Review & Excerpt ~ The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis

The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis
Series: Wildstone #5
Published by William Morrow on June 2, 2020
Source: the publisher
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Brynn Turner desperately wishes she had it together, but her personal life is like a ping-pong match that’s left her scared and hurt after so many attempts to get it right. In search of a place to lick her wounds and get a fresh start, she heads back home to Wildstone.

And then there’s Kinsey Davis, who after battling serious health issues her entire twenty-nine years of life, is tired of hoping for . . . well, anything. She's fierce, tough, and she’s keeping more than one bombshell of a secret from Brynn -- her long-time frenemy.

But then Brynn runs into Kinsey's best friend, Eli, renewing her childhood crush. The good news: he’s still easy-going and funny and sexy as hell.

The bad news: when he gets her to agree to a summer-time deal to trust him to do right by her, no matter what, she never dreams it’ll result in finding a piece of herself she didn’t even know was missing. She could have real connections, possibly love, and a future—if she can only learn to let go of the past.

As the long days of summer wind down, the three of them must discover if forgiveness is enough to grasp the unconditional love that’s right in front of them.

 

From the start, I knew this was going to be another favorite of mine.  Jill Shalvis has a knack of capturing the reader’s attention from the start.  Like peeling an onion, there was the outer storyline but once you start turning the page, it was like layers of onion was peeling away as well. 

As we are introduced to the characters, we begin unraveling their strengths and vulnerabilities. Each chapter is in the POV of one the main characters, Shalvis has a way with words that the characters appear within your mind like they are real and you are part of the conversations and their day to day life. You struggle to determine who you want to chair on, each one has their struggles, fears, and a big heart. In the end, you will cheer them all on, hoping for a happy ending for all of them.

Well, that’s all you are going to get from me, you have to pick the book or e-book, whatever your reading preference, to find out how everything turns out. 

Happy Reading, my dear followers.

Brynn Turner had always wanted to be the girl who had her life together, but so far her talents hadn’t led her in that direction—although not for lack of trying.

            Mentally recapping the week she’d just endured, she let out a stuttered breath. Okay, so her life skills needed some serious work, but as far as she was concerned, that was Future Brynn’s problem. Present Brynn had other things on her mind.

            Like surviving the rest of the day.

            With that goal in mind, she kept her eyes on the road, and three hours and two 7-Eleven hot dogs after leaving Long Beach in her rearview mirror, she pulled into Wildstone. The place that reinvented itself many times over since it’d been an 1800s California wild, wild West town complete with wooden sidewalks, saloons, haunted silver mines, and a brothel. Sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and green rolling hills filled with wineries and ranches, Wildstone had once been her favorite place on earth.

            Parking in the driveway of her childhood home, she took a minute. It’d been a decade since she’d lived here. She’d gone off

to attend college and to conquer the world, though only one of

those things had happened. She’d been back for visits, but even

that had been a while. Six months, in fact. She’d stood in this

very spot and had asked both of her well-meaning

moms to

butt out of her life, saying that she knew what she was doing.

            She’d had no idea what she was doing.

            Note to self: You still don’t.

            With a sigh, she pulled down her visor and glanced in the mirror, hoping that a miracle had occurred and she’d see the reflection of someone who had their shit together. Her hair was knotted on top of her head with the string tie from her hoodie because she’d lost her scrunchie. She was wearing her old glasses because she’d lost her newer pair. Her face was pale and her eyes were puffy and red from a bad combo of crying and not sleeping. She wore yoga pants that hadn’t seen a yoga class since . . . well, ever, and in spite of being nearly thirty, she had a big, fat zit on her chin.

            In short, she looked about as far away from having her shit together as she was from solving world hunger.

            Knowing her moms—sweet and loving and nosy as hell—were going to see right through her, she pawed through her purse for a miracle. She found some lip gloss that she also dabbed on each cheek for badly needed color. As a bonus, she found two peanut M&Ms. Couldn’t waste those, could she? She shook her purse looking for more, but nope, she was out of luck.

            The theme of her life.

            With a sigh, she once again met her own gaze in the mirror. “Okay, here’s the drill. You’re okay. You’re good. You’re happy to be home. You’re absolutely not crawling back with your tail between your legs to admit to your moms that they were right about Asshole Ashton.”

            Swallowing hard, she got out of her hunk-o-junk and grabbed her duffel bag and purse. She’d barely made it to the porch before the front door was flung open and there stood her moms in the doorway, some deep maternal instinct letting them know their sole offspring was within smothering distance.

            Both in their mid-fifties, their similarities stopped there. Olive was pragmatic and stoic, and God help the person who tried to get anything by her. She was perfectly coifed as always, hair cut in a chic bob, pants and blazer fitted, giving her the look of someone who’d just walked out of a Wall Street meeting. In sharp comparison, Raina’s sundress was loose and flowery and flowing, and she wore beads around her neck and wrists that made her jingle pleasantly. She was soft and loving, and quite possibly the kindest soul on earth. And where Olive was economical with her movements, Raina was in constant motion.

            Opposites attract . . .

Cheryl Holt - Always Series

CHERYL HOLT introduces her new “Always” series with three stirring novels of passion, drama, and love forevermore…

I’m delighted to announce my new ALWAYS trilogy.  The three novels will be released together on August 1^st, so they’ll be available in a few days.  The titles are ALWAYS, ALWAYS YOURS, and ALWAYS MINE.

