At Last by Jill Shalvis (Lucky Harbor #5)
Contemporary Romance
June 26, 2012
Hachette

Reviewed by Mandi

At Last is book five in the Lucky Harbor series, but it is really book two of three in this second set of trilogies. While I liked the previous book, I think At Last really brings back that great chemistry and sexual tension that I loved in the original three books of this series.

Amy Michaels has lived in Lucky Harbor for about six months. She works as a waitress in the Eat Me Café and has become fast friends with Mallory (heroine from book one) and Grace (heroine in the next book). She has had a hard childhood, running away from home at sixteen. She now has in her possession a journal written by her grandmother when she spent time in Lucky Harbor many years ago. This journal details a spot deep into the woods where her grandmother and her lover engraved their initials into a rock. Her grandmother writes about how she found ‘hope, peace and heart,’ during the time she spent in this town, and that is exactly what Amy is looking for.

Unfortunately, she gets lost hiking by herself, and decides to call for help before it gets too dark. Who shows up, is the hottie forest ranger, Matt Bowers. Matt has had eyes for Amy ever since she moved into town, often eating at her diner just to catch a glimpse of her. Matt used to be a cop, before things went south with his job and his marriage. Although his job is demanding here, he has found a peace of some sorts, although his past haunts him just like Amy’s does.

By the time Matt gets to Amy, it is getting dark and he gets word that  a tree has fallen across the only road to get them out of the woods. Luckily he has camping gear with him at all times, and he sets up camp for the night. While he is greatly attracted to Amy, she is a very tough nut to crack. She has a huge tough girl image, and it takes Matt a long time to slowly work his way into her life.

As I mentioned at the beginning, At Last has such great sexual tension. Matt is just a sexy beast. He is alpha, a little grumpy, and just seeming like he is always ready to burst when he is around Amy. Jill Shalvis builds up their romance so well in this one. In the previous book, I wasn’t too sure about Amy, but I ended up really liking her. She is very tight-lipped about her past, always telling people she is fine, always trying to keep that tough girl image going. She totally has the hots for Matt too, but she has trust issues which push her to keep him away.

But Amy’s eyes were on Matt. Because if Josh looked good, Matt looked amazing, and way too sexy.

Why was he still so sexy to her?

Matt pushed his dark sunglasses to the top of his head and searched her out. There was no other word for it. His eyes roamed over the diner until he found her. He looked her over, making her every nerve ending tingle with awareness, though his gaze was more inquisitive than sexual, as if making sure she was okay, though she had no idea why she wouldn’t be.

Then he smiled, and oh, how her misbehaving nipples loved that predatory smile. If his intense, concerned once-over had done things to her, his smile just about undid her from the inside out.

But Matt is not one to give up. When they do start sleeping together, the romance scenes are as hot as the build up to them. They do start with the ‘let’s just have sex, no strings attached,’ which isn’t a favorite theme of mine. We are reading a romance book, obviously there are going to be many strings attached. But in this book it didn’t bother me too much.

I really liked that we see much more friendship between Ty (hero from book one), Matt and Josh (hero in next book) in this one. I think it was lacking in book one. While this is a great romance, Jill Shalvis also writes great scenes between friends. The girls got a lot of page time in the previous book, but they boys make up for it in this one. I love male camaraderie, and in here they make fun of each other, beat each other up in the gym and are just there for some really amusing times. I do think Matt is a little overdramatic at times, when secrets things are revealed about Amy. She kind of lies to him about some things and it is very predictable that he is going to stomp off towards the end, feeling a little bit like forced conflict. But again, those are just nit-picky details.

At Last has great chemistry between all of the characters. I’m so intrigued by the next book, where we get Grace and Josh’s story. We really don’t know these two that well. They both seem a little more reserved, which makes me excited to uncover their secrets.

Rating: B

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