PJV Quickie: While the Lucky Harbor Series is one of my favorites, Lucky in Love fell a bit flat for me.
Title: Lucky in Love (Lucky Harbor #4)
Author: Jill Shalvis
Type: Romance
Published: June 1, 2012 by Forever
Personal Copy
Rating: 
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Review
Jill Shalvis writes the heck out of Contemporary Romance and I love her Lucky Harbor series about three sisters who find love in this small Washington town. I was thrilled when I saw she’d three new books set in the same town; this trilogy focuses on three friends who live and work in the quirky little town of Lucky Harbor.
Lucky in Love spotlights Mallory Quinn – nurse, town good girl, and kind of a pushover. She’s reliable, focused, and can’t say no to a request for help. Her friends decie Mallory’s problem is she’s looking for “Mr. Right” and she needs to take a spin with a “Mr. Wrong”.
Ty Garrison, aka “Mysterious Cute Guy” is a former SEAL and medic – he’d been in a horrible accident that left his friends dead; he was badly injured and pulled off duty until he recuperates. Ty is temporarily living in Lucky Harbor in a house a friend is letting him use while he recovers, both physically and psychologically.
Mallory is trying to start a health clinic to care for the underpriviledged, and is facing an uphill battle. She’s got her own reasons for wanting to succeed and help people who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Her budding relationship with Ty becomes a complication to achieving her goal.
Ty couldn’t be more wrong for Mallory, and both of them know it, but when they’re together it’s all passion and hot sex. Mallory knows she’s going to get hurt when Ty leaves, but she can’t seem to stay away. Ty knows he’s going to hurt her, but she brings out feelings he didn’t know he possessed, and he can’t make himself turn her away.
It took me awhile to figure out what about Lucky in Love didn’t work for me. The writing is good, the setting is one of my favorites and the characters I love from the first book make appearances here. There are two problems for me: The first is that Mallory and Ty both kept telling themselves that Ty was going to leave and break Mallory’s heart. The second is that Lucky in Love tackles some serious issues facing society today – health care, drug abuse, PTSD and lack of facilities for veterans, suicide. Both of these issues led to me having a hard time keeping focused on the book because I would have to put it down and “step away” so that I didn’t get depressed. I have a tendency to feel the emotions of the characters as I’m reading and in this case I was just kind of bummed through a lot of the book. That’s not to say there weren’t any funny parts, or sexy parts, because there were. I absolutely love Lucille, the elderly resident who puts all the town gossip on facebook, and Mallory’s friends Amy and Grace were fun characters who seem to have interesting stories; I’ve already purchased the next book, At Last, and plan to start reading as soon as I can.
Recommendations
You do not need to have read the first three books in this series to enjoy Lucky in Love, it’s the first in a ‘second trilogy’ set in Lucky Harbor.
Other Novels you might like, similar to ‘Lucky in Love’
Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis (Book 1)
The Sweetest Thing by Jill Shalvis (Book 2 and my favorite in the series so far)
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Oh, I so love this series! I recently read Forever and a Day (book 4 in the series) and I thought it was excellent! The balance between friendship, romance and a little sex is perfect.
Sorry, Forever and a Day is book 5… I hae also read At Last which is great, too.
I’m Starting Forever and a Day today, I hope I like it as much as you did
My Associate Reviewer, Jonetta is reviewing books 4-6 later this month. I’ve seen this author’s books around but since I’m new to Comp Romance I’ve not checked her out yet.
As I mentioned above, I really liked the first three books in the Lucky Harbor series, but I also love her baseball series (only 2 books so far).
Lucky in Love was good, although not my favorite Lucky Harbor novel. I really enjoyed meeting the three new ladies. Funnily enough, Lucky Harbor #4-6 worked the same way #1-3 did for me. Liked the first one, liked the second one even more, and the third one best of all!
Also, Lucille seriously makes the Lucky Harbor books, just saying. Love her!
I felt the same way about the first three books so perhaps I will feel the same about the current three
I love Lucille!!
I haven’t read this one, but liked the first two. But maybe I’ll skip this one. Sorry you didn’t like it Patti!
I’ve already started on the next book and am enjoying it.