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mdlaclair's review against another edition
3.0
It was ok. I feel like the writer is relying to much on the chemistry between characters to jump start romances with no substance. By the end of the but when marriage is offered I am wondering why.
alienor's review against another edition
1.0
► I'm out of there. DNF @39%
There's boring, and then there's boring.
There's no chemistry, and then there's no chemistry.
There are clichés, and then there are clichés.
There's telling, and then there's TELLING.
There are repetitions, and then there are repetitions.
Someone saves me from this terrible writing.
There's diversity, and then there are these white washed books where the only minorities are cashiers or fucking criminals.
"What the hell was that?"
The suspect shook his head. "No Ingles."
No problemo. Sawyer had some Spanish. He could say "give me a beer", "throw down your weapon, asshole," and lucky for this idiot, he could also recite the Miranda rights."
What the HELL was THAT indeed.
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33p3barpercent's review against another edition
5.0
I love Jill Shalvis. Honestly. Love her. I love her style of writing, I love her stories, I love her humor, I love her characters, and I love how I can reread her books over and over again and it'll be just like the first time.
Jill Shalvis has written A LOT. And, like any writer who's been writing for a long time, some of her stories are not that good (but in Shalvis's case, the writing and humor totally save them anyway), some of them are super cute, and some of them are fantastic. Unbelievably awesome.
And this is where Head Over Heels comes in.
Head over Heels is the third in Shalvis's Lucky Harbor series. In the first, Maddie has just gotten out of a bad relationship and is trying to regain her confidence (have heard this story before, nothing new, but still super cute). In the second, Tara, Southern belle to the core, has just divorced her husband and is trying to fight the attraction she feels to a man who she had a child with when she was a teenager. She's also dealing with her guilt over getting rid of that child. (Also have heard this story before, and, again, the characters and loveliness make this story a keeper.)
But Head Over Heels is Chloe and Sawyer's story. And I love, love, love how it's told.
Chloe's been known as the "Wild Child". She's the one who traveled all over the country as a child, following her Dead Head mother. She's got tattoos, rides a Vespa, and is desperately trying to lose her reputation as someone who cuts and runs. She's feeling the roots start to grow out the bottom of her feet into the soil of Lucky Harbor.
I love Chloe. She's so uncomfortable with affection and outpourings of love that, when her sister, Maddie tells Chloe she loves her, Chloe responds with a wet willy. She's hilarious, and bold, and brave, and I love that she is always ready to toe the line. Her best friend has been battling cystic fibrosis, and there's an adorably, heartbreaking scene where Lance tells her he wants to see her settled before he goes. Lance has been trying to live it up while he's got the time, and Chloe has always been there, right beside him, holding the hang-glider... or the wire cutters. She's also got a debilitating asthma condition that makes her, well. Let's let Chloe explain it:
It was her asthma's fault. IT held her back, and because of it, she tended to push the envelope too far in other ways. She understood that, from the outside looking in, it might seem like she had a secret death wish but she didn't. It was just that when she was in the midst of an asthma attack, she often felt so close to death that she, well, dared it. But she just wanted to run or dance or laugh hard, or have sex without needing an inhaler and possibly an ambulance.
Not exactly a common problem, but one that often left her straddling a fine line between socially acceptable behavior and the wild yearnings her mother had always encouraged. Her sisters wanted her to stop pushing those boundaries and settle down a little. And it was that which bothered Chloe more than anything. The message was simple: If she wanted to be accepted, even love,d by those she'd come to care about, she'd need to change. But dammit, she wanted to be accepted just as she was, imperfections and all.
-pg 28
Chloe's whole thing is that she feels--no, she knows--that people want her to change her ways. They want her to stop leaving town whenever she wants to, want her to get a real job, want her to stop getting arrested, stop putting herself in danger, slow down, settle down, and stay put for once. But Chloe doesn't want to change. She likes who she is. And I love that. I love that she didn't change. I love that she was like, no, guys. I'm awesome the way I am. I don't have to change, I've just got to find people who like me the way I am. She's horribly mature that way, and it made me mad for her that people kept assuming she was immature.
Sawyer, on the other hand, has changed. He was a real troublemaker in his childhood--up til his teen years where something tragic happened and he turned his life around. He became a cop. He has issues with his father, who still sees him as that punk kid, and Sawyer is frustrated that he can't make his father see how much he's changed.
He's also frustrated at how Chloe makes him feel. Chloe is all wrong for him. She's what he would have liked when he was that rabble rouser back in his misbegotten youth. He doesn't want to be attracted to Chloe and her free-spirit ways. But he is.
One of my favorite things about Head Over Heels is that there isn't an overarching conflict that keeps the Hero and the Heroine apart, like she's only on vacation and the rest of her life is back in the Big City, across the country. I really liked that these two people could get together, it was just them, and what they thought they wanted and deserved that was standing between them.
