The Trouble with Mistletoe: A Heartbreaker Bay Novel

Every time I read a book by Jill Shalvis I am in love with the characters she creates and writes about; The Trouble with Mistletoe is no exception. It is another example of Shalvis’ sense of humor, her creativity, as well as her outstanding writing ability. This is the second book in her new Heartbreaker Bay series which takes place in San Francisco, where she created a small community of close knit friends who hang out together and support one another. It still has that small town feeling only now it is within a large city. Ms. Shalvis did an amazing job taking the reader through the craziness as Willa and Keane discover each other. Willa was in and out of the foster system growing up with an alcoholic mother who often could not parent. Keane was a late in life surprise to his parents, and his older sisters. Keane’s family all become scientists and professors and he did not quite fit in. Keane is all alpha. He builds things with his hands. In one scene, Willa tells Keane …” you just peed on me in public.” As if he was marking her as his. In another scene, Keane tells Willa, “You can say more with silence than any woman I’ve ever met.” Both Willa and Keane struggle with feeling loved. As Willa’s friend Haley stated to Keane, “She deserves love.” “She gives one hundred percent to everyone and everything but herself so we all knew it was going to be something big when she fell. Someone who knocked her off her feet.” Keane got all of this about Willa. Now if only Willa would accept his feelings or the fact that he loved her. The Trouble with Mistletoe was a fun and entertaining story with loveable characters that you want to support and cheer on hoping for that happy ending. The characters were well written, authentic, and complex. Shalvis is a talented writer, able to create a funny, romantic story that made it hard, at least for this reader, to put the book down. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good contemporary romance that contains a lot of humor mixed in with smexy.

Willa Davis is the successful proprietor of her own pet store, a founding member of a tight posse of friends, and one of the happiest and most full-of-love people around, but that wasn't always the case. Once upon a time, Willa was an outsider, shuffled from one foster home to another, and crushing big time on one Keane Winters. But Keane, like everyone else in Willa's young life, disappointed her and made her feel like she didn't matter. Years later, when life places the two of them in the same space, Willa's the only one that remembers the rejection that she felt way back when. Keane doesn't remember Willa, but he does know that he needs her help, and that she looks pretty darned cute in her aprons with the sassy slogans. Between meddling friends, a diva of a cat, and an aunt worth listening to, Willa and Keane are soon well on the way to healing their rocky past. "You told me your friends are your family. You told me we're friends. Was any of that a lie?" "No, but...I'm trying to resist you here, okay? I'm trying to tell myself we have nothing in common except this weird and extremely annoying chemistry that won't go away...But then you show up at my door, clearly exhausted and rumpled, looking...well, hungry, and it makes me want to do things." "Things like...?" "Take my clothes off. Okay? You make me want to take my clothes off." He started to smile but she poked him again. "Don't say it," she warned. "Don't you dare say that me stripping works for you." "But, Willa, it does work for me. You stripping will always work for me." "Shock," she said. "But friends don't do that. They don't, Keane," she said when he opened his mouth. "And I was going to be okay with that. But then you went ahead and told me you've read Harry Potter." She hesitated and considered him. "Which one?" "All of them." She covered her face and moaned miserably. "All of them," she muttered. "I'm a dead woman. You've just killed me dead." And, this is why I adore Jill Shalvis. Because her books are fun, because her characters are hysterically quirky, because the dialogue flows like a conversation between me and my friends, because it's just so darned enjoyable. And THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE, the second book in Jill's Heartbreaker Bay series, continues to cement her place as one of my immediate go-to authors, and one that I can recommend without reservation. I loved SWEET LITTLE LIES, the first book in the series, and this book is just as heartwarming, just as sexy, and just as endearing. Willa and Keane are more alike than they'd like to admit, which makes them perfect for each other, whether they recognize it or not. I am a sucker for a friends to lovers read, and watching their relationship develop is sweet, sexy, and filled with unforgettable moments. THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE is the perfect read to get in the holiday spirit, and the fact that Jill Shalvis wrote it is more reason to make it a priority and pop it right to the top of you TBR. I loved everything about this 5-star read; if you've not read these books, you're missing out on some seriously sexy, sassy, fun times. ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE (Book 3) is coming in January, so get going with this series now, and get ready for Elle and Archer.

It has been awhile since I have read a Jill Shalvis book but when I was offered the chance to read an ARC of The Trouble with Mistletoe I said of course! Her books are auto-reads for me. Just like all the others I have read, The Trouble with Mistletoe has well developed characters, snarky dialogue, great friends and some smoking hot love scenes. Keane and Willa are an interesting couple. I wasn’t sure I liked their awkward chemistry at first and at times it was a little bit slow. Once things got moving between Keane and Willa and we got to know each of them a little bit more I was all in, though. I wanted them to work so bad. The back and forth between who was in the relationship and who was pulling away was quite an adventure. The love scenes between Keane and Willa were fun. Shalvis knows how to make things light and fun but also incredibly romantic and passionate. It's one of the reasons I read her books! Sexy, fun, and flirty intimate scenes. Something else I have always loved about Jill Shalvis books are the supporting characters that become main characters in other books. This is still true in The Trouble with Mistletoe. Willa’s friends are so much fun to be around and I wish I could meet them in real life. I really liked Keane’s assistant Sass. Her name says it all. There is a lot going on in this book. Not only between Keane and Willa but their own personal growth. I was pulling for both of them to get to the place they needed to truly let go and trust each other. Shalvs writes great characters that you can't help but fall in love with. The Trouble with Mistletoe is a fun, light-hearted, sexy, contemporary romance story that will leave you with a joyful, happy smile.