Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Ty Garrison is the man that Lucky Harbor  is calling “Mysterious Cute Guy.” Apparently the town’s Facebook page is half reportings about seeing him out and about. He’s actually in town trying to recuperate from an accident that injured him and left four of his coworkers dead. Mostly he’s just trying to keep his head down and finish some car repairs.

Mallory is the town good girl. A nurse with an unending well of patience, she’s the “white sheep” in a family of children who liked to cross the line. She’s also working on opening up a health services clinic so that people in need, like her sister who died at eighteen, would be able to get the help that they need without having to pay Emergency Room costs. I like Mallory. She's a good heroine, but not <i>too</i> perfect (that's just annoying in a heroine.)

However, like any good romance heroine. Mallory is ready for a walk on the wild side (as we’re told more than once) and she thinks Ty might be the perfect man. Short-term and just a little dangerous, he’s not interested in setting up with a dog, 2.3 kids, and a white picket fence. “She knew he didn’t want to be her hero.” But she can’t stop herself from going back again and again.

Of course, he can’t either. He finds himself stopping at her car wash, going by her house, replacing her alternator. “Probably he needed to work harder on keeping his distance.” 

It could be such a trite story but Shalvis weaves humor with a good dose of common sense and reality checks (e.g. we can’t just let our veterans fend for themselves after they’ve fought to protect our freedoms. 

Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann

Well, this is certainly a departure from Brockmann's SEAL series. I don't know that regular Brockmann readers will like the story, but I think readers new to this author (not bringing in the high expectations from  her must-read Troubleshooter's series) and those with an open mind will enjoy this book.
Like all Brockmann books, this is a book with a primary romance and many secondary romances. It's set in a dystopian future where the government tracks everyone and there are bad, bad forces at work. Of course, there is also a team of good guys, the Obermeyer Institute, headed up by Joseph Bach, who is one of the "Greater Thans," humans who use many talents including telekinesis and mind control. Normal people (or "Less Thans"), like Shane Laughlin, don't know that these people exist. But he's about to find out. He's been tapped by OI as a potential Greater Than. He's not sure what this group is or why they're willing to hire him (he was dishonorably discharged, a BFD in this future), but he's willing to take a chance. The night before he joins, he is picked up by Mac Mackenzie (do NOT call her Michelle) who is (this is a romance, is it any surprise) one of the Greater Thans. She can do many things including tweaking her appearance and projecting sexual energy (I like that one. It's my new pick for "what would your superpower be?").
The secondary characters and romances are always great. As with the Troubleshooters series, there is a M/M romance that is explored just as much as the M/F relationship. I did feel that Elliot and Diaz got a little bit of a short shrift and hope that we will learn more about them in future stories because I really connected with Elliot's character
This is an interesting start to a new series. There was a LOT going on (which is a Brockmann signature, but it was even more than usual) and some of the plot lines were underdeveloped but this is one of my read-every-book authors so I will definitely be reading the second book. I think it's awesome that she's branching out into a new genre, I'm just hoping the next book is a return to the five-star Brockmann.

The Odds by Stewart O'Nan

What a wonderful weaver of language! A lot of reviews complain that this is not O'Nan's best work, but never having read him before, I enjoyed the book highly. This book was shorter than I expected, having gotten it as an ARC from NetGalley. It's only two hundred pages but packs a tight story in those short passages.
"...she thought, if offered, she might actually seize the opportunity to rewind to sixteen or seventeen and start over to avoid all of this--then remembered [her children]. You couldn't relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole--like the world, or the person, you loved. With the Southern Comfort warming her, short-circuiting her thoughts, the idea seemed profound..."
Art and Marion have been married for thirty years. They've had ups and downs (and infidelities) but right now is definitely a down. Because of the downturn in the economy, both have been laid off from their jobs. They are in the morass of unlucky people who were approved for home loans that they never should have been given. Combine the job loss, the massive mortgage and several bad money choices and they're at their wits end. The plan is to declare bankruptcy and then divorce. The divorce is supposed to be for show but Marion is starting to wonder if she shouldn't just let it stand. She's tired of this marriage and tired of Art. Art, on the other hand, is an eternal optimist and ready to try to make it all work. This is the story of one last hurrah, a trip to their honeymoon destination, just to see if they can recapture the magic in their marriage, and maybe earn a little money while gambling as well.

Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

I loved this book, mainly because I liked seeing the evolution of Parker Welles. She was always a good erson and I had hoped that this character introduced in Next Best Thing would get her own story. She had a child out of wedlock with a man who ended up marrying her best friend. Yes, it's hard for her to see the two of them so happy, but she's also generous enough to be as happy as she can for them. They've taken her son with them on a vacation so Parker is especially lonely.

