Head Over Heels [Mass Market Paperback]

The Lucky Harbor series has become one of my favorite contemporary series, and Head Over Heels didn't disappoint.

Over the past year, Chloe has moved to the small northern town of Lucky Harbor, has come to know her two half-sisters Tara and Maddie, and together, they have renovated and opened their own bed and breakfast. While Chloe helps out with all the chores around the B&B, she is an aesthetician and loves to create natural products for spa treatments. She is known as the "wild child," always doing impulsive things. Having grown up with a mom who traveled with the Grateful Dead and having no idea who her father is, she is more of a free spirit. She also suffers from severe asthma attacks, and because that limits her physical activity so much, she tries to push limits elsewhere. Lately, though, she has been working on being more responsible to prove to her sisters that she can be a productive partner of the B&B.

During her time in Lucky Harbor, she has come to know the town's beloved sheriff, Sawyer. Although, he's not so beloved by her, because they are at each other's throats most of the time. Sawyer is a very straight-laced, serious (and totally gorgeous!) sheriff. Having spent his youth getting into some serious trouble, he has completely turned his life around and now works to make his town as safe as it can be. He has a huge heart but is a little shyer when it comes to romance. He is totally attracted to Chloe but has tried to keep his distance from this woman who is always surrounded by drama. But that isn't going to last for long.

Head Over Heels is such a fun, sexy book. We've met both Chloe and Sawyer in the first two books, and I couldn't wait to see how the crazy Chloe paired up with the more serious Sawyer would play out. And it is so cute. Their sexual tension just builds and builds with every conversation and heated look they share. Being sheriff, Sawyer has this innate calm and protective aura, and it is fun to watch him try to keep his composure as he frequently pulls Chloe out of her self-made tangles. Whether she is rescuing dogs or trying out the natural mud up in the woods, she seems to always get in trouble, and he seems to always be there to pull her out. He is such a cop through-and-through that I love watching him try to loosen up around Chloe.

With Chloe's asthma, they can't just fall into bed together. Chloe must prepare her body for stimulation, or she goes into an asthma attack. So spontaneous sex is out for them. But with how thoughtful Sawyer is, their romance scenes become a very quiet, sensual affair, and are really well done.

*****
"So I have this thing I do before sex. A test. An 'Is He Inhaler Worthy?' test."

He just stared at her. "There's a test. Before sex."

"Yes. And I should tell you, not many pass."
*****

And then after a few passionate kisses:

*****
"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd be worth the inhaler," he said, then forced himself to walk away into the night.
*****

Besides the great relationship, we get really nice scenes with other members of Lucky Harbor. Some heartwarming scenes from Chloe's best friend, Lance, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and hilarious scenes from the elderly Lucille, who obsessively posts town gossip on Facebook.

I think this one can be read as a stand-alone book, but I encourage you to try the first two in the series, where you meet all the characters of this really fun town.

First I have to start by saying I have a new book boyfriend crush, and his name is Sawyer. He's been in the background during the first 2 books in this series as we watched his best friends, Jax and Ford, fall in love, and Sawyer found himself still single yet drawn to Chloe, the half-sister of Maddie and Tara, the women his best friends fell for. Chloe is a bit of a wild child, not in a bad way, but she has a hard time settling down, having grown up in a van traveling around with her mom. She is also very resistant to letting Maddie and Tara in, she's convinced that people will just come and go, and getting attached or even worse, loving someone, will only lead to disappointment and heartbreak. But the sisters are all now committed to making their inn a success and Chloe finds herself wanting to stick around more and more and starts having plans of her own in Lucky Harbor.

Sawyer is the kind of hero that I absolutely love reading about. He had a bit of a troubled past, causing problems as a teen and on one horrible night was involved in a crash that killed his 2 friends and ended a friendship with another. It was a wake-up call for him, and with no support from his dad, he turned his life around and now as the town sheriff, he tries so hard to be the perfect person for Lucky Harbor. He goes above and beyond in his job and it's wearing him down. He tries to be everything to everyone and he stops having fun and doesn't have a reason to enjoy life, until Chloe comes around. He's a strong, silent hero that is always there for his friends and family, even when said family doesn't want him there, and on top of all that, he's damn sexy. How can you not love a guy like this?

**********
Chloe stood there, her back to their little circle, lit by the glow of the flames as she squinted to see into the woods. She was waiting, the concern etched on her face.

For him.

That was different. He's always been the one to look after people and wasn't used to it going the other way. And yet he could see it plain as day. Tough as she was, she let her emotions show, every single one of them.

He wasn't good at that and didn't want to be. He hadn't managed to stay alive on the job by being an open book. Anything he felt, he kept to himself. And actually, sometimes he wasn't sure he even had any emotions to hide.

But all he had to do was look at Chloe and know that he did. He had way too many feelings. It'd been a damn long time since he'd let anything penetrate, but she'd gotten through. In fact, what he felt for her had invaded his life.
**********

Chloe has been struggling to fit in to the family her sisters are trying to make in Lucky Harbor. She's always been a wanderer and actually having roots somewhere and staying for the long haul is a horribly scary prospect for her and she fights it initially. She helps out at the inn, still travels as she builds up her spa business, but she starts to have these crazy plans, crazy for her, of opening up a spa at the inn and making a long term commitment. The sisters aren't too sure at first, they're not convinced that Chloe will really stick around, but she sets out to prove that this is something she can commit to. It's really the start of her looking at her life differently and she begins to let people in a little bit more when she had been so used to keeping everyone at arms length.