But, those things didn't stand between them for long. Sawyer and Chloe didn't have a chance to resist. The chemistry was palpable. I love how Chloe pushed Sawyer's buttons, and I loved how taciturn Sawyer was with her, just to drive her crazy. I love how Shalvis showed them getting together, falling in love, but didn't say it. I liked how Chloe and Sawyer thought about how they felt about each other, but didn't have one of those "dissecting the relationship/what are we doing here/let's label this" conversation.
Love or lust? she asked herself again. And if she asked him, would he have any more of an idea than she? No. She didn't want to know. Because maybe it was a little bit of both. And, besides, it wasn't a question that needed answering now. She'd just take their odd mix of frustration, heat, affection, and desire and... enjoy it.
-pg 197
I hate those conversations where one character demands an answer to the question of How Do You Feel? Chloe and Sawyer dance around the issue, but they never have The Conversation, but you still had honest conversation. There were lines like this one that made my heart jump:
"Chloe," he said softly, watching her carefully. "You can't even tell your sisters how you feel about them. If I told you how I felt, you'd--"
"Have an asthma attack?" She put her hand to her very tight chest.
"Dammit."
-pg 201
I've never annotated books with "AW"s and "CUTE" and "ADORABLE" more than I do with Jill Shalvis books, and this one is no different. Unfortunately, I lost all my comments, so I can't add more excerpts, but maybe that's for the best. I would just type out the whole book.
One of my favorite things about this story is the fact that it's so real in its relationship building. There aren't any there's-a-stalker-and-I-must-move-in-for-your-protection type tropes. Or everyone-thinks-you're-a-screwup-but-I'm-the-only-one-that-knows-you-nurse-dying-puppies-back-to-life-and-rescue-victims-of-genocide-on-the-weekends get togethers. It's just a guy and a girl and their relationship unfolding beautifully before me.
Anyway. I could go on and on about this book, but I won't. Just buy it. It's adorable, and you won't regret it. I'm excited about the fact that Shalvis seems to have been setting up at least three more books for her Lucky Harbor series (she's mentioned quite a few new people, and the teaser definitely made me think at least three more are on the way), which I'm so happy about because I love Lucky Harbor, and I'm glad I don't have to leave it so soon.
Read more reviews at maggiehasabookproblem.blogspot.com
Jill Shalvis has written A LOT. And, like any writer who's been writing for a long time, some of her stories are not that good (but in Shalvis's case, the writing and humor totally save them anyway), some of them are super cute, and some of them are fantastic. Unbelievably awesome.
And this is where Head Over Heels comes in.
Head over Heels is the third in Shalvis's Lucky Harbor series. In the first, Maddie has just gotten out of a bad relationship and is trying to regain her confidence (have heard this story before, nothing new, but still super cute). In the second, Tara, Southern belle to the core, has just divorced her husband and is trying to fight the attraction she feels to a man who she had a child with when she was a teenager. She's also dealing with her guilt over getting rid of that child. (Also have heard this story before, and, again, the characters and loveliness make this story a keeper.)
But Head Over Heels is Chloe and Sawyer's story. And I love, love, love how it's told.
Chloe's been known as the "Wild Child". She's the one who traveled all over the country as a child, following her Dead Head mother. She's got tattoos, rides a Vespa, and is desperately trying to lose her reputation as someone who cuts and runs. She's feeling the roots start to grow out the bottom of her feet into the soil of Lucky Harbor.
I love Chloe. She's so uncomfortable with affection and outpourings of love that, when her sister, Maddie tells Chloe she loves her, Chloe responds with a wet willy. She's hilarious, and bold, and brave, and I love that she is always ready to toe the line. Her best friend has been battling cystic fibrosis, and there's an adorably, heartbreaking scene where Lance tells her he wants to see her settled before he goes. Lance has been trying to live it up while he's got the time, and Chloe has always been there, right beside him, holding the hang-glider... or the wire cutters. She's also got a debilitating asthma condition that makes her, well. Let's let Chloe explain it:
It was her asthma's fault. IT held her back, and because of it, she tended to push the envelope too far in other ways. She understood that, from the outside looking in, it might seem like she had a secret death wish but she didn't. It was just that when she was in the midst of an asthma attack, she often felt so close to death that she, well, dared it. But she just wanted to run or dance or laugh hard, or have sex without needing an inhaler and possibly an ambulance.
Not exactly a common problem, but one that often left her straddling a fine line between socially acceptable behavior and the wild yearnings her mother had always encouraged. Her sisters wanted her to stop pushing those boundaries and settle down a little. And it was that which bothered Chloe more than anything. The message was simple: If she wanted to be accepted, even love,d by those she'd come to care about, she'd need to change. But dammit, she wanted to be accepted just as she was, imperfections and all.
