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5 Stars / Contemporary / Review

Review: Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis

If you’re planning on falling in love…

When it comes to the confident, charismatic Caleb Parker, Sadie Lane feels the spark—the kind that comes from rubbing each other the wrong way. She’s yoga pants, he’s a suit. She’s a tattoo artist, he’s a straight-laced mogul. But after they accidentally co-rescue an abandoned dog from a storm, Sadie sees a vulnerable side to the seemingly invincible hottie.

You’d better be sure…

Caleb doesn’t do emotions. Growing up the underdog, he’s learned the hard way to build up an impenetrable wall. Perfect for business. Disastrous for relationships. He’s never worried about it before—not until he finally gets behind Sadie’s armor and begins to fall.

Someone is there to catch you.

Both guarded and vulnerable, Sadie and Caleb are complete opposites. Or are they? Shocked at their undeniable connection, can they ever admit to wanting more? That all depends on what they’re each willing to risk.

Title:Playing for Keeps
Author:Jill Shalvis
Series:Heartbreaker Bay (Book 7)
Pages:387
Genre(s):Contemporary
Trope(s):Opposites Attract
Point of View:
Location:Cow Hollow District, San Francisco, California, US
HEA:✔️
Release Date:22nd January, 2019
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This one touched my heart

I am a huge fan of Jill Shalvis – there’s something about the way she writes, the worlds she builds and the characters she creates that makes you happy. That makes you feel like you’re part of everything that’s going on in the books. But it’s all done with an ease that you don’t realise you’ve been sucked in until you lift your head and the day has passed you by.

I’ve missed a couple of the more recent Heartbreaker Bay books (for some unknown reason) but each of these books stand alone and you don’t have to read them in any particular order. Characters from other books do pop up but they never confuse you – they only make you want to go back and find their particular books and read their own love stories.

The story of this book is fairly simple. Seemingly opposite boy and girl meet and have an attraction. They dance around the attraction. They overcome the obstacles to fall in love. But that simple storyline is given depth and interest by the amazing characters of Caleb and Sadie.

“Speaking of Caleb – yu-um! He was both the hottest and the cutest.”

There was just something about Sadie that spoke to me and touched my heart. I don’t want to pigeon hole her when I say she was quirky, had baggage and suffered with mental health problems. She was so well-rounded. A tough girl on the outside – but one who’d always felt misunderstood or maybe just overlooked, while on the inside she was crying out for love. I identified so hard with her that I willed her to get over herself (in a nice way) and let herself fall in love with Caleb.

Speaking of Caleb – yu-um! He was both the hottest and the cutest. He was everything. He too had a depth and a bit of an edge – and I so desperately wanted to want him for myself. But alas, you could see that Caleb and Sadie were a perfect match. No-one understood and ‘got’ Sadie as much as Caleb did and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them!

And I can’t forget the best character in the whole book. Lollipop. My heart swelled a million times whenever that cutie-pie was in a scene. She stole the show!

This book has the sparkle and fun of a Jill Shalvis book with great, well-rounded and real characters. Caleb and Sadie stole the show with their chemistry, their banter and their true love. It’s a fantastic addition to the series and one I very much enjoyed. 5 stars.

Jill lives with her family in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters (any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is mostly coincidental). She does most of her writing on her deck surrounded by more animals than humans. Which is quite astonishing considering she’s a city girl who was plucked from the wilds of L.A. to the wilds of the Sierra’s. Most of her books come from a combination of hard work, cookies, and hot guy pics, and not necessarily in that order.

Jill often travels to reader weekends & conventions where she LOVES getting to meet and hang-out with readers. The only problem being she tends to get lost in her hotels. So if you ever see NYTimes Bestselling author Jill Shalvis roaming the halls, someone please return her immediately. 

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Heartbreaker Bay Series:

Book 1
Book 5
Book 2
Book 6
Book 2.5
Book 6.5
Book 3
Book 7
Book 4
Book 8
Book 4.5
Book 8.5

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