For several years now, I’ve been writing linked series, where there is a common thread that runs through all three novels and that resolves at the end of the third book. They’re family dramas with plenty of passion and emotional upheaval.  This time, there are two common threads.  The first is that the hero and his two little sisters were separated when they were young children, and they grow up, having forgotten they had siblings.  When the hero (in Book 1) finally remembers his long-lost sisters, he resolves to find them and bring them home.

There is a second thread that connects the three heroes through the three novels.  They are all famous African explorers who are British celebrities, renowned for their courage and daring-do.  As the story starts, they’ve suffered a terrible tragedy in Africa that tore their team apart.  They’re all grieving and quarreling, and they have to find a way to restart their lives and become best friends again.

The two links wind through the three books, and they resolve at the end of Book 3.  They create a fun character arc that drives the stories to the thrilling conclusion.

The three books will be released together on August 1^st, and they’ll be available as an e-book or a print book.  I hope you’ll mark your calendars and help me count down the days!  My Always trilogy—coming August 1^st!

Cheryl is also doing a giveaway for 10 lucky readers! Here is her Giveaway Link

CHERYL HOLT is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon "Top100" bestselling author who has published over fifty novels. Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is considered to be one of the masters of the romance genre. For many years, she was hailed as "The Queen of Erotic Romance", and she's also revered as "The International Queen of Villains." She is particularly proud to have been named "Best Storyteller of the Year" by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews. She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans. Visit her website at www.cherylholt.com.

CHAPTER ONE

Selby estate, rural England, twenty-four years later…

Nell Drummond walked down the pretty lane toward the main road.  It was a beautiful July afternoon, the sky so blue, the trees so green.  Up ahead, she could see the sign that indicated the estate entrance, the simple word SELBY carved in the wood to announce the esteemed location.

She was carrying ribbons and a basket of flowers, and she placed the basket at her feet and surveyed the surrounding posts and fence that she intended to decorate.  Back at the manor, the house was hectic, with the servants in a lather because guests were about to begin arriving and the final wedding preparations were still being completed.

In two weeks, her dearest friend, Susan Middleton, was marrying Selby cousin, Percy Blake.  Nell, Susan, and Susan’s mother, Florence, had already traveled to the country to participate in the celebrations that would lead up to the ostentatious event.  Susan’s busy father, Albert, wouldn’t appear until the day of the ceremony, feeling no need to be present during the escalating mayhem.

Nell had to admit he’d been wise to delay.  Now that she’d discovered how chaotic it would be, she wished she could have stayed in London until the very last minute too.

Though she would never confess it aloud, Florence always put people on edge, and she was being her typical annoying self, irking everyone with her pompous posturing.  With her usual lack of awareness, didn’t notice she was creating enemies right and left. 

The groom’s mother, Edwina Blake, was especially aggravated.

The two women had arranged the nuptials, so ultimately, they’d be related by marriage, but as the years rolled by, Nell couldn’t imagine how they would ever socialize.  They had naught in common, and Edwina’s dislike of Florence was potent and evident. 

The Blakes had been aristocrats for three centuries, and they were considered a premier family in the kingdom.  The Selby title, currently held by the groom’s cousin—the famous explorer and conspicuously absent Nathan Blake—was one of the oldest and most exalted in the land.  Edwina Blake—as a member of the lofty group—viewed herself as being very grand, very important, and she was.

The Middletons were obscenely wealthy due to Albert being a successful brewer.  Florence ceaselessly, but erroneously believed their money could buy them a position in High Society, but it never could.  They were too ordinary, their antecedents too low.

Despite how hard Florence tried, she couldn’t purchase the spot she thought they should occupy.  She’d hoped to use their fortune to snag a noble husband for Susan, but she’d had to settle for a nobleman’s cousin instead.

The groom, Percy Blake—as a grandson of the prior Lord Selby—had very blue blood, but an empty purse, and Susan’s dowry would fill it to overflowing.  It was the reason his mother, Edwina, had sought the match.  Once the vows were spoken, Percy would become very rich.

Yet the mothers—Florence and Edwina—were like an explosion waiting to happen.  How would they all survive the next two weeks without a huge fight breaking out?  If Percy and Susan could reach the altar without their mothers calling the whole thing off, it would be a miracle.

Nell was a pleasant person, and she couldn’t abide discord or bickering, but her years of living with the Middletons had honed her skills as a peacemaker.

RAINY DAY FRIENDS by Jill Shalvis

Rainy Day Friends

A Wildstone Novel

By: Jill Shalvis

Harper Collins – June 19, 2018

Goodreads Link

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Following the USA Today bestselling author of Lost and Found Sisters comes Jill Shalvis' moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship

Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife.

Rocked by the infidelity, Lanie is left to grapple with searing questions. How could she be so wrong about a man she thought she knew better than anyone? Will she ever be able to trust another person?  Can she even trust herself?

Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff who manages to wind his way into Lanie’s cold, broken heart—along with the rest of the clan.

Everything is finally going well for her, but the arrival of River Brown changes all that. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year old seems as sweet as they come…until her dark secrets come to light—secrets that could destroy the new life Lanie’s only just begun to build. 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis writes warm, funny, sexy contemporary romances and women’s fiction. An Amazon, BN & iBooks bestseller, she’s also a two-time RITA winner and has more than 10 million copies of her books sold worldwide.
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