Author: Jill ShalvisSeries: Heartbreaker Bay #4
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: September 26th 2017
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: Avon
Blurb (from Goodreads):
Meet cute...*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Avon in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.
Run for the hills—temporarily. That's Colbie Albright's plan when she flees New York for San Francisco. Wrangling her crazy family by day and writing a bestselling YA fantasy series by night has taken its toll. In short, Colbie's so over it that she's under it. She's also under the waters of a historic San Francisco fountain within an hour of arrival. Fortunately, the guy who fishes Colbie out has her looking forward to Christmas among strangers. But she's pretty sure Spencer Baldwin won't be a stranger for long.
Make merry...
Spence's commitment to hiding from the Ghosts of Relationships Past means he doesn't have to worry about the powerful—okay, crazy hot chemistry—he's got with Colbie. Just because she can laugh at anything, especially herself... just because she's gorgeous and a great listener just because she gets Spence immediately doesn't mean he won't be able to let Colbie go. Does it?
and hope for a miracle.
Now the clock's ticking for Colbie and Spence: Two weeks to cut loose. Two weeks to fall hard. Two weeks to figure out how to make this Christmas last a lifetime.
I've been slowly but surely getting in the mood for seasonal books lately, and Chasing Christmas Eve fits the description perfectly. This was my very first Jill Shalvis book, and let me tell you, I really really liked it.
I really loved the characters in this book, not just the main ones, but all of them. Colbie is such a kind woman, a talented one, but one that doesn't really know how much power she has inside of her. I oftentimes felt as if she didn't really appreciate how strong she was, and how much she really deserved happiness, and I thought that taking a little vacation, a break from her day to day life is the first thing she ever truly did for herself, aside from writing. She slowly opens up to Spence, and once she does, it was easy to understand why she's not aware of herself as much as she should be. I was sad for her, especially towards the end of the book, when her mom dropped a pretty big shocking truth in her lap. And throughout the book I realized that while she's not so different from Spencer, she's seen by the people in her life as weak or someone who needs to be taken advantage of, which made me super mad for her.
Spencer is the hot nerd type, which is probably one of my favorite types of heroes. He's letting his family history rule how he lives his life, and unfortunately he doesn't know how to stop doing it. That is until he meets Colbie. As I said before, he's really similar with Colbie in how focused he can get, and how willing he is to help people, but unlike her, most people around him protect him instead of take advantage of him. And the people who do use him aren't don't pretend to care for him. It was interesting to see this play out throughout the book. I liked the relationship he has with Eddie, and I love to see how the history of that relationship unfolds as the story goes on. Spence is a guy that really doesn't give himself much credit, and I liked seeing how his friends stood up for him. He's a pretty loyal friend, and I liked him.
As I said, I enjoyed reading about the other characters as well, and it wasn't until I got to the end of the book that I figured out that this book was part of a series, which made me insanely happy.
The book is fast paced, and I managed to read this book pretty fast. As I said before, the fact that it's the 4th installment in a series wasn't an issue, because I was able to read it without having any previous knowledge of the other characters and their stories. There were tons of funny moments, let me tell you! There were a few big, climactic moments in this book that made me realize that sometimes people can be truly generous with others without realizing what drives them to do that. And I thought that was a really interesting thing.
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book, and since it is part of a series, I'll definitely check the other books out. Also, for my first Jill Shalvis book, I'm in love and kind of kicking myself for not trying out her books earlier. Definitely check this book out, whether it's for the Christmas spirit, the romance, the humor, or the life lessons you'll find in it.
BUY LINKS for CHASING CHRISTMAS EVE:
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
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