Monday 23 July 2012

Review: Forever and a Day - Jill Shalvis

UK Cover
Love can happen in a heartbeat.

Grace never thought she'd be starting her life over. Losing everything has landed her in Lucky Harbor, working as a dog walker for overwhelmed ER doctor Josh Scott. But the day his nanny fails to show up, Grace finds herself caring for his rambunctious son, playing house with the sexy single dad . . .

With so many depending on him, Josh has no time for anything other than his clinic and family - until Grace arrives in town and turns his life inside out. Josh and Grace don't know if what they have can last. But in a town like Lucky Harbor, a lifetime of love starts with just one day . . .

Lucky Harbor Series:
Simply Irresistible
The Sweetest Thing
Kissing Santa Claus (Novella in the Small Town Christmas anthology)
Head Over Heels
Lucky in Love
At Last
Forever and a Day
Under the Mistletoe (Novella)
It Had to be You
Always on my Mind
Dream a Little Dream (Novella in the A Christmas to Remember anthology)
Once in a Lifetime
It's in his Kiss (August 2014)
He's So Fine (September 2014)
One in a Million (October 2014)

Visit Jill Shalvis' website for more information.

Review:
I have loved all of the previous books in Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor series so I went into Forever and a Day with high expectations - especially since all of my friends have been telling me that Josh is their favourite heroes so far. Now I knew I would enjoy the book, I knew it would make me laugh, I knew it would be full of witty banter, characters I love and steamy sex scenes but I didn't know quite how much it would blow me away. I now have a new favourite LH family and believe me Josh and Grace become a family by the end of the book - along with Josh's son Toby, his sister Anna and even the demon dog Tank. Their story is one of the sweetest in the series but that doesn't make it any less steamy and I'll tell you right now Josh is one sexy doctor (swimming pool scene anyone?!).

Josh hasn't had an easy time over the last few years as a single parent to five year old Toby (who is completely adorable by the way - I seriously wanted to adopt him!) and also guardian to his younger sister who was left paralysed by the car accident that killed their parents. He works long hours trying to keep his father's practise running but also taking on shifts in the ER along with doing whatever it takes to keep his family together. Josh is the kind of guy who works hard and doesn't have much time to play hard but when he decides he wants to play with Grace he goes all out and sweeps her off her feet. He loves his family and always puts everyone else before himself and you know he desperately needs someone to put him first for a change.

Grace has spent her whole life living the dreams that other people had for her and never really stopped to figure out if that was what she really wanted. She was raised to believe that being a success means having a good career and has felt a failure since she turned down the job that she moved to Seattle for because her boss wanted more than work related favours from her. Running low on funds she has been forced to take all kinds of odd jobs to make ends meet and ends up working for Josh looking after Toby. As Grace gets to know Josh and his family she is the one who sees how desperately he needs someone to put him first for once. She has the ability to see exactly what he needs and how to give it to him no matter how much he tries to hide it. It was lovely to see Grace open up and start to discover her own hopes and dreams, in Lucky Harbor she has finally found somewhere she can belong, a place where she has friends and can find contentment.

One of the things I have always loved about this series is the friendships that each trilogy follows so of course it was great to catch up with Mallory, Ty, Amy and Matt and see how they are all getting along. It was good to see them teasing Josh & Grace and the way that they all encouraged the couple to follow their hearts. I also really loved Josh's family, they gave the story a slightly different feel to the previous books and I've already mentioned how adorable Toby is. As much as I enjoyed the antics of Toby and the crazy dog Tank my heart really went out to Anna. She has been through so much but is a survivor and I would love to see more of her character in the future.

I can't praise or recommend this series highly enough and I can't tell you how thrilled I was when Jill Shalvis announced there will be at least 3 more books in the Lucky Harbor series (including one with a firefighter for the hero!!). There is currently no information on release dates for these books but they are going to be at the top of my "must buy immediately" list. While I'm waiting for those I am planning on working my way through as much of her back list as I can because Jill has quickly become one of my favourite contemporary romance authors.

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

US Cover
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