Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis

After dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend, Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack's ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a little fib - that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle . . .

No-strings attachments suit Jack just fine - perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their "just friends" rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

*****

4 passionate, romantic, poignant, sexy, laugh out loud funny stars!

Always on My Mind is the 8th book in Jill Shalvis’ brilliant Lucky Harbor series. It’s all the things I mentioned above – passionate, romantic, poignant, sexy, laugh out loud funny – and then some.

I’ve truly enjoyed all the books in the series, but this one hits home in a very personal way, and I can totally relate to Leah’s demons because I share the same ones. But I just love the way Ms. Shalvis can take a character’s heartbreaking situations and turn the trials into triumphs, and the things that can tear you down into things that build you up.

And, as always, the entire cast of characters are people we can connect to. From young adults just trying to find their way in life, to the more “mature” adults who are “old enough to know better but too young (at heart) to care…” each and every person in Lucky Harbor is a person I want to know better. A person I’d love to have as a friend or neighbor, or significant other.

The Bottom Line:

Jill Shalvis is one of the few truly amazing voices in Contemporary Romance, and with Always on My Mind, she’s delivered a beautifully told story about letting go of yesterday’s pain so you can live and love like there’s no tomorrow.

My thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. Again, it’s been a pleasure.