Always on My Mind (Lucky Harbor Book 8)

Jack and Leah have been friends for what appears to be like forever and as two best friends... there are no secrets between them, right? Well, one secret was never shared and it was the same one they both harbored on their own. The loved each other and never took the chance to explore a real relationship. Leah, emotionally damaged by her overly critical and vicious father made her confidence level be so low.... she ran away when what she strove for was within reach. Changing majors in college to going to culinary school, she never finished what she started, out of fear of failure. The failure her father told her she was. Jack, the once wild child of Lucky Harbor, has some seriously big shoes to fill. His father, a firefighter hero of this quaint town, died doing the job he loved. The loss was painful not to just his mother, but to him, too. Trying to keep the family legacy alive, he strives to be just like good, old dad. Even if his dreams did not exactly match his father's. He just did what was expected when you are a child of a hero.... You follow his lead. Leah returns to Lucky Harbor to help her grandmother heal from knee surgery. She takes on running the family bakery. Between the increased workload, she is also fending off the questions about the reality show she was on and if she won or not. With plans to run before the final episode airs, she tells a huge lie to her best friend, Jack's, ailing mother that is fighting cancer..... She tells her the one thing that would ease her mind and hopefully go into remission from cancer.... That she and Jack are a couple. This obviously causes a tailspin of gossip for the town since Jack is thrust into a "fake relationship" that ends up being real... No matter how hard they try to keep it from getting too serious. Okay, enough about what the story is about and now you get to hear my thoughts of it..... I loved the depth of characters, the small town feel, the well-placed humor (not exactly laugh out loud worthy, but definitely giggle worthy), and the controlled release of a small mystery that is happening in that small town. I really loved the connection that both Jack and Leah had as well as their failing attempts of keeping the relationship on the premise of not being a real relationship. That reveal towards the end of the book... heck all of the reveals that happened at the end of the book were what pushed this book from a 4 star "like" to a 5 star "love". I actually cannot wait to see what happens next in this series. This book had it all for me at the right levels.... humor, sizzle, secrets, and heart. I highly recommend you to get a copy and enjoy this visit to Lucky Harbor.....

Leah Sullivan and Jack Harper have always been best friends and each other's favorite nemesis. But when things started to change between them, Leah took off, breaking Jack's heart and her own in the process. Now Leah's back in Lucky Harbor to help her grandmother run her bakery, and she can't help but fantasize about the blazingly hot firefighter who was always there for her. But Leah finds herself in over her head when she tells a little white lie to cheer up Jack's ailing mother. No one - especially not Jack - was supposed to find out that Leah said she and him were an item. Only you can't keep secrets in Lucky Harbor, which means it's not long before Leah and Jack are stuck playing pretend for the whole town. Except it doesn't feel like pretend to either, which means that Leah has to decide if she's willing to face the ghosts of her past and stay put in Lucky Harbor with Jack. Jill Shalvis's Lucky Harbor books are always filled with humor and heart, and Always on My Mind is no exception. Ms. Shalvis takes the classic friends-to-lovers trope and turns it into something fresh and exciting. Leah is a talented pastry chef whose father has done a number on her self-esteem. As such, she tends to not finish things and doesn't like to stay put in one spot. Leah's someone I'd love to have as a friend, were she real, and it was a joy to watch her fully come into herself over the course of Always on My Mind. As for Jack...well, Ms. Shalvis knows how to write one heck of a swoon-worthy hero. Jack's charming nature keeps others from seeing the pain he hides. Having grown up in the shadow of his firefighter father who was killed in the line of duty, Jack has developed into someone who is constantly pushing himself to be something he's not. Like Leah, Jack comes into his own in Always on My Mind. Character development aside, what truly delighted me about this book was the chemistry between Jack and Leah. The two of them make a great pair and it's clear (though possibly not to them) that they were made for each other. It was easy for me to fall into this book because I liked Jack and Leah so much, both as individuals and as a couple. The road to happily ever after isn't a smooth one for them, but Ms. Shalvis makes the journey worth it. Always on My Mind is the eighth book in the Lucky Harbor series, but if you haven't read any or all of the previous Lucky Harbor books, this one can be read as a standalone. Lucky Harbor fans will undoubtedly enjoy series favorites appearing, including Sheriff Sawyer Thompson of Head Over Heels, town gossip and Facebook-loving Lucille, and At Last supporting character (and hopefully future heroine) Riley. Leah and Jack's best friends, Ali and Luke (of It Had to Be You), are strong supporting characters, and after seeing Aubrey and Ben, Always on My Mind left me more eager than ever to read the next Lucky Harbor story, Once in a Lifetime. And speaking of supporting characters, it'd be remiss of me to write about Jack and Leah's story without mentioning Jack's dog, Kevin, who steals every scene he's in and is responsible for a good amount of the hilarity in Always on My Mind. Always on My Mind is filled with love, friendship, sensuality, and fun. I absolutely adored Jack and Leah and I look forward to re-reading their story many, many times. Bring on Once in a Lifetime, because I can't get enough of Lucky Harbor! Kimberly Review courtesy of Wit and Sin

