Monday, October 9, 2017

Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis ~ Review & Excerpt



ABOUT CHASING CHRISTMAS EVE (a standalone Heartbreaker Bay novel)

Meet cute...

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.



BUY LINKS for CHASING CHRISTMAS EVE:
IndieBound: http://bit.ly/2hgsoAt
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2yc3uEW
Books-A-Million: http://bit.ly/2ycgDhs
GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/2xPGdgg



At the unexpected sight of Spence, Colbie startled hard. How was it that he was the one who needed glasses and yet she’d not seen him standing against the window? “No, I don’t kill a lot of people,” she said cautiously because she was wearing only a towelin front of a strange man. “But I’m happy to make an exception.”

He laughed, a rough rumble that was more than a little contagious but she controlled herself because, hello, she was once again dripping wet before the man who seemed to make her knees forget to hold her up.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said and pushed off the wall to come close.
She froze, but he held up his hands like, I come in peace, and crouched at her feet to scoop up the clothes she hadn’t realized she’d dropped.

Leggings, a long forgiving tee, and the peach silk bra-and-panty set that hadn’t gotten so much as a blink from the TSA guy.

But it got one out of Spence. He also swallowed hard as she snatched them back from him.
“Hold on,” he said and caught her arm, pulling it toward him to look at her bleeding elbow.
“Sit,” he said and gently pushed her down to a weight bench. He vanished into the bathroom and came back out with a first aid kit.

It took him less than two minutes to clean and bandage the scrape. Then, easily balanced at her side on the balls of his feet, he did the same for both her knees, which she hadn’t noticed were also scraped up.

“You must’ve hit the brick coping as you fell in the fountain,” he said and let his thumb slide over the skin just above one bandaged knee.

She shivered, and not from the cold either. “Not going to kiss it better?” she heard herself ask before biting her tongue for running away with her good sense.

She’d raised her younger twin brothers. Scrappy, roughhouse wild animals, the both of them, so there’d been plenty of injuries she’d kissed over the years.

But no one had ever kissed hers. Not surprising, since most of her injuries tended to be on the inside, where they didn’t show. Still, she was horrified she’d said anything at all. “I didn’t mean—”

She broke off, frozen like a deer in the headlights as Spence slowly lowered his head, brushing his lips over the Band-Aid on her elbow, then her knees. When he lifted his head, he pushed his glasses higher on his nose, those whiskey eyes warm and amused behind his lenses. “Better?”

Shockingly better. Since she didn’t quite trust her voice at the moment, she gave a jerky nod and took her clothes back into the bathroom. She shut the door and then leaned against it, letting out a slow, deliberate breath. Holy cow, she was out of her league. He was somehow both cute and hot, and those glasses . . .




It's not surprising that Jill Shalvis delivers another amazing story with Chasing Christmas Eve.  I've loved this series every step of the way and have really been looking forward to Spences' story.

Spence is the workaholic that won't risk another relationship after the one that failed due to his lack of attention.  Nothing seems to draw his attention away from his work, so why risk another heart?  He's content with this work and his friends.  Yet, there is this problem he can't quite solve no matter how hard he tries.

At the same time Colbie is fighting writers block.  Her YA book is hitting the big screen and the deadline for her next book is looming.  She runs away to San Francisco to get her muse back.  The fountain brings them together.

This series has such a fun, mystical tone with the fountain.  The wishing fountain that has been at the heart of each book in the series plays a role in this one as well.  LOVE how that goes down.  Read it to find out the whole story.

This group of friends has always been there for each other as they have taken turns finding their soulmate.  It's like a small town story inside a big city.  They are right there supporting Spence through this one too.  I love seeing all the characters again.

Definitely love the characters in this series.  They are fun and make me happy.  The writing is great, as expected.  The story is sweet and charming.  A perfect holiday read.

Don't miss this great holiday story!


                               



ABOUT JILL SHALVIS
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.

Connect with Jill
Facebook: @JillShalvis
Twitter: @JillShalvis


1 comment:

  1. Oh, this sounds like a delightful read. Need to add it to my holiday reading list!

    ReplyDelete