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slovenianbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
A cop, who follow the rules and a girl, who doesn't? Perfect combination.
Great story, very well written. I am not an expert in this but I had a feeling the author had to put quite a lot time for details about asthma and other things...
Great story, very well written. I am not an expert in this but I had a feeling the author had to put quite a lot time for details about asthma and other things...
nitzanschwarz's review
4.0
Well, now I finished the story of the three sisters, who got the three brothers (Anybody else thinks it's totally unfair? I want my own hot, sweet, sexy guy, too!).
Now the only trouble is... deciding which story I liked best - Maddie and Jax, Tara and Ford, or Chloe and Sawyer (by the way, has anyone else realized the Tom Sawyer--Sawyer Thompson thing here?)
I think I liked this story of the Wild Child and Mr. Law the most. There was just something about it - about wanting to be accepted as you are, about finding a place to call home, about "settling down", in a way. It was beautiful, as was their romance. There were no issues of an abusive ex. or a teenage daughter, and yet there was just something so... deep about it, which I loved.
I really hope the rest of the series mentioned them--marriage, kids, and such... I really want little Jaxs, Fords, and Sawyers going around (yes, I want boys. But c'mon – their daddies are supreme hotness, can you blame me?)
One of my favorite parts of the book (just because I laughed so hard at it for some reason that I had to copy it):
While he waited for his dinner, he went into the garage and eyeballed the buckets of paint. “Fuckers,” he said to them, but picked one up and carried it into the dining room. “You ready?” he asked his walls.
They didn’t have an opinion.
Now the only trouble is... deciding which story I liked best - Maddie and Jax, Tara and Ford, or Chloe and Sawyer (by the way, has anyone else realized the Tom Sawyer--Sawyer Thompson thing here?)
I think I liked this story of the Wild Child and Mr. Law the most. There was just something about it - about wanting to be accepted as you are, about finding a place to call home, about "settling down", in a way. It was beautiful, as was their romance. There were no issues of an abusive ex. or a teenage daughter, and yet there was just something so... deep about it, which I loved.
I really hope the rest of the series mentioned them--marriage, kids, and such... I really want little Jaxs, Fords, and Sawyers going around (yes, I want boys. But c'mon – their daddies are supreme hotness, can you blame me?)
One of my favorite parts of the book (just because I laughed so hard at it for some reason that I had to copy it):
While he waited for his dinner, he went into the garage and eyeballed the buckets of paint. “Fuckers,” he said to them, but picked one up and carried it into the dining room. “You ready?” he asked his walls.
They didn’t have an opinion.
sarahholliday's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
The story is cute enough—I love a wild child/straight-laced romance. And I appreciated the disability representation (the main character, Chloe, has severe asthma).
But I can't thoroughly enjoy a book, or get on board with a leading man when he and his friends toss around the word "pussy" and showcase other, albeit subtle, signs of toxic masculinity.
And a final red flag: the use of the terms "Indian" and references to things like "war paint" and other racist stereotypes. Completely unnecessary and utterly unacceptable given the novel was originally published in 2011, then REPRINTED in 2021.
Given these things, I can't recommend this book.
But I can't thoroughly enjoy a book, or get on board with a leading man when he and his friends toss around the word "pussy" and showcase other, albeit subtle, signs of toxic masculinity.
And a final red flag: the use of the terms "Indian" and references to things like "war paint" and other racist stereotypes. Completely unnecessary and utterly unacceptable given the novel was originally published in 2011, then REPRINTED in 2021.
Given these things, I can't recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Racial slurs
Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, and Sexual harassment
ria_mhrj's review against another edition
3.0
Head Over Heels made for a very sweet, very fluffy read, perfect for a weekend spent avoiding watching the Olympics. I relegated this review to three stars because I was expecting a little bit more pop from this particular pairing and whilst it was fun to read about their gradual progression towards happily ever after, there wasn't a huge amount of tension. Also, the ending could have been thrilling and was instead very rushed.
Still, a nice break from Batman comics!
Still, a nice break from Batman comics!
miss_amanda88's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed Chloe's story. Fell a wee bit in love with Sawyer!!
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.
For more of my reviews, please visit:
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