-pg 28
Chloe's whole thing is that she feels--no, she knows--that people want her to change her ways. They want her to stop leaving town whenever she wants to, want her to get a real job, want her to stop getting arrested, stop putting herself in danger, slow down, settle down, and stay put for once. But Chloe doesn't want to change. She likes who she is. And I love that. I love that she didn't change. I love that she was like, no, guys. I'm awesome the way I am. I don't have to change, I've just got to find people who like me the way I am. She's horribly mature that way, and it made me mad for her that people kept assuming she was immature.
Sawyer, on the other hand, has changed. He was a real troublemaker in his childhood--up til his teen years where something tragic happened and he turned his life around. He became a cop. He has issues with his father, who still sees him as that punk kid, and Sawyer is frustrated that he can't make his father see how much he's changed.
He's also frustrated at how Chloe makes him feel. Chloe is all wrong for him. She's what he would have liked when he was that rabble rouser back in his misbegotten youth. He doesn't want to be attracted to Chloe and her free-spirit ways. But he is.
One of my favorite things about Head Over Heels is that there isn't an overarching conflict that keeps the Hero and the Heroine apart, like she's only on vacation and the rest of her life is back in the Big City, across the country. I really liked that these two people could get together, it was just them, and what they thought they wanted and deserved that was standing between them.
But, those things didn't stand between them for long. Sawyer and Chloe didn't have a chance to resist. The chemistry was palpable. I love how Chloe pushed Sawyer's buttons, and I loved how taciturn Sawyer was with her, just to drive her crazy. I love how Shalvis showed them getting together, falling in love, but didn't say it. I liked how Chloe and Sawyer thought about how they felt about each other, but didn't have one of those "dissecting the relationship/what are we doing here/let's label this" conversation.
Love or lust? she asked herself again. And if she asked him, would he have any more of an idea than she? No. She didn't want to know. Because maybe it was a little bit of both. And, besides, it wasn't a question that needed answering now. She'd just take their odd mix of frustration, heat, affection, and desire and... enjoy it.
-pg 197
I hate those conversations where one character demands an answer to the question of How Do You Feel? Chloe and Sawyer dance around the issue, but they never have The Conversation, but you still had honest conversation. There were lines like this one that made my heart jump:
"Chloe," he said softly, watching her carefully. "You can't even tell your sisters how you feel about them. If I told you how I felt, you'd--"
"Have an asthma attack?" She put her hand to her very tight chest.
"Dammit."
-pg 201
I've never annotated books with "AW"s and "CUTE" and "ADORABLE" more than I do with Jill Shalvis books, and this one is no different. Unfortunately, I lost all my comments, so I can't add more excerpts, but maybe that's for the best. I would just type out the whole book.
One of my favorite things about this story is the fact that it's so real in its relationship building. There aren't any there's-a-stalker-and-I-must-move-in-for-your-protection type tropes. Or everyone-thinks-you're-a-screwup-but-I'm-the-only-one-that-knows-you-nurse-dying-puppies-back-to-life-and-rescue-victims-of-genocide-on-the-weekends get togethers. It's just a guy and a girl and their relationship unfolding beautifully before me.
Anyway. I could go on and on about this book, but I won't. Just buy it. It's adorable, and you won't regret it. I'm excited about the fact that Shalvis seems to have been setting up at least three more books for her Lucky Harbor series (she's mentioned quite a few new people, and the teaser definitely made me think at least three more are on the way), which I'm so happy about because I love Lucky Harbor, and I'm glad I don't have to leave it so soon.
Read more reviews at maggiehasabookproblem.blogspot.com
witandsin's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on Wit and Sin: http://witandsin.blogspot.com/2012/01/review-head-over-heels-by-jill-shalvis.html
Of the three Traeger sisters, Chloe has always been known as the “wild child.” Trouble just seems to follow Chloe wherever she goes, but now that she lives in Lucky Harbor, every little mistake she makes lands her in the path of Sheriff Sawyer Thompson. Sawyer should be far too straight-laced to appeal to Chloe, but everything about the oh-so-sexy sheriff makes her want to wind up cuffed — to his bed, anyway. Has the wild child finally met her match?
Opposites attract in the energetic, charming Head Over Heels. Jill Shalvis set the bar high with her first two Lucky Harbor books, Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing, but Chloe’s story is every bit as good as her sisters’ books. I absolutely loved the free-spirited Chloe. She grew up constantly on the move and has a somewhat different take on life, love, and what it means to live than her sisters do. Almost nothing can slow her down (except for her asthma), but people tend to take Chloe at face value and not look any deeper, which made my heart break for her. It was a joy to watch Chloe come into her own in Head Over Heels — it was almost as fun as watching her fall for Sawyer. The sparks that fly between these two are red-hot and entertaining to boot. How could they not be, with as sexy a hero as Sawyer? The man may seem serious on the surface, but boy, oh boy, do still waters run deep. Sawyer is caring, considerate, and he truly sees Chloe. He’s almost too good to be true, but Ms. Shalvis never lets him enter into what I call “cardboard hero territory.” Sawyer’s got real flaws and has made plenty of mistakes, but his virtues outshine all that. He and Chloe fit like lock and key, which is one of the things I love about Head Over Heels. In fact, pretty much everything about Head Over Heels is delightful. It’s (at the risk of borrowing a different book’s title) simply irresistible.
