{ arc } review || STILL THE ONE

Still the One by Jill Shalvis

Publisher: Berkley (4/7/2015)
Series: Animal Magnetism, book 6
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Purchase links || amazon | bn || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★★





Love is a dare in the sexy new romance by the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of the Animal Magnetism novels and the Lucky Harbor series...

Darcy Stone is game for anything—except sexy Navy vet and physical therapist AJ Colten, the guy who’d rejected her when she’d needed him most. Now the shoe is on the other foot and he needs her to play nice and help him secure grants for his patients. Unfortunately Darcy can’t refuse. She needs the money to fund her passion project: rescuing S&R dogs and placing them with emotionally wounded soldiers.

AJ admits it—Darcy is irresistible. But he’s already been battle-scarred by a strong-willed, vivacious, adventurous woman like Darcy, and he’s not making the same mistake twice—until he and Darcy are forced to fake a relationship. Growing closer than they’d ever imagined possible, Darcy and AJ have to ask themselves: how much between them is pretend? What’s the real thing? And where does it go from here?

{ review } .

Ah... You just can't go wrong with a Jill Shalvis book.

Sure, sure, there's been one or two that I just didn't connect with -- which, of course, makes you feel as if you're losing your connection with said author because OH MY GOSH she wrote ONE BOOK you JUST. DON'T. LIKE.

Oh, heaven's be...

But no worries, STILL THE ONE is not that case.

I've read all but maybe two LUCKY HARBOR reads, and I think I've missed books 4 (maybe not 4) and 5 of ANIMAL MAGNETISM but AM has been one of my favorite series (with the exception of Chloe and Sawyer in LUCKY HARBOR).

So STILL THE ONE.

This was the second book in less than a week that I read that dealt with one of the main characters needing PT to recover the use of his/her legs. I always find it oddly amusing when my books line up just so...

(The other was WIN BY SUBMISSION).

Darcy doesn't have a home.

Or at least a place that she calls home. 'Home' to her has always been her siblings -- afterall, their parents 'threw' Darcy away. The only ones to ever have her back were her brother and sister. When she's in a terrible accident and needs intense rehab, her siblings bring her to Sunshine and to the therapy of a certain Mr. AJ Colten.

In the midst of her therapy, Darcy looses her head and kisses the man, to which he doesn't respond.

Now, she works with him and while she's still terribly attracted to the man, she refuses to act on it --

She refuses to be thrown away again. And as such, she's made it her life mission to help rescue dogs who are no longer needed. After all, she knows what it feels like to no longer be needed.

I loved every moment of Darcy and AJ's story. AJ is fiercely protective of Darcy -- he's always there in an instant to help, sees her impending stumble before she can do it. And while it frustrates Darcy because she knows he only sees her as a friend, she wants his hands on her for oh so much more.

AJ.... Oh, AJ. He has a thing for Darcy. He just knows better than to act on it.

...but there were limits to what a man could say to his best friend. For instance, My mind's on your frustrating, crazy-hot sister wasn't going to fly, not if he wanted to keep his teeth where they were.

Wyatt's eyes narrowed. "It's not Darcy, is it?"

[...]"It's not Darcy. She's..." Driving him right our of his ever-loving mind.

AJ can't be what Darcy needs, or so he thinks. He's helped her in so many ways, and many of those ways he refuses to tell her about. Of course, these things have a way of coming to surface and ruining perfectly good things but hey, without the big boom in a romance novel, it just wouldn't be fun.