Rowena’s review of Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis.

Hero: Wade O’Riley
Heroine: Samantha McNead
Grade: 4.75 out of 5

After a woman claims she’s pregnant with Wade O’Riley’s love child, Major League Baseball’s most celebrated catcher and ladies’ man is slapped on the wrist by management and ordered to improve his image. His enforcer is the team’s publicist, the tough and sexy Samantha McNead.

When Wade needs a date for a celebrity wedding, Sam steps up to the plate as his “girlfriend.” But given her secret crush on him and that one awkward night a year ago in a stuck elevator with too much scotch, the whole thing is an exercise in sexual tension.

Wade is thrilled when the pretense turns into an unexpected night of hot passion. But the next day Sam is back to her cool self. As a catcher, Wade’s used to giving the signals, not struggling to read them. Now, to win the love of his “pretend” girlfriend, he needs a homerun–even it involves
stealing a few bases…

This is the second book in Jill Shalvis’ baseball series and for me, it’s another winner. Jill Shalvis excels at writing charming characters that leap right off the pages and into your heart. The first book in the series, Double Play is where we meet the hero and heroine of this book. The hero, Wade is Pace’s best friend and the catcher for the Santa Barbara Heat. Sam, the heroine is the publicist for the team and it’s a well known fact that these two don’t necessarily get along and they’re troubles started in a hotel elevator in Atlanta.

It was the hottest encounter that either of them have ever had and that night in the elevator has definitely stayed with both of them but because they don’t know how to play nice with each other in front of everyone, they’ve stayed far away from each other but all of that went out the window when Tia (the crazy stalker from Double Play) turns her attention to Wade. She claims that she’s pregnant with Wade’s love child and Sam has to clean up his image. The big bosses solution? Wade and Sam play boyfriend and girlfriend to show the public that Wade is not the irresponsible douchebag that would get a crazed stalker fan pregnant.

This book was a lot of fun to read because in true Shalvis fashion, the laughs kept coming and the characters were fantastic. I loved Wade when we first met him in Double Play and I loved Sam as well. I thought they were both great characters and was totally excited to hear that they were getting their own book. I couldn’t wait because as much as I loved Pace and Holly, for me…it was all about Wade and Sam. I was not disappointed.

Getting the backstory on both of these characters was great. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book and I definitely think that this book will be on a lot of keeper shelves just like it is on mine. I thought the chemistry between Wade and Sam was real and I thought it was well written. They were perfect for each other and seeing Wade fall for Sam and watching Sam soften toward Wade was just too frickin’ cute.

I enjoyed the side characters as well. LOVED Tag and I was really happy that Wade was able to fix his relationship with his Dad. I loved seeing Pace and Holly again and it was good to see them actually involved in the story and not just mentioned or seen dropping by or whatever. Most authors tend to just mention characters from previous books but what I like about Jill Shalvis books is that she actually puts the old characters into the new books and have them play secondary roles which don’t take away from the main characters and still add depth to the story. I loved seeing Pace get on Wade to get his shit together before he misses out on something great. I loved seeing him involved in helping Sam feel better about picking up John from the bus station. I really just love Jill Shalvis’ writing.

This book is a whole lot of fun and if you’re looking for another great baseball romance than this book is the book for you. My only complaint is that the end felt kind of rushed but aside from that, I loved everything! Wade and Sam’s story flies by really fast but it’s a rolicking good time. I’m so glad that I read this book and am looking forward to more…who’s next Jill, Gage? I’m mighty intrigued about him.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here.