Review Post : Nobody But You by Jill Shalvis (4 Stars)

Nobody But You by Jill Shalvis
Series: Cedar Ridge #3
Published by Grand Central Publishing on 2016-03-29
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis...

SOMETIMES YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN . . .

After an overseas mission goes wrong, Army Special Forces officer Jacob Kincaid knows where he must go to make things right: back home to the tiny town of Cedar Ridge, Colorado. All he needs to scrub away his painful past is fresh mountain air, a lakeside cabin, and quiet solitude. But what he discovers is a gorgeous woman living on a boat at his dock.

Sophie Marren has nowhere else to go. She's broke, intermittently seasick, and fighting a serious attraction to the brooding, dishy, I'm-too-sexy-for-myself guy who's now claiming her dock. Something about Jacob's dark intensity makes her want to tease-and tempt-him beyond measure.

Neither one wants to give any ground . . .

until they realize the only true home they have is with each other.

FTC : I got this for an honest review from NetGalley. I requested it because I have a severe and inexplicable obsession with Jill Shalvis.

Book-Shelf Hash-Tags :  #GrumpyHero #StrongHeroine #MilitaryMan #ProdigalSon #Smexy #FamilyAngst

Quick Scores :

• Plot – 3.5/5
• Meet-Cute – 5/5
• Romance – 4.5/5
• Sexy Times – 3.5/5
• Characters – 4.5/5
• Chance of a re-read? – I’ve read it like a million times already. I have issues.

What I liked

I like Jill Shalvis. The best way I can describe her writing is charming; her books are light, funny and give you that marshmallow feeling at the end. Would I say they are predictable? Yeah, but I’m OK with that. There isn’t much angst in these books, and most of the internal/external conflicts are easily resolved, but that is part of their charm. You walk into these books knowing they will make you feel good.

Jacob is a great character to read. He’s sexy, funny and has a soft centre that he attempts to keep well hidden. He comes back into this world he has isolated himself from and tries to see how and where he fits so many years later. Now, for me, Jacob’s story could have been far more angsty (he joined the army at 18 never to be seen again, he has distanced himself from his twin brother and he has some serious PTSD causing stories from combat) but this is a Jill Shalvis novel so the novel only glances off the surface of this whole story because light is the aim of the game. I think that would be my only complaint; The back-story that is chosen for Jacob is actually quite dark and it wasn’t really explored in any depth.

Sophie is awesome. I loved the way she made sure she got her revenge on her ex, I loved the way she  fought so hard throughout the book to keep herself afloat and I loved her snark. Seriously, she was an amazing heroine. Her conversations with Lucas were hilarious and I enjoyed the slightly slap-stick scenes between her and Lucas’s many mistresses.

Sophie and Jacob’s romance was very cute to read and I loved that the way they both bring something to the relationship that the other needs. Jill Shalvis writes great romantic scenes and this is littered with them which is why I have read it so many darn times. She has also really has gone big on the comedic dialogue on this book, ensuring I had a smile on my face throughout.

What I didn’t Like

There actually were a couple of things that didn’t sit well within this book for me. As I say, the lack of exploration of Jacob’s back story was a bit of a miss for me but there were a few other things that fell flat.

I felt that the way that the family conflict was resolved was way too easy. I know if I’d have done what Jacob did, I’d be hearing it from my siblings all day everyday for a very long time. Hurt feelings take a long time to heal but there wasn’t really the exploration here that would lead me to believe in the resolution. It took something away from Hud’s story too as I just didn’t believe the way his character dealt with it in this book reflected the depiction of him we got in his book.

I also struggled with Brenna’s story in this because it was so random. It felt so unfinished and just didn’t fit in the flow of the story for me and I ended up skipping through those scenes in my reread. However, the biggest issue I had was with Lucas and his amazing 180. I was left scratching my head at that one; we all know I hate things that are slapdash and that felt like Ms Shalvis wanted to tie off this story and put a bow on it and so gave it no thought.

Overall, a solid read that I have read again and again.