the Chocoholics theme, each chapter is headlined with a chocolate quote and the book ends with "The Chocoholics' Wickedly Awesome Chocolate Cake" recipe complete with frosting instructions.  This is an adorably quaint touch and by the end of the novel I was starving.  Never mind it was 3am when I finished it.

Believability is important in any novel and Lucky has it, even if some character actions/reactions are a bit outrageous:

• Lucky Harbor is a small town with bored, nosy neighbors (believable)...who snap pictures of the young kids to post to the city's Facebook page (outrageous). 
• Mallory is injured in a small diner when the sprinklers are set off (believable)...and she obtains a bleeding cheek cut, a swollen wrist and bruised shin while trying to calm panicky seniors fleeing the building that no one can see in because of the sprinklers and struggle with Ty to let her back inside to help people who were hurt instead of waiting for them to be brought outside where she can actually treat them (outrageous). 
• The diner fire, started by birthday candles, was put out by a glass of water and one loan trick candle, "...shot straight up and into the ceiling...like a bottle rocket."  (Outrageous).

However with outrageous situations comes humorous writing that helps Lucky read like a young adult novel - with sex.  (i.e., When characters live in a town that tracks sightings of the "Mysterious Hot Guy" you really aren't surprised when your mother disapproves of you sleeping with him one day and offers to make him meatloaf the next.)


All in all, Lucky in Love is an enjoyable, outrageous, light and fluffy romance and I look forward to reading the series. 

 
Comment About It

What's your favorite summer read? Do you prefer stand alone novels or a series?



Learn more about Jill Shalvis and her upcoming titles on her webpage.

I had never heard of Jill Shalvis until I saw her Facebook ad and honestly, how could you guys keep her from me? She writes about her inspiration for the Lucky Harbor series here and, frankly, if I had those men outside my window I'd be inspired, too. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to landscape the yard...

Read the Lucky Harbor series. 
(Normally I would give you titles, but Shalvis's website lays them out perfectly.)


Disclaimer:  No compensation was received for this review.  eARC courtesty of NetGalley.