Bailey Moore has an agenda: skiing in the Rockies, exploring castles in Europe, ballroom dancing in Argentina. Now that she has a second lease on life, she's determined not to miss a thing. What she doesn't realize is that item #1 comes with a six-foot-one ski god hot enough to melt a polar ice cap. She doesn't want to miss out on him either, but Hudson Kincaid isn't the type of guy to love and let go. And as gorgeous as Cedar Ridge is, she's not planning to stick around.

As head of ski patrol at his family's resort, Hud thinks he's seen it all. But never has he run into someone like Bailey. She might look delicate, but her attitude is all firecracker. And her infectious joy touches something deep within him that he's been missing far too long. Now he'll just have to convince Bailey to take a chance on her biggest adventure yet . . . something rare and all kinds of wonderful.

Bailey is living life to the fullest. She has been sick for the past 10 years of her life and now that she’s gotten almost 6 months under her belt with clear scans she’s excited and ready to try all the things she was too sick to try before. She does have her loving but slightly over-protective mother to deal with, and an ex-fiance that doesn’t seem to want to let go, but she deals with them pretty well.

When she’s commissioned to do a mural on the wall of Cedar Ridge Resort by Hudson’s mom, who doesn’t always have her brain working correctly, she’s excited. Hudson is against it from moment one. He’s outvoted by his siblings however so Bailey starts work on the mural, making it look like a large tree – representing a family tree – and then paints in all the family members of Cedar Ridge.

Hudson is head of the Ski Patrol and is an extremely busy guy. He doesn’t have time to watch over Bailey and is frustrated because he can’t seem to stay away from her. Despite his best efforts he finds himself seeking her out more and more. Pretty soon Bailey has decided that she wants a one night stand with Hudson. Their sexual tension is off the charts so she’s going for it. They each discover that one night isn’t enough but Bailey’s not sure Hudson can open himself up enough to let her stay in his heart for good.

My Kind of Wonderful is a great book. I found the characters to be interesting and fun and there was a great dose of humor in there too.

It was difficult reading about what Bailey had been through but Shalvis didn’t get too into detail. Bailey didn’t want pity so she didn’t talk about it much. She was a strong character and I loved her to death. She had such a great outlook on life and pretty much always had a smile on her face. She was really perfect for Hudson and brought out the best in him – the one he’d locked away.

Hudson had immense guilt about so many things that had happened in his life. His mom being mentally ill (like he could control that) and having a fight with his brother that he felt drove him away. He didn’t want to let anyone in to his life other than his siblings and mom but Bailey had a way about her that he couldn’t resist. I liked seeing how he slowly started to confide in and trust her more each day. Yes, he pulled the typical dick move near the end of the book that almost broke them up but luckily Bailey was a smart woman and took it for what it was – fear.

This book made me laugh and tear up and have all sorts of emotions while reading it. When it was finished I loved almost everything about it and I definitely recommend it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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RESCUE ME
Cedar Ridge, Colorado, is famous for crisp mountain air, clear blue skies, and pine-scented breezes. And it's the last place Lily Danville wants to be. But she needs a job, and there's an opening at the hottest resort in her hometown. What has her concerned is the other hot property in Cedar Ridge: Aidan Kincaid-firefighter, rescue worker, and heartbreaker. She never could resist that devastating smile . . .

The Kincaid brothers are as rough and rugged as the Rocky Mountains they call home. Aidan has always done things his own way, by his own rules. And never has he regretted anything more than letting Lily walk out of his life ten years ago. If anyone has ever been in need of rescuing, she has. What she needs more than anything are long hikes, slow dances, and sizzling kisses. But that can only happen if he can get her to give Cedar Ridge-and this bad boy-a second chance . . .

Tracy’s review of Second Chance Summer (Cedar Ridge #1) by Jill Shalvis

Aidan is completely surprised to hear that Lily Danville is coming back to town. He had a thing for her 10 years earlier but after the deaths of her sister and father she left town. Now she’s back and Aidan, as much as he tells himself he doesn’t, wants to know if he can finally make something of a relationship with Lily.

Lily isn’t thrilled to be back in Cedar Ridge but circumstances in San Diego changed to the point that she had to take her best friends offer to work in the resort salon with him. Returning to town brings up a whole bunch of memories that Lily’s done a great job of stuffing down and she’s not ready to face them. On top of that she really likes Aidan but she’s got so much guilt about her sister’s death that she doesn’t feel that she deserves love. On top of that she’s anxious to get out of town when a better job comes along – which never happens.

Aidan is a persuasive guy and is pretty much relentless with Lily – but in a thoroughly good way. She tries to stay away from the man but she finally realizes that she cares about him too much to ever let go.

Although this story definitely included some angst it wasn’t between the MC’s and I really liked that. I thought that the overall tone of the book was pretty light-hearted even though there were some serious issues happening in the story.

I adored the relationship that Aidan had with his family – Gray (+ his wife Penny), Hudson, Kenna and his mother, Char. Overprotective, yes, but I always felt the love even when they were arguing and disagreeing. The pranks the guys played on each other were pretty classic and I loved the good natured way they handled it all.

Lily had had such a lonely life, really. Yes, her mother was still alive but rarely around as she was travelling quite a bit. Lily tried to deal with the deaths of her sister and father the best way she knew how – which was to run away from everything and try to ignore her feelings. This worked for a while but when she came back to Cedar Ridge Aidan forced her to see A) how she’d been ignoring her feelings and B) how to deal with them. I just loved them as a couple and loved their HEA as well.

A great start to a new series. I can’t wait to read Hudson’s book next.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Grand Central Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.