Rumor Has It

Rumor Has It
by Jill Shalvis
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
We jump right into the middle of this story with Griffin and Kate because they meet right away and already have a long-ago shared history. Every story set in Sunshine, Idaho is interconnected but they release so slowly that I never remember who's who right when I start the book. The last book, Rescue My Heart, is about Adam and Holly. Griffin is Holly's brother and Kate is Holly's best friend. They've known each other for ages but they're being thrown together now for Holly and Adam's wedding.

Kate is a caretaker for everyone. She's a school teacher, surrogate mother to her siblings, housekeeper to her father. She even takes care of her ex-boyfriend/best male friend. I honestly had no idea where she found the time for all these things, but that's pretty typical of Jill Shalvis characters – they're so busy, they must not sleep or something.

Kate doesn't really take care of herself; the best she can manage is an occasional run or something to work off all the ice cream she eats. She's been offered a full scholarship for a master's program, but she can't convince herself to accept it when she's so “needed” where she is. She's so very scared of losing her place in life. She shows she cares by doing for people and what will happen to her heart if she's not there to take care of everyone. It ends up being rather unhealthy, the way Kate enables everyone to depend on her. I got really frustrated sometimes with her family, not just for relying on her, but really they used her and dumped a lot of grief on her too. Ok, so it was mostly her teenage sister, but sometimes I really wanted to smack her and I got irritated that no one did.

Between Holly and Kate's ex (Ryan), she had some nice caring friends. They don't take advantage of her, but they do let her express her love by taking care of them. I loved that Kate was able to have a good male friend without any added weirdness from Griffin or others. It was really nice to see that kind of confidence and security between all the characters that no one started looking sideways at them because they were friends.

Holly warns Griffin to stay away from Kate because (obviously) he's a love-'em-and-leave-'em type. But especially with a little wedding related alcohol in her system, Kate really wants Griffin even if it's only for a night. It's something Kate's started convincing herself that she should do just because she wants it. Some way of taking care of herself, fulfilling her needs, taking some part of life by the horns and not letting opportunity pass her by.

Griffin is trying to find a place where he belongs after being injured in the military. He ran as fast as he could from Sunshine, Idaho as a teenager, but now thinks that maybe he could belong there. He's hurting inside and out and Kate is a great panacea for his pain. She adds him to her list of people she cares for and tries everything she can to help him. Griffin seems like the first person that actually tries to give something back to her. I loved that about him. He let her express her own caring, but also turned it around on her and took care of her too. Even when they're not sure where things are going between them, they both reflect affection very clearly.

Most of the time, I thought that Griffin and Kate were really alike. They were both so good at taking care of people and effortlessly showed people they cared. They also didn't get upset when the other person was caring for them. No hurt feeling or saying “don't baby me” and stuff. It was like they really understood each other.

I found it so amusing that Griffin ends up second guessing himself and being the insecure one. Kate seems totally ok with her decisions in regards to Griffin, but Griffin always seems confused. Kate's too busy with life to let herself wait around and pine for a guy, but Griffin's always wondering if she's upset about something. It was a nice switch to have the guy be a little insecure instead of putting that onto the female character.

They did have their times of messing up, which were frustrating and upsetting to see. In trying to deal with his pain, Griffin ends up being a bit nasty towards the end, but they were able to work things out eventually.

I usually have a couple good laughs from these books, but I think this one was more of a smile with a couple surprising tearful moments too. The caring in this book was so well written that you really felt for these characters. It was another good comfort read. Definitely nicest if you have a long afternoon to just sit and read all day, but still good when you only have small snatches of time.

Always On My Mind

Always On My Mind
by Jill Shalvis
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I don't think I can made it through life without reading Jill Shalvis books. Even when I'm not totally happy with them, I need a hit whenever a new one comes out. They're so great to just sit and relax with. This one is no different. It was a nice, comfortable book with a good storyline and relatable characters.

Leah was a wonderfully complex heroine. She is caring and warm to everyone, but keeps people at a distance. She's still trying to figure out what to do with her life, even though we all sort-of know what she should be doing. She doesn't feel like she's ever accomplished anything, but she's pretty much perfect at everything she does. She's got the secret crush going which is very cute.

Jack is a tough firefighter who takes care of Leah and his mom and even a cast off dog that gets into lots of trouble. He's a hero that everyone likes and he's really hot. He takes the gossips in stride, doesn't have a temper, is secretly sentimental, and has loved Leah forever. He's so sweet and perfect, but he doesn't want to “find love” because he's afraid he'll die. He had some growing to do, but for the most part this felt like a book for Leah to grow more so than Jack. He has a few issues to work out, but mainly he's been waiting for Leah for always. I liked how much he cared for everyone and how he could play the hero without being reckless. He may live in his dad's shadow, but he doesn't need to go out looking for danger.

I felt a little like Jack and Leah both didn't quite line up with the image I had of them from previous books, but I can't say for sure what it was that was different. I liked who they were and I liked who they became but it felt like there was something significantly different. Maybe I will figure it out one day when I go back and read the whole series in a row.

We get a lot of the extra Lucky Harbor characters showing up in this book. For most of them, I think they were thrown in just to give the book a sense of place. Most of them didn't figure very prominently in the storyline. Even Lucille, the facebook gossip junky, was only mentioned a couple times. The main secondary characters, like Jack and Leah's family members and the other firefighters, were well written and kept the story well-bounded.

Some of the sexist talk still bothers me. I honestly don't know anyone that talks that way – calling someone a vagina, for example. It feels like that idea that you can't be an “alpha” unless you belittle femininity. I don't get it and I see so many great authors that write alphas without this, but I try not to let it get to me because I really like the writing and it's so nice to curl up and lose myself for a little while with one of these books.

I can't say I laughed out loud at these characters' antics and I did guess who the “villain” was within the first part of the book, but I had a smile on my face through the whole thing. I liked seeing where Leah and Jack would go. I felt like I was a part of their life and had a stake in their future. I was happy they worked out their problems and I liked seeing them each grow and sort through their issues.

This is a perfect book to pick up when you're waiting for the kids, in the middle of cooking dinner or when you just need some time to yourself. It's the kind of book I grab when I'm on the go. I know that I can pick it up and read a few pages and not get lost if I have to put it down again. I felt good every time I read it, even if I only had time to catch a few more pages before I was needed again. I'll look forward to the next installment of the characters from Lucky Harbor – and anything else Jill Shalvis writes in the meantime.