Rowena’s review of He’s So Fine (Lucky Harbor #11) by Jill Shalvis.
For Olivia Bentley, Lucky Harbor is more than the town where she runs her new vintage shop. It’s the place where folks are friendly to strangers-and nobody knows her real name. Olivia does a good job of keeping her past buried, not getting too cozy with anyone . . . until she sees a man drowning. Suddenly she’s rushing into the surf, getting up close and personal with the hottest guy she’s ever laid hands on.
Charter boat captain Cole Donovan has no problem with a gorgeous woman throwing her arms around his neck in an effort to “save” him. In fact, he’d like to spend a lot more time skin-to-skin with Olivia. He’s just not expecting that real trouble is about to come her way. Will it bring her deeper into Cole’s heart, or will it be the end of Olivia’s days in little Lucky Harbor?
He’s So Fine is the eleventh book in the Lucky Harbor series and the second to the last book in the series (sad face). It follows Cole Donovan as he tries to woo Olivia Bentley. But Olivia is un-wooable. She’s got walls planted firmly in the dirt with a no breach sign on it. She’s not a people person and she doesn’t like to be social but when she’s out for her early morning walk and sees Cole in trouble, she jumps right in (literally) to save him. Only, he didn’t need her help and she was more hindrance than anything else but I’ve got to say, their “cute meet” was probably my favorite of the entire series. And there are 11 books with lots of cute meets.
So anyway, this book was great. Jill Shalvis really delivers fantastic contemporary romances. Her characters are always likable though far from perfect and the story is always easy to fall into. I always come away from her books with a huge smile on my face because I’m content. I’m glad that the book went the way that it did and that it ended the way that it did. There’s always that satisfaction that I get from reading a Shalvis book, which is why I’m always coming back for more.
Cole is the mechanic of the company. He’s the Mr. Fix It and he fixes everything. He wears cargo shorts and pants all the time and his pockets are always full of something handy. He just walks around town and fixes whatever needs fixing, a kind of McGyver if you will. He’s not much of a ladies man even though the ladies wish he was. He’s never really shown any interest in any specific woman until Olivia jumps in the water to try to save him. He takes notice of Olivia. A lot of notice and for the first time in two years, he’s interested in someone that is not his ex.
Olivia owns the antique shop in town and is hiding a huge secret. A secret that she doesn’t want to get out which is the main reason she doesn’t let anyone get too close but living in Lucky Harbor is changing that for her. Her world has already opened up a little with Becca, her neighbor. Becca and Olivia have become friends and when Callie moves into the last apartment in their warehouse, Olivia’s world opens up a little more so with Cole coming around trying to widen the gap in her wall, Olivia tries to protect herself but how can you protect yourself from someone you don’t want to push away?
The dynamic between Cole and Olivia was fun to read about. Cole was great with Olivia and with his family and also with Sam and Tanner. He wasn’t perfect, he got mad at them when they did stupid things and he tended to go off and pout for a while but that didn’t bother me because I liked him so much. It was easy to forgive him because he was so likable.
There were times when both Cole and Olivia were boneheads and a swift kick to the ass was needed but that didn’t ruin anything for me because I was rooting for them. I wasn’t expecting Cole’s story to be so colorful and hurtful but I thought it rounded his character out just that much more. Same with Olivia. Their stories were huge and complicated but it made the story so much more enjoyable so I adored it.
I definitely recommend this book. It’s a great book in a fabulous series and finishing this book is making it so much harder to let go of this small town that I’ve come to love the hell out of. This is another winner for me. Kudos to Jill Shalvis on a job well done.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
This book is available from Grand Central Publishing. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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