Series: Cedar Ridge #1
Published by Grand Central Publishing on 2015-06-30
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Goodreads
RESCUE ME
Cedar Ridge, Colorado, is famous for crisp mountain air, clear blue skies, and pine-scented breezes. And it's the last place Lily Danville wants to be. But she needs a job, and there's an opening at the hottest resort in her hometown. What has her concerned is the other hot property in Cedar Ridge: Aidan Kincaid-firefighter, rescue worker, and heartbreaker. She never could resist that devastating smile . . .
The Kincaid brothers are as rough and rugged as the Rocky Mountains they call home. Aidan has always done things his own way, by his own rules. And never has he regretted anything more than letting Lily walk out of his life ten years ago. If anyone has ever been in need of rescuing, she has. What she needs more than anything are long hikes, slow dances, and sizzling kisses. But that can only happen if he can get her to give Cedar Ridge-and this bad boy-a second chance . . .
FTC : I requested this from NetGalley.
Small Town Romances are my crack. Everyone always knows everyone else’s business, there is always at least one “kooky” character and I just love the dynamics that it all brings. Being a Jill Shalvis book, an author whose books make you feel warm and fuzzy anyway, I knew that this book would be something that I would enjoy. I was completely right and I cannot WAIT for the other books in the series. Fans of the Lucky Harbor Series really should check this one out as I doubt that you will be disappointed.
This one had the added bonus of being a second chance romance and I love this trope. As long as the forgiveness is believable (e.g. he/she didn’t have another spouse) , I find I have no issues in believing in the chemistry or the relationship development in this kind of book (which helps!). I one hundred percent believed these characters could make this work because, I felt, their issues were not ones of betrayal but of youth and tragedy. This was a lovely story of romance and healing; After this one, I will be reading the next in the series and have already added them to my GR list. If I had one complaint it would be that setting up this series took a lot of pages away from the central romance but I actually think that is one of the reasons a second chance romance was the perfect series starter; the relationship was already developed, so I could quite happily be introduced to all the side characters without ever feeling that this made the relationship building suffer for it.
Lily left Cedar Ridge after her sister died in an accident. Unable to cope with her perceived guilt, she left the town she grew up in for a life elsewhere and she never looked back. When she has no other choice than to go back, the old feelings start to reemerge, including the ones for Aidan. She doesn’t want to want him, but some feelings are too strong to deny…
I liked Lily. I didn’t *love* her but I enjoyed reading her story and her character development. I had no issues in seeing how a traumatized teenager could turn a tragic chain of events into something that was all her fault and I loved watching the adult Lily deal with the reemergence of all those feelings of pain and guilt. Jill Shalvis writes such strong female characters and Lily was no different; I just felt that, as a stand alone character, she just didn’t bring enough entertainment to the story. In her scenes with Aiden though, she was fantastic. The sexual chemistry sizzled on the page and I loved the fact she called him on any caveman bullshit he threw her way. Don’t get me wrong readers, there wasn’t a lot of caveman bullshit but he seemed to assume he needed to take care of her, completely disregarding the fact that she had been doing quite fine on her own without him for years.
Aidan hasn’t exactly been pining for Lily but news of her return to Cedar Ridge certainly throws him for a loop. She is the one that got away and he is determined that she will give them a chance this time round. I loved Aidan, even with his occiasional bouts of idiocy. He was charming, sweet and ridiculously sexy; I will say this for the men of Cedar Ridge, they certainly are a little dirtier than the men of Lucky Harbor! He was never pushy with Lily, even as determined as he was. I just loved watching him bulldoze every objection she had and just show her what she was missing…. It was sooo romantic *swoon*
There was a lot more to love about this book and I think it was a very good series starter. It was fun, sexy and showed me enough about Aidan’s two brothers to leave me wanting more. If the rest of the series feels like this book, I know I will love it! I was so sad when Lucky Harbor finished but this could be just the thing to cheer me up again 🙂
Overall, this was another win for me from Jill Shalvis. I loved the set up and the side characters have certainly made me want to read the next one! A recommended read.
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