I first started reading romance novels when I was 14. I’d
just had my heart broken by my first love and desperately needed to know that
happy endings existed. Jill Shalvis was the first romance author I picked up
and she gave me back my believe in happy endings. She also made me fall in love
with rough, gruff alpha males and sassy, feisty heroines.
Needless to say, I have a huge love for Jill Shalvis’ books
and in particular her Lucky Harbour series. It’s In His Kiss is the first book
in what is to be the last trio of Lucky Harbour books, and my expectations were
sky high. It’s In His Kiss was different than I had expected, but chapter after
chapter it took my breath away and blew my expectations our of the water.
Usually with romance books I fall in love with the hero,
especially if he’s a rough, gruff broody type of fellow. Now don’t get me
wrong, I totally fell in love with Sam Brody and his tantalising gruffness. But
this time I fell more in love with the heroine, Becca Thorpe. She’s hiding out,
scared and vulnerable. But her vulnerability hides a backbone of steel and soul
filled with sass. Her back story is heartbreaking which makes her strength and
growth throughout this remarkable book even more incredible and engaging. She’s
relatable, and in spite of having very good reasons for hiding-out, her sass
and her enthusiasm for the things and the people she loves is infectious.
Sam Brody is a super smart, super talented and super hot. At
first glance, he’s your stereotypical romance hero. But he has so much more
depth to him than that. He has a somewhat tortured past, which he refuses to
focus on but it clearly affects him. The connection he has with his friends is
so wonderful that it made me fall in love with all three of them by the third
chapter. The scenes featuring Sam and Amelia brought tears to my eyes and
showed just how deeply gruff Sam really feels.
But it was the way he treated Becca that made me fall for him. He’s
ridiculously erotic, but he treats her with such sweetness, like she’s infinitely
precious to him, that sold this story for me.
As always with a Jill Shalvis book, It’s In His Kiss is
filled with engaging, funny and feisty dialogue, amazingly well described
scenes, engaging and relatable plot and some seriously delightful and erotic
sex scenes. The background characters are all extremely well fleshed-out, the
main characters and supporting cast of friends and family are all rich, deep
characters that draw you in and make you want to move to Lucky Harbour. I read
it, cover to cover, in one sitting because it was just too much of a delight
and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s In His Kiss is erotic, it’s sexy and delicious. It’s
funny, engaging and sassy. It’s heart-warmingly sweet, emotional and lovely.
But more than anything, it’s a tantalising tease. And it’s a tease that more
than lives up to its promise.
5 stars