My Review: Loved, loved, LOVED this book! Did I mention that I loved it? OMG...this book...it just is every single little thing I love in contemporary romance. Small town of Lucky Harbor...check. Sexy, vulnerable fireman....check. Smexy times with chocolate...check. Friends to lovers...check. Laugh out loud moments....check. Make me tear up and cry moments...check. It had it all!! This book is about Jack and Leah...two best friends who can tell each other anything except how they truly feel about each other. Been there, done that...Leah ran and broke Jack's heart. Not going there again. *sob* Seriously, there is just something so awesome about two characters who have the depth of relationship that these two do. They grew up as next door neighbors. Leah's father was mentally abusive and she would crawl in Jack's window afterwards and he would hold her while she cried. This happened through their entire childhood and teenage years. He knows her and her vulnerabilities and loves her regardless. But all those years of mental abuse took their toll...Leah can't follow through on anything...just like her father drilled into her head over all those years. She's not allowed to be happy and finishing something, anything, is beyond her capability. So she runs whenever happiness comes close. Jack has his own set of issues. He followed in his father's firefighting footsteps...and everyone is afraid that it's going to take him to the same final place...death in a fire. It's almost like he has a death wish and doesn't deserve to live any longer than his heroic dad did, despite the fact that he has a bum knee that needs to be retired and/or operated on. He also watched his mother curl up into herself when his father died. He's not willing to do that to someone else so he has tons of meaningless flings. In the midst of all this, there is a serial arsonist story. I figured that out pretty early, but it still provided for some great moments in the story and kept it even more intriguing than normal. There are so many moments....sweet, heart-wrenching, and funny...that I loved between Jack and Leah. They have an easy camaraderie because they've been friends for so long. Even during those difficult discussions, I loved the frankness and ease they had between them. It made this book simply PERFECTION to read. I spent most the book with a smile on my face and was definitely sad when it was over. This romance tops the list of my Jill Shalvis favorite couples!

I had read a couple of jill's books (from the wilders series) but felt a bit 'meh' about her writing. I am so pleased that i perservered! I knew that as soon as jack was introduced in the previous book, 'it had to be you', he would make a great lead character. He and leah are a great couple and there are plenty of satisfying scenes vetween them. If i had one criticism of shalvis' style, it is that she tends to hook her H and h too quickly. I appreciate that in this case, the two had a shared history that we are brought up to speed on, so it wasn't such an issue. I have also began to find the lucky harbour series becoming a little formulaic but that may well be because i have read all the back series really fast! I still want her to keep them coming, jill is a shining star of the genre. Check out Aubrey's story next, it is a ripper! I read it through and started reading it again immediately!

As a new member to the Bookaholics I was gifted an ARC of ALWAYS ON MIND for an honest review. I started this book and could not put it down. You get pulled into the town of Lucky Harbor... Leah and Jack have been friends since high school. When Leah leaves and goes to make something of herself she heads to a pasty school which she later drops out to become a big wig on a TV show. She enters the show called Sweet Wars..she comes home to Lucky Harbor and everyone wants to know if she's won or not? She can't tell them. Always running into Jack and flirting with him..He comes into the bakery where she's helping her grandma out, with his mom one day..his moms not doing so well, she's giving up...not eating just plan giving up..Leah tells a little fib that has his mom so happy and Jack beside himself wondering what the heck has she done..He goes along with it for his mother's sake..but it just starts feeling real between them..They haven't admitted to themselves yet..a little but you have to see what happens...Leah is tired of pretending. What happens between them? Things start to spark between them and everyone in town see's it..fires are happening in town and Jack has to find out why and who are starting them? When Leah is caught in the middle of it things get too close for comfort..So besides things getting serious and not knowing where there fake relationship is going...other things in town are causing Jack to focus on the those issues he's in charge of.....Jack is over his head in figuring out what is going on in town..He'll get to the bottom of things the he can talk to Leah...but Leah is helping him which is really great. It's really great. So this is one book that Jill has you seeing other things...It's heartwarming and it's the most beautiful story I have read in the entire series. I loved it..If I could give it more then 5 stars I would. One book in the Lucky Harbor series that touched upon two things which brought tears to my eyes, and what you do for the ones you love...You will do anything..you would move heave any earth for them...and walk through fire for them...

I thought the book started off well but bogged down through the middle. So much talking, talking, talking! I laughed out loud several times at Kevin - he was great! But Leah could definitely have benefited from some therapy. Jack was good, but I wanted to get inside his character more. I felt like the story just scraped along the surface. I just didn't feel any emotion. *Spoiler Alert* I figured out the bad guy right off the bat - it was so obvious. Also, my pet peeve of the book is that carbon monoxide is CO - not CO2. CO2 is carbon dioxide. I don't know if that mistake made it into the printed books, but it is definitely in the Kindle edition. Overall, I'd recommend this book for the escapism entertainment value and if you've already read the rest of the Lucky Harbor books. Now I'm looking forward to Ben's story.

