Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis (Lucky Harbor #3)
Contemporary Romance
November 22, 2011
Forever

Reviewed  by Mandi

The Lucky Harbor series has become one of my favorite contemporary series, and Head Over Heels didn’t disappoint.

Over the past year, Chloe has moved to the small northern town of Lucky Harbor, has come to know her two half-sisters Tara and Maddie, and together, they have renovated and opened their own bed and breakfast. While Chloe helps out with all the chores around the B&B, she is an aesthetician and loves to create natural products for spa treatments. She is known as the "wild child," always doing impulsive things. Having grown up with a mom who traveled with the Grateful Dead and having no idea who her father is, she is more of a free spirit. She also suffers from severe asthma attacks, and because that limits her physical activity so much, she tries to push limits elsewhere. Lately, though, she has been working on being more responsible to prove to her sisters that she can be a productive partner of the B&B.

During her time in Lucky Harbor, she has come to know the town’s beloved sheriff, Sawyer. Although, he’s not so beloved by her, because they are at each other’s throats most of the time. Sawyer is a very straight-laced, serious (and totally gorgeous!) sheriff. Having spent his youth getting into some serious trouble, he has completely turned his life around and now works to make his town as safe as it can be. He has a huge heart but is a little shyer when it comes to romance. He is totally attracted to Chloe but has tried to keep his distance from this woman who is always surrounded by drama. But that isn’t going to last for long.

Head Over Heels is such a fun, sexy book. We’ve met both Chloe and Sawyer in the first two books, and I couldn’t wait to see how the crazy Chloe paired up with the more serious Sawyer would play out. And it is so cute. Their sexual tension just builds and builds with every conversation and heated look they share. Being sheriff, Sawyer has this innate calm and protective aura, and it is fun to watch him try to keep his composure as he frequently pulls Chloe out of her self-made tangles. Whether she is rescuing dogs or trying out the natural mud up in the woods, she seems to always get in trouble, and he seems to always be there to pull her out. He is such a cop through-and-through that I love watching him try to loosen up around Chloe.

With Chloe’s asthma, they can’t just fall into bed together. Chloe must prepare her body for stimulation, or she goes into an asthma attack. So spontaneous sex is out for them. But with how thoughtful Sawyer is, their romance scenes become a very quiet, sensual affair, and are really well done.

"So I have this thing I do before sex. A test. An ‘Is He Inhaler Worthy?’ test."

He just stared at her. "There’s a test. Before sex."

"Yes. And I should tell you, not many pass."

And then after a few passionate kisses:

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I’d be worth the inhaler," he said, then forced himself to walk away into the night.

Besides the great relationship, we get really nice scenes with other members of Lucky Harbor. Some heartwarming scenes from Chloe’s best friend, Lance, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and hilarious scenes from the elderly Lucille, who obsessively posts town gossip on Facebook.

I think this one can be read as a stand-alone book, but I encourage you to try the first two in the series, where you meet all the characters of this really fun town.

Rating: B+

Note: This review first posted at the Happy Ever After Blog.

Recent Reviews:
The Book Reading Gals – A
Dear Author – B-
Pearl’s World of Romance – 9.5/10
Romance Around the Corner – 4/5
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