Review: Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis

 

Better Than Friends (Sunrise Cove #7) by Jill Shalvis

Publication Date: January 21st 2025 by Avon

Pages: 336

Source: Author & Purchased Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads | Audible | Libro.fm

My Thoughts:

Olive is back in Sunrise Cove to support her best friend, Katie, when her husband is injured in an accident. Unfortunately, she’ll be staying under the same roof as Noah, Katie’s brother, and they have a history.

 

Quick flashes from the past gradually reveal the details of Noah and Olive’s friendship and the attraction between them. However, all that came to a halt when Olive accidentally runs Noah over, changing the course of his career path. Olive never forgave herself and accepted an early internship overseas leaving soon after. There’s more to that story that Noah and Katie didn’t know about, and it made me mad!

 

Noah and Olive’s forced proximity makes it impossible to ignore the feelings they’ve always had for each other. Their romance was full of longing, a little bit of hurt, but also a lot of fun with great playful banter!

 

I absolutely loved Better Than Friends! Yes, it was a romance, but so much more! Quirky, fun secondary characters, like Katie, and her little boy Joey. Don’t get me started on the things that came out of his mouth! Hilarious! Not to mention the sweet animals! Holms, the dog, and kitten Pepper, named because she’s spicy and feisty. Their bond was so adorable! I also loved all the original marketing strategies Olive came up with for her customers. The gorgeous, small mountain setting was just icing on the cake for me! Definite recommend!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

Old flames reignite in Sunrise Cove in this charming enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, small-town, forced-proximity love story about family, friendships, and true love from New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis.

When Olive Porter’s off-the-grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all.

As a special investigative agent for the National Park Service, Noah’s used to living under intense pressure. Or he was until he got injured on the job. Now unhappily recuperating at home while being smothered by his loving but nosy family, he’d love nothing more than a good distraction.

So when Olive shows up looking like a million bucks, he has to do a gut and heart check. Because nope, no matter what, he can’t fall for her again, the woman who once blew up his entire life and never looked back. How ironic then that his own personal hell (Olive) is also his ticket out of town. The question is, will the risk be worth the reward?

Connect with Jill Shalvis:

Website | Facebook | X | Instagram | Goodreads

Review: The Backup Plan by Jill Shalvis

 

The Backup Plan (Sunrise Cove #3) by Jill Shalvis

Publication Date: January 17th 2023 by Avon Books

Pages: 384

Source: Publisher & Purchased Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads | Audible

My Thoughts:

Inheriting an old inn forces three childhood friends to return to their hometown and mend fences.  I liked each of the three: Alice, a sassy, independent woman who’s been on the go, never in one place for long since her brother's death. Lauren, Alice’s ex-best friend, who stayed in Sunrise Cove, pitied as the sort of “widow” of Alice’s brother after he died. And then there’s Knox, Alice’s teenage crush, who left and went on to start a successful construction business. He loved the inn and Sunrise Cove, but has his own painful memories drudged up by coming home. 

The Backup Plan was a low-angst story with two romances, and a second-chance-at-bes-friends with Lauren and Alice. They let time and distance get between them but the forced proximity had them remembering how close they were, how much the friendship meant. Knox and Alice tip toe around mutual attraction while working on the inn, and Lauren finds love at the hardware store. Both romances made me smile.

I enjoyed the lessons they learned from Eleanor’s emails.  Some of the revelations they had from them were painful to hear but helped the three face things they wouldn’t have normally.

The story is book three of the series, but it’s not necessary to read the previous books to enjoy it.

The Backup Plan was a feel-good story with friendship, love, and the comfort of finding home again.

4 Stars

Book Description:

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a heartwarming tale of three people who are bought together when they're bequeathed an old Wild West inn that has the potential to pull their lives apart, but instead turns into the gift of a lifetime.


When Alice receives a call about an unexpected windfall, she's stunned to learn the gift is a falling-apart-at-the-seams old Wild West B&B she once considered home--and she's inherited it along with two strangers. Except they weren't always strangers. Once upon a time, they were friends. One is her ex-BFF Lauren. The other is Knox, the only guy to ever break her heart, all while never even knowing she existed.

It turns out their lives are unknowingly entangled because they once separately helped the same woman without expecting anything in return. Years later, Alice, Lauren, and Knox are broken in their own way, with their own history--and secrets-- causing them to start out on the wrong foot with each other. But according to the will, they must renovate and be partners in the inn for one year or else lose their inheritance.

Stuck together, they make a list of rules to keep the peace--rules that end up doing the opposite, but by some miracle they find what they didn't even know they were looking for--acceptance, true friendship, and in a case (or two!), true love.

Review: The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis

The Friendship Pact (Sunrise Cove #2) by Jill Shalvis

Publication Date: June 14th 2022 by William Morrow

Pages: 384

Source: Publisher & Purchased Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Tae was raised by her teenage mother and the two of them barely scraped by growing up. They’re so close in age they’re each other’s best friend and rely heavily on each other. A little too heavily, at first. Tae is finally getting some financial stability running her event planning business, and her biggest client’s partner, Riggs Copeland is a fling from high school, one she’s never forgotten.

Working together unearths buried feelings, instant sexual tension brewing between them. They had a playful relationship with Tae throwing barbs, and Riggs catching them flirtatiously. They want to keep things as friends only, thus their “friendship pact” but as this is a romance I knew their resolve wouldn’t last. They get along so well, which is how they ended up together in the past, so when Tae and Riggs face some tough choices and ghosts from the past they’re there for each other for support and a listening ear. Soon, the attraction simmering between them is too much to pass up! They’re passionate together, their romance full of chemistry even before they got physical, however they have to sort out what exactly this means for their future.

I was a little miffed at Tae’s mom, April, for her secrets and for meddling in Tae’s romantic life, but it did come from a place of love, so it was easy to forgive. Especially since April saw the error of her ways.

The secondary characters were quirky and fun, full of heart. I love how Jill Shalvis brought the beautiful mountain setting of Lake Tahoe to life, making me feel like I was visiting right along with the characters!

4 Stars

Book Description:

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a powerful, moving story about a young woman on a quest to find the truth about her father who learns the meaning of true love along the way.

Alone in the world, Tae Holmes and her mother April pretty much raised each other, but as Tae starts asking questions about the father she's never met, April, for the first time in her life, goes silent. To make matters worse, Tae is dangerously close to broke and just manages to avoid financial meltdown when she lands a shiny new contract with an adventure company for athletes with disabilities and wounded warriors.

Her first big fundraiser event falls flat, but what starts out as a terrible, horrible, no-good night turns into something else entirely when Tae finds herself face-to-face with Riggs Copeland. She hasn't seen the former Marine since their brief fling in high school, and while still intensely drawn to him, she likes her past burned and buried, thank you very much. Hence their friendship pact.

But when April oddly refuses to help Tae track down her father, it's Riggs who unexpectedly comes to her aid. On a hunt to unlock the past, the two of them find themselves on a wild ride and learn a shocking truth, while also reluctantly bonding in a way neither had seen coming. Now Tae must decide whether she's going to choose love ... or walk away from her own happiness.