Chloe is sarcastic, uses humor to lighten any situation and she had me laughing through the whole book. She brings fun and energy into Sawyer's life and together they were such an enjoyable, sexy couple to read about. Chloe battles with severe asthma, and one of the sweetest scenes was when they were in bed and Sawyer tells her that he researched asthma and learned about ways they could still be together without compromising her health and breathing. It was beyond sweet and it was nice to see that her asthma isn't something that's pushed aside in the story, it's a big issue for Chloe and with Sawyer's help, she's able to enjoy moments that she had never thought possible.

Jill Shalvis writes couples so well, and the humor and love between Sawyer and Chloe grabbed me from the beginning, but I also love the way the sisters are written. They have some touching and hilarious scenes, and even as they get closer as the book goes on, Chloe doesn't lose that sarcastic edge. While we can see that Chloe is changing, wanting things that she's never wanted before with regards to her family and the inn, she's still Chloe deep down and doesn't think twice about giving a wet willy to someone or driving her drunk sisters up to the mud springs for a little midnight dip.

This is a wonderful addition to the Lucky Harbor series and while I'm sad to see the sisters stories come to an end, I'm so happy that Shalvis is keeping the small town series going with more books coming next year. There are a few characters that show up in HEAD OVER HEELS that I'd love to know more about. Amy, who works at Eat Me, the local diner and "Cute Guy"...who wouldn't be curious about a guy who's only known in the town as "Cute Guy"?! This book is going on the keeper shelf and I already can't wait to reread and enjoy it again.

Blog Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Jill Shalvis has done it yet again. With a cast of heartwarming and sometimes quirky characters, she has done a splendid job in bringing to life the story of my two favorite protagonists from the Lucky Harbor series. Jax Cullen and his toolbelt (yep, still talking about that one every chance I get), just might have to move over and make room for the big, brawny and hotter-than-sin-in-uniform, bad-boy turned Sheriff of Lucky Harbor Sawyer Thompson.

If the reaction of fellow readers of the Lucky Harbor series is anything to go by, the story of Chloe Traeger aka the wild one and the youngest of the siblings and the stoic Sawyer is the one story that has been anticipated by fans ever since the publication of the first book in the series. There is nothing like the sparks that fly between two direct opposites, who somehow eventually find that amongst the differences lie similarities between them which bind them together, especially with the hotter than fire sexual tension that ALWAYS seems a constant whenever they are together.

Sawyer is a man with a tainted past; a fact for which he has been trying to atone for, for a long time. Curbing the wild side which had gotten him into more trouble than he would rather remember, it is no wonder that Chloe with her free spirited nature clash more than once, with enough sparks flying between the two of them to singe a passerby. Sawyer might not like to admit the fact that when it comes to Chloe, his legendary cool is a distant memory, and for Chloe whose gypsy-style upbringing makes it hard for her to curb the wild streak which forever seems to land her in trouble with the sexy Sheriff, saying no is not even an option.

With her sisters Tara and Maddie, for the very first time ever, Chloe feels the stirrings of belonging and makes her long for the stability that comes with being rooted to one place. But her wild adventures makes her have to work hard to turn the image around, to win the trust of her sisters and in the process falls hard and fast for Sawyer who just makes her panties melt with one well placed scorching glance.

I loved every single thing about the 3rd book in the Lucky Harbor series. It was so much fun to see how Tara and Maddie are faring, especially Maddie who always seems to be caught in one clandestine position or the other with her fiance Jax. The most heartwarming factor of these novels of course is the relationship that seems to develop and foster right in front of your eyes when it comes to the three sisters who would never have come together if it wasn't for their mother's will.

Next comes my absolute favorite part of the novel to talk about. And you get 3 lucky guesses, which I am betting with everything I have that it wouldn't be hard for anyone to guess. The uber sexy Sawyer of course who just manages to melt me on the spot with his gruff and tough nature beneath which lies a heart of gold that just made me fall head over heels in love with him right from the very beginning. And Jill has certainly achieved her goal of giving Gena the big, tough and stoic hero whom she asked for; because I for one loved every big, tough and stoic inch of him to pieces. I am telling you, there were moments in the novel that I thought if Sawyer were to get any more sexier, spontaneous human combustion wouldn't remain a myth much longer!

Chloe is not one to be missed out on either. She is the type of hero who would just melt your heart because she is this endearing mix of wildness together with a deep yearning in her heart to belong, to be needed and to feel. With Sawyer she finds that she feels much, much more than she has ever felt with anyone, that explosive orgasm in the shower one of the best parts of the novel. How Sawyer and Chloe take care of each other with those little things that mean so darn much; needless to say Jill completely won me over with their story.

Heartwarming, toe-curlingly sexy, endearing and a whole lot of fun in between, Head Over Heels is a must read for any fan of contemporary romance and of course for the fans of Lucky Harbor series.

Blog Rating=5/5

Reviewed by Maldivian Book Reviewer (MBR)

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