Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis
February 1, 2011
Contemporary Romance
Paperback, 304 Pages
Berkley
Reviewed by Mandi
Lilah Young who runs Sunshine Kennels in Sunshine, Idaho has a Jeep full of animals. A duck, some puppies and a pot bellied pig. She accidentally rear ends the truck in front of her because her hands are a bit full. Lilah is currently going to school to become a vet and is very low on funds. Her worthless Jeep won’t even start after the minor accident. The owner of the truck she hits is Brady Miller. Brady is back in Sunshine only for a brief visit. He is ex-Army and currently an independent pilot for special missions. His foster brothers Dell and Adam have asked him to come home for a visit.
When Brady sees Lilah with all her pets and her broken down car, he offers to drive her home. They even share a brief kiss, unable to deny the attraction between them. What they both don’t realize is Brady’s foster brothers are very good friends with Lilah. They run into each other again, and go for the casual fling.
Animal Magnetism has a cute start – the first chapter or so is really strong. Brady and Lilah have nice chemistry to begin with – I even believed in their shared kiss on their first meeting. But unfortunately, the chemistry doesn’t grow from here. Part of the problem is Lilah. She is so perfect. Actually, all the characters in the book are too perfect. Lilah never gets angry, or ticked off. Even at the end when it is time for Brady to leave, she says, “I hate that you are going, but I’d rather have the pain of that than not having had you in my life at all.” This is a fine attitude to have if there had been any other conflict in this book. But there isn’t. Nothing happens. Lilah also repeatedly says that she is not looking for a serious relationship or a white picket fence. But her character screams white picket fence. She is very content in her small town and her morals and the way she presents herself point directly toward relationship material. So I never bought into that attitude. I enjoyed watching them fall for each other, but I felt like something is missing. Dell and Adam are wonderful people, everyone in the small town is a wonderful person. Bottom line – I needed some kind of conflict. Not just the threat of Brady leaving, and then Lilah not being completely heartbroken when he does leave.
Lilah also has numerous single men hovering around her. Adam and Dell, ex boyfriends, and a few other male characters. Not once does she hang out with a girlfriend. The only other female character that is prominent in the book is the receptionist at the Vet practice and she comes off as very gorgeous, sarcastic woman. To me, her character doesn’t make sense to be friends with all these single men, and no girls.
There are some cute lines in this book. Brady is more of a quiet, alpha hero. I liked him a lot more than I liked Lilah. Their romance scenes are very hot and I have no complaints there. I thought I wouldn’t like the animal aspect, but that was my favorite part. Abigail the duck, and the many dogs and cats are very endearing in this book.
I assume this is the start to a series that will feature Brady’s foster brothers Adam and Dell or so I hope. I’ve read Jill Shalvis in the past and have enjoyed her work. Animal Magnetism is a cute book, just too much cuteness for me.
Rating: C+
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Too much cuteness? Lol, that actually got me pretty interested to see what the book is about
I liked it. The men hovering around her kinda annoyed me (really not EVERYONE can be in love with one person…)
But I adored Brady, Adam and Dell. I hope she does stories for them as well. And if she does, I hope she pairs off Del and Jade (I think that was her name) the receptionist from the vet practice! :D
Jill Shalvis is new to me author. I recently read a trilogy by her-all the titles had Instant in them. That focused on three brothers too. Pattern or coincidence? I don't mind "cute" but I have to be in the mood for it. :)
I haven't read Jill Shalvis yet and I like cute now and then. We'll see. :)
I enjoyed your review Mandi. I did read various comments that mirrored your feelings. I loved this one. I just find humor sexy & then Jill writes funny, sexy well anyway.
I actually liked that Lilah had her shit together and it was a waiting game to see how long Brady would take to cave.
I thought the chemistry between Dell & Jade was a good set up too.
Blodeuedd – It IS cute..which is good..just a bit too much for me :)
Nicole – I hope she does stories for the brothers too! I assume the receptionist will be a future heroine:)
Lisa – I really enjoyed her Simply Irresistible…I can't wait to read the second in that series! That is about three sisters:)
FV – You would like her books.
Mary – She does have a nice combo of humor and sexy times :) I really like her voice – just didn't connect with Lilah in this one.
I felt I've read better books by her. I liked it, but I didn't love it. For me one of the problems was Lilah's stubborness. I just felt a lot of it was unnecessary and was only used to create some of the storyline missing conflict. I did love Brady though. I've found that this author writes wonderful heroes, it's her heroines that sometimes mess her up.
The puppy on the cover is just adorable and having being held up a shirtless guy makes it even more so. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually interested in reading the book. Don't know if I really will, but my interest is piqued.
Thank you Mandi – great review. The book sounds fine, but…not for me I think :)
I'm with Blouduedd-the too cute and perfect makes me want to give this book a try-mainly because I hate it when contemporary romance heroines are too traumatized to be perfect, so it's nice to see a normal heroine here. I loved your honest review of it. :)
Kristie – Yes – I agree with everything you said :)
Ryan – LOL – do it! And come back and tell me how you liked it :)
Orannia – :)
Buckeye – oh, you would like this one! No trauma…:)
Love the honest review! I loved the cover due to the animal aspect so I will probably still check it out just for that portion.