I don't think I can made it through life without reading Jill Shalvis books. Even when I'm not totally happy with them, I need a hit whenever a new one comes out. They're so great to just sit and relax with. This one is no different. It was a nice, comfortable book with a good storyline and relatable characters. Leah was a wonderfully complex heroine. She is caring and warm to everyone, but keeps people at a distance. She's still trying to figure out what to do with her life, even though we all sort-of know what she should be doing. She doesn't feel like she's ever accomplished anything, but she's pretty much perfect at everything she does. She's got the secret crush going which is very cute. Jack is a tough firefighter who takes care of Leah and his mom and even a cast off dog that gets into lots of trouble. He's a hero that everyone likes and he's really hot. He takes the gossips in stride, doesn't have a temper, is secretly sentimental, and has loved Leah forever. He's so sweet and perfect, but he doesn't want to "find love" because he's afraid he'll die. He had some growing to do, but for the most part this felt like a book for Leah to grow more so than Jack. He has a few issues to work out, but mainly he's been waiting for Leah for always. I liked how much he cared for everyone and how he could play the hero without being reckless. He may live in his dad's shadow, but he doesn't need to go out looking for danger. I felt a little like Jack and Leah both didn't quite line up with the image I had of them from previous books, but I can't say for sure what it was that was different. I liked who they were and I liked who they became but it felt like there was something significantly different. Maybe I will figure it out one day when I go back and read the whole series in a row. We get a lot of the extra Lucky Harbor characters showing up in this book. For most of them, I think they were thrown in just to give the book a sense of place. Most of them didn't figure very prominently in the storyline. Even Lucille, the facebook gossip junky, was only mentioned a couple times. The main secondary characters, like Jack and Leah's family members and the other firefighters, were well written and kept the story well-bounded. Some of the sexist talk still bothers me. I honestly don't know anyone that talks that way - calling someone a vagina, for example. It feels like that idea that you can't be an "alpha" unless you belittle femininity. I don't get it and I see so many great authors that write alphas without this, but I try not to let it get to me because I really like the writing and it's so nice to curl up and lose myself for a little while with one of these books. I can't say I laughed out loud at these characters' antics and I did guess who the "villain" was within the first part of the book, but I had a smile on my face through the whole thing. I liked seeing where Leah and Jack would go. I felt like I was a part of their life and had a stake in their future. I was happy they worked out their problems and I liked seeing them each grow and sort through their issues. This is a perfect book to pick up when you're waiting for the kids, in the middle of cooking dinner or when you just need some time to yourself. It's the kind of book I grab when I'm on the go. I know that I can pick it up and read a few pages and not get lost if I have to put it down again. I felt good every time I read it, even if I only had time to catch a few more pages before I was needed again. I'll look forward to the next installment of the characters from Lucky Harbor - and anything else Jill Shalvis writes in the meantime.

Every single installment of this series has grabbed my attention from the very beginning of each book. I never skip thru, I almost always read the book all the way through in one sitting. This story had a lot of happiness, laughs and a good amount of drama as well. I love the characters (especially the seniors) and I absolutely love Bens dry sense of humor. Jack and Leah are cute and both have tragic backgrounds to overcome. Jacks inner monologue is hilarious. Jacks dog Kevin is the best comic relief you could ever ask for! Totally recommend the entire series.

Ich könnte jetzt sagen: kennst du eins, dann kennst du alle, aber das hört sich einfach viel zu negativ an! Die Geschichten der Lucky Harbor Bücher ähneln sich zwar tatsächlich alle irgendwie ein bisschen, aber ich möchte nicht eines davon verpasst haben zu lesen! Die Charaktere sind allesamt liebenswert und verführerisch zugleich und lassen einem keine Möglichkeit das Buch aus der Hand zu legen! Es sei denn man ist fertig und möchte sofort mit dem nächsten beginnen! Jill Shalvis schafft es ohne Probleme einem schöne Schmökerstunden zu verschaffen und ein seufzendes Lächeln auf die Lippen zu zaubern! Egal ob wie hier Leah und Jack oder andere Hauptpersonen, diese Bücher sind einfach ein absolutes Muss unter den Romantiker(inne)n und den Liebhabern leichter Literatur!

I love the Lucky Harbour series and Always on my Mind has just become my favorite. I loved Jack and Leah together! I love when friends fall in love with each other! This book made me laugh out loud! Was a fantastic read!

Love this series of books. Every woman should have a Jack in there life. Jill Shalvis has the ability to reel you in with strong sexy characters, and who doesn't love a fireman. Looking forward to more from this series. Jill's heroines are also believable and come with quirks that we all have.

zu viel Sex! Seitenlange Beschreibungen über das Wie und Wie lange ist absolut unnötig für den Verlauf der Handlung. Eindruck wird erweckt, dass die Autoring glaubt, mehr Sex, mehr Verkauf!

brilliant! Have read all Lucky harbour books and have enjoyed them all