Reviewer: Rowena About That Kiss (Heartbreaker Bay, #5) by Jill Shalvis
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #5
Also in this series: Sweet Little Lies (Heartbreaker Bay #1), The Trouble with Mistletoe, The Trouble with Mistletoe, One Snowy Night, Accidentally on Purpose, Chasing Christmas Eve (Heartbreaker Bay, #4), Chasing Christmas Eve, Holiday Wishes (Heartbreaker Bay, #4.5), Holiday Wishes, About That Kiss, Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay, #6), Playing for Keeps (Heartbreaker Bay, #7)
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: January 23rd 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:
When love drives you crazy . . .
When sexy Joe Malone never calls after their explosive kiss, Kylie shoves him out of her mind. Until she needs a favor, and it’s a doozy. Something precious to her has been stolen and there’s only one person with unique finder-and-fixer skills that can help—Joe. It means swallowing her pride and somehow trying to avoid the temptation to throttle him—or seduce him.
the best thing to do . . .
No, Joe didn’t call after the kiss. He’s the fun time guy, not the forever guy. And Kylie, after all she’s been through, deserves a good man who will stay. But everything about Kylie makes it damned hard to focus, and though his brain knows what he has to do, his heart isn’t getting the memo.
… is enjoy the ride.
As Kylie and Joe go on the scavenger hunt of their lives, they discover surprising things about each other. Now, the best way for them to get over “that kiss” might just be to replace it with a hundred more.
About that Kiss is the fifth book in Jill Shalvis’ Heartbreaker Bay series and I really think that Jill Shalvis has finally hit her stride with this series. The first couple of books were okay or just good for me but the last couple have really entertained me and I’m happy to report that this book was another good one.
Kylie and Joe are in the same circle of friends and they kissed but aren’t talking about that kiss because Joe never called Kylie after that explosive kiss. Kylie has done a whole lot of thinking about the kiss but is stubborn enough to not bring it up since it obviously didn’t affect Joe at all. Now Joe is all up in her grill about a birthday gift that he wants Kylie to make for his sister but she’s much too busy to help him out (and just a tad bit annoyed with him that she wants to see him squirm). All of that is flipped on its head when something of personal value is taken from her and she needs Joe’s help finding it.
Joe is a lone ranger. He works better alone so why he thought that Kylie would let him work this case alone, he’ll never know. It’s hard to keep her in his thoughts and not in his space when she is determined to be his partner on finding her missing penguin. The more time that they spend together, the harder it is for him to remember that he’s not good enough for her. She deserves far better but every moment in her company, his resolve to stay away goes up in smoke.
Seeing these two grow closer and closer was fun at the same time that it was sweet. I loved how grown up the two of them were about their feelings. Joe had distinct reasons for feeling the way that he did and so did Kylie. Kylie wasn’t a hot and cold kind of person and I appreciated that though she was torn about her feelings for Joe, she didn’t lead anyone else (Gib) on until she figured her shit out. I also really adored that though Joe thought Kylie was a little crazy with her request, he realized almost from the jump how important this was to her and he took her seriously.
There’s a lot going on in this book but it was a lot of fun to figure things out, fall in love right along with Joe and Kylie and get to know the other characters from this world that we haven’t seen a lot of in the other books. There are still stories to be told and I’m here for it all. This was another winner from Jill Shalvis and I can’t wait for more.
Heartbreaker Bay Series
Grade: 4 out of 5
OH yeah, I totally agree. This series just seems to get better and better, and it feels like Jill Shalvis has hit her stride now. I felt the same way about her Lucky Harbor series. That it took a little bit for her to find that perfect place.