"A second chance at life, and a second chance at love..."
Reviewed by Rachel Williams
Posted June 21, 2015
Romance Contemporary
As the assistant manager of an upscale spa and styling
salon in California, Lily Danville has access to many
celebrities and is privy to their secrets. When an item
of
gossip leaked to the press about a celebrity backfires on
the salon, Lily is forced to take the blame for her
manager
and is fired. Not only fired, but blackballed out of any
kind of a job in California. Licking her wounds, she
returns home to Cedar Ridge, Colorado; a place she left 10
years previously and swore she'd never return to.
Aidan Kincaid has grown up in Cedar Ridge and never left
there. He's a firefighter and rescue worker; and he is
part of the family that owns the local Ski and Wilderness
Resort as well. After some poor business decisions by
their father, Aidan and his family are tasked with keeping
the resort going, and afloat financially. When he
discovers
that his old flame Lily has come home, he's intrigued.
Lily is determined to keep Aidan's attentions at bay,
however. Not only does she plan to leave the small town
as
soon as she gets another job, she has a deeper reason for
not wanting to get involved with Aidan.
SECOND CHANCE SUMMER is a very nice story; an entertaining
and fun read from Jill Shalvis. Shalvis does romance in
rustic locations well, this time in a small town and
resort
lodge in the mountains of Colorado. SECOND CHANCE SUMMER
is everything the reader has come to expect from Shalvis;
a
good plotline about trying to save the family wilderness
resort, as well as a compelling and believable romance.
All this is wrapped around a cast of interesting and often
quirky secondary characters. The sexy and funny banter
between Lily and Aidan is a nice plus. Although as a
reader, I don't agree with the reason Lily has for not
wanting to be with Aidan, and the secret she harbors about
her late sister; I do think it was handled well by the
author, and in a reasonable fashion.
SECOND CHANCE SUMMER is the first book in the new Cedar
Ridge series by Jill Shalvis. Aidan has enough
siblings
and friends to keep the series going for a while, and the
story is consistently entertaining. There are several
scenes and issues that look to be expanded on in later
books. The fate of the resort is an unresolved plotline,
to
be carried on to the next book about Aidan's brother
Hudson. There are some similarities to other small town
and
rural series written by Shalvis; but Cedar Ridge is
still
a fresh new take on the author's favorite setting.
SECOND CHANCE SUMMER is a very good start to what looks to
another winning series by Jill Shalvis.
SUMMARY
RESCUE ME Cedar Ridge, Colorado, is famous for crisp mountain air,
clear blue skies, and pine-scented breezes. And it's the
last place Lily Danville wants to be. But she needs a
job,
and there's an opening at the hottest resort in her
hometown. What has her concerned is the other hot
property
in Cedar Ridge: Aidan Kincaid-firefighter, rescue worker,
and heartbreaker. She never could resist that devastating
smile . . . The Kincaid brothers are as rough and rugged as the Rocky
Mountains they call home. Aidan has always done things
his
own way, by his own rules. And never has he regretted
anything more than letting Lily walk out of his life ten
years ago. If anyone has ever been in need of rescuing,
she
has. What she needs more than anything are long hikes,
slow
dances, and sizzling kisses. But that can only happen if
he
can get her to give Cedar Ridge-and this bad boy-a second
chance . . .
Excerpt“Come here,” he said.
“I’m right here.”
“Closer.”
She walked into his arms. He pulled her in and kissed her.
He kissed her
until he knew he’d taken it as far as he could without
tearing off that
pretty sundress right then and there, and only then did he
lift his head.
“Oh,” she breathed, staggering back a step, clearly trying
to play it cool—
which might have worked if her eyes weren’t dilated and the
pulse at the
base of her throat wasn’t going apeshit crazy.
He gave a slow smile and pulled her back in, not hard for
him to do, since
she already had a grip on his shirt like he was her lifeline
and she was
going down for the count.
She cleared her throat. “So you showed up all Captain
America to save the
day, and now what? I jump into bed with you? Was that your
plan?”
“Yeah,” he said, “but in my version we didn’t talk this much.”
“A full-service rescue then,” she said evenly.
He tried a cajoling smile. “I’m really good at full service.”
“Do you really think this is a good idea?”
He laughed softly and let his mouth brush over her temple
and then her ear,
which caused her to shiver. “Of course it’s not a good idea.
Or we’d have
gone for it already.
But sometimes the bad ideas turn out to be the best ideas of
all.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “Name one.”
“Bringing out your keys from the convenience store after the
postcard
display demolition.”
She let out a soft laugh and fisted her hands in his hair.
“So what now? We really going to try this out?”
Were they? He’d promised himself he wouldn’t give her a
chance to devastate
him again. But somehow over the past few weeks he’d lost
sight of keeping
his heart safe and moved onto wanting to heal her heart.
“I’m game.”
She hesitated so long he took a step back from her and
prepared himself to
leave. But her hand came out and gripped his. “You’re
wearing too many
clothes,” she said softly.
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