Title: He's So FineAuthor: Jill Shalvis
Series: Lucky Harbor, #11
Published: September 30, 2014 (Grand Central Publishing)
Rating: Staying in Tonight
Format: Egalley provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review (Thanks!); paperback borrowed from my sister, borrowed from the library.
Summary: For Olivia Bentley, Lucky Harbor is more than the town where she runs her new vintage shop. It's the place where folks are friendly to strangers-and nobody knows her real name. Olivia does a good job of keeping her past buried, not getting too cozy with anyone . . . until she sees a man drowning. Suddenly she's rushing into the surf, getting up close and personal with the hottest guy she's ever laid hands on.I had He's So Fine for several weeks before I finally read it. I would look at it, get excited, then stop before I actually read the first line. Why? Because reading it would mean there would only be one more Lucky Harbor book for me to read ever, and that's just a terrible thought. Thankfully, the release date came around, and my cousin devoured this book faster than you can say "sa-woon." This, of course, prompted me to finally crack it open (figuratively speaking, obviously, as it was on my Nook), so we could discuss it!
Charter boat captain Cole Donovan has no problem with a gorgeous woman throwing her arms around his neck in an effort to "save" him. In fact, he'd like to spend a lot more time skin-to-skin with Olivia. He's just not expecting that real trouble is about to come her way. Will it bring her deeper into Cole's heart, or will it be the end of Olivia's days in little Lucky Harbor?
As always, it was wonderful to be back in Lucky Harbor. I always like seeing it through the eyes of characters who are both new to town (Olivia) and those who grew up there (Cole). And, of course, those who make the town as quirky as it is (Lucille, who had recently navigated the transition from Facebook to Tumblr, due to their less restrictive photo policies, all the better for posting shirtless photographs of our favorite resident ship captain).
Oh, Cole. He is what made this book for me. Truthfully, I was surprised to learn this book was about him, because in the Lucky Harbor mini-trilogies, the most intriguing hero of the three is usually saved for the last book, and I was drawn to Cole immediately. (I am certainly eager for Tanner's now! Who knows what amazingness Shalvis has been holding out on us?) Far be it from me to complain, though! I'll take a nice, sexy, honest, comfortable-in-his-own-skin handyman any day of the week. Cole had some things he had to work through, but he was definitely the star of the show.
Olivia was a little difficult to get to know as a character, because she was hiding a lot of her past. She had been a child star named Sharlyn, but her super popular show was canceled when at age 16, she finally looked too old to convincingly play a young girl anymore. After this, she had a typical Hollywood meltdown, went into hiding, and rebuilt her life as Olivia. She was scrappy, smart, and dedicated, but she was also used to being secretive and hiding her past. This created a problem when she started to get involved with Cole, who was all about the honesty.
Their interactions were spectacular! I mean, really. Their first official meeting happened because she jumped into the water to rescue Cole after watching him fall from a boat, only to make matters worse because he was actually fine, and she had no idea what she was doing. It was hilarious! She had the best of intentions, though, you had to hand it to her. Though they got started on kind of a crazy foot, Cole and Olivia fell into something like friendship pretty quickly and naturally, but although they had some pretty sizzling attraction, things had to be worked out before either was ready for a real commitment.
I only had a few small problems with this book. One is that the book felt kind of thrown together at times, the writing a little rushed. I would have liked to see some of the details a little more fleshed out, and I definitely wanted more interaction between the three main guys.
However, I was super excited to see Callie, Becca and Olivia's new neighbor, show up! She's clearly going to be the third heroine, and I'm already anticipating her story. Especially since she used to have a crush on Tanner AND is related to Lucille. I know the next book is going to rock. If I can ever convince myself to read it, that is. But if He's So Fine - and all the previous Shalvis books I've read - taught me one thing, it's this: Saying "yes" to a Jill Shalvis book is always the right answer.
First: For a guy balancing his weight between the stern of his boat and the dock, thinking about sex instead of what he was doing was a real bonehead move.
Favorite: “You’re engaged to be married,” Callie reminded her.
“Yes, but it’s Captain Jack Sparrow,” Becca said. “He’s a fictional character. You’re allowed to lust after fictional characters when you’re engaged. It’s in the Engaged Handbook somewhere.”
Teaser: “Just because we’ve done...it,” she said, “doesn’t mean–”
“We discussed your sexual vocabulary. ‘It’ is not on the list of acceptable descriptions for what we did.”
“Fine,” she said. “We had wild monkey sex that ruined me for all other men. Happy?”
“Getting there.”
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