Of course, the other aspects of her life aren't going so well for her right now.  She grew up wealthy but hasn't really talked to her father in almost two decades and now he's lost all of the family money, including her son's. All she has left is a house left to her by an eccentric aunt she never knew. As for her career... she's finally finished up a successful series of books (which she hated), all of the proceeds of which were given to her favorite charity and she's now in the middle of some extreme writer's block. Now, her father's lawyer, nicknamed Thing One, has followed her up to the... well, it's a shack... and is hanging around trying to help Parker out.

Thing One, er, James Cahill, has a complicated past with Parker. He has been the son that Parker's father always wanted and has been closer to him than Parker was. I did like the fact that James had his own complicated back story and wasn't just the he-man alpha male that he could have been.

Kristan Higgins is a wonderful contemporary author and proves that yet again in this story, weaving humor, romance, and even some serious topics with a deft touch that has you hoping that this story won't end, even as you turn the last page.

Readalikes: Suzanne Elizabeth Phillips, Jennifer Crusie

Kiss Me, I'm Irish - Anthology

I don't normally read anthologies that have re-issued stories, but when I asked to read this book from NetGalley, I didn't realize that these stories came from 2006, 2003, and 2005 respectively.

The Sins of His Past by Roxanne St. Claire
Okay. This is very twelve-year-old-boy, but the "hero's" first name is Deuce. As in, "I'm going to drop a..." No. Just... no.
So, Kendra Locke has been in love with Deuce Monroe forever. But he slept with her, then walked away to realize his dreams of being a big-time ball player. But now he's come home (after crashing a race car) to run the family bar and expects to pick up his life just where he left off. Without telling anyone that he's coming back. After years of not communicating. And he's shocked to realize that the former Irish bar is now a computer cafe.
It's hard to make a good short story and St. Claire definitely tries. There was just so much history with Deuce and Kendra, it would have been a great novel-length book.

Tangling with Ty by Jill Shalvis.
Oh, I love Jill Shalvis. At least her full-length novels, but, again, too much going on. Ty's secret past coming back, Nicole having to deal with being an over-worked doctor/former child-genius, trying to meet her family's expectations, and getting hit on by her boss. Why did that last need to be in there? It didn't really add to Nicole's character.
There was more development of a relationship in this story which was nice to see.

Whatever Reilly Wants by Maureen Child
We're introduced to Connor Reilly as one of three brothers who made a bet to see who could last ninety days without sex. One brother is already down and Connor is confident that he's going to win. At least until his best friend suddenly decides that she's not content to be just one of the guys. Does he have what it takes to hold out and win the bet? Or will Emma be more important?

And then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Gurhke

Miss Emmaline Dove is the consummate secretary. In the five years she's worked for the Viscount Marlowe, she's made his life easier than he deserves. She smooths all of his bumps including buying gifts for his family, meeting with his publishers, and even giving his mistresses their conge. She's grateful that he has given her the chance to prove that women can do the same job as men, and he even pays her the same salary as her male counterparts. But she really wants to be an author and Marlowe keeps turning her down, telling her she's just not writing the sort of thing that people would be interested in. And she's believed him. Until her thirtieth birthday, when she realizes that he's never even cracked one of her manuscripts. So she quits (it's not a hissy fit, just an acceptance of the situation.) Marlowe isn't concerned at first, but then his office starts falling apart and Emma gets a job with his greatest competitor. The woman that he hired "just to make a point in the House," transformed his life and then left it in shambles. Suddenly, Miss Dove has stepped out of the role as secretary and the Viscount is seeing her as a woman. Can these two separate their personal and professional lives (did I mention that Harry (the viscount) bought the publisher Emma now works for? But her column is so popular he can't afford to let her go)?

Barefoot Season by Susan Mallery

Michelle Sanderson is returning to Blackberry Island after years at war. She has a hip injury from being shot and PTSD but she wants to go take over the inn left to her by her father.
But the place she left isn't what she remembers. For one, her ex-BFF, Carly Williams, is now the inn's manager. Why is she ex? Well, it seems that Carly found her fiance and Michelle (our heroine?) in bed together. A pregnant Carly married the man anyway and he promptly ran off with all her money. But Michelle's mother helped Carly out and now she's running the inn, even living there with her now-ten-year-old daughter.
Michelle tries to fire Carly but finds out that under the terms of the second mortgage on the inn (it seems she left her mother to run the place, and she did, right into the ground,) Carly has to stay in charge. Michelle obviously can't stay so she finds an apartment on her own.  In order to save the inn, Michelle and Carly will have to figure out a way to work beyond their past.
This is a great look into the life of a returning soldier. Certainly more realistic than most romance novels, including Michelle's problems with alcoholism.
This is not a traditional romance. There are some handsome men in the story (at least one ech for Carly and Michelle,) but the book is really more about exploring the rebuilding of Carly and Michelle's relationship. While the writing style is fairly similar to her other stories, the type of story is a departure from the other Mallery series I've read but a very welcome and enjoyable one. (But please don't stop the Fool's Gold series!)