Head Over Heels is the third book in Ms. Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series, but it can be read as a standalone. However, I dare readers who haven’t read Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing to read Head Over Heels and not rush to read the first two books. In the Lucky Harbor series, the world Ms. Shalvis has created is so bright, so full of joy, laughter, and zaniness that it’s impossible to resist. I’m head over heels in love with the Lucky Harbor series and I can’t wait for the next book!
Of the three Traeger sisters, Chloe has always been known as the “wild child.” Trouble just seems to follow Chloe wherever she goes, but now that she lives in Lucky Harbor, every little mistake she makes lands her in the path of Sheriff Sawyer Thompson. Sawyer should be far too straight-laced to appeal to Chloe, but everything about the oh-so-sexy sheriff makes her want to wind up cuffed — to his bed, anyway. Has the wild child finally met her match?
Opposites attract in the energetic, charming Head Over Heels. Jill Shalvis set the bar high with her first two Lucky Harbor books, Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing, but Chloe’s story is every bit as good as her sisters’ books. I absolutely loved the free-spirited Chloe. She grew up constantly on the move and has a somewhat different take on life, love, and what it means to live than her sisters do. Almost nothing can slow her down (except for her asthma), but people tend to take Chloe at face value and not look any deeper, which made my heart break for her. It was a joy to watch Chloe come into her own in Head Over Heels — it was almost as fun as watching her fall for Sawyer. The sparks that fly between these two are red-hot and entertaining to boot. How could they not be, with as sexy a hero as Sawyer? The man may seem serious on the surface, but boy, oh boy, do still waters run deep. Sawyer is caring, considerate, and he truly sees Chloe. He’s almost too good to be true, but Ms. Shalvis never lets him enter into what I call “cardboard hero territory.” Sawyer’s got real flaws and has made plenty of mistakes, but his virtues outshine all that. He and Chloe fit like lock and key, which is one of the things I love about Head Over Heels. In fact, pretty much everything about Head Over Heels is delightful. It’s (at the risk of borrowing a different book’s title) simply irresistible.
Head Over Heels is the third book in Ms. Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series, but it can be read as a standalone. However, I dare readers who haven’t read Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing to read Head Over Heels and not rush to read the first two books. In the Lucky Harbor series, the world Ms. Shalvis has created is so bright, so full of joy, laughter, and zaniness that it’s impossible to resist. I’m head over heels in love with the Lucky Harbor series and I can’t wait for the next book!
squishies's review against another edition
3.0
Can't help but say "Awww..."
Although Lance doesn't feature too much in the other books, he's in this book quite a bit (I guess that would have been obvious seeing how often Chloe and him hung out in the other books). I really liked how we got to know more about Lance and that one scene absolutely choked me up.
I thought Chloe's story was also quite interesting (ie as interesting as Tara's) because you get to see what she's thinking/feeling with the situations she gets into. Since the other two books were focussed on her sisters, it just really seemed that Chloe was really flaky and couldn't really be bothered half of the time. So very interesting to see how she struggles against what she's used to doing with what she wants to do.
Sawyer felt like he had more depth than Jax or Ford, probably because of what he's been through, and I felt bad that on top of having a rough childhood, he has got a really tough job (especially when compared to his two best friends, whom seem to have it very cushy). I get why when chose the policing profession, but still... it kind of seems unfair somehow.
Although Lance doesn't feature too much in the other books, he's in this book quite a bit (I guess that would have been obvious seeing how often Chloe and him hung out in the other books). I really liked how we got to know more about Lance and that one scene absolutely choked me up.
I thought Chloe's story was also quite interesting (ie as interesting as Tara's) because you get to see what she's thinking/feeling with the situations she gets into. Since the other two books were focussed on her sisters, it just really seemed that Chloe was really flaky and couldn't really be bothered half of the time. So very interesting to see how she struggles against what she's used to doing with what she wants to do.
Sawyer felt like he had more depth than Jax or Ford, probably because of what he's been through, and I felt bad that on top of having a rough childhood, he has got a really tough job (especially when compared to his two best friends, whom seem to have it very cushy). I get why when chose the policing profession, but still... it kind of seems unfair somehow.
xishimmerix's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ego21's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
jcmbank's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5