Monday, 3 October 2016

New Release Spotlight & Review: The Trouble With Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis

From New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis comes a captivating story of love, second chances and new beginnings...

About THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE:

If she has her way…

Willa Davis is wrangling puppies when Keane Winters stalks into her pet shop with frustration in his chocolate-brown eyes and a pink bedazzled cat carrier in his hand. He needs a kitty sitter, stat. But the last thing Willa needs is to rescue a guy who doesn’t even remember her…

…He’ll get nothing but coal in his stocking.

Saddled with his great-aunt’s Feline from Hell, Keane is desperate to leave her in someone else’s capable hands. But in spite of the fact that he’s sure he’s never seen the drop-dead gorgeous pet shop owner before, she seems to be mad at him…

Unless he tempers “naughty” with a special kind of nice…

Willa can’t deny that Keane’s changed since high school: he’s less arrogant, for one thing—but he doesn’t even remember her. How can she trust him not to break her heart again? It’s time to throw a coin in the fountain, make a Christmas wish–and let the mistletoe do its work…

Order THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE in ebook or paperback

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She watched Keane take in the two newest Christmas trees, one in front of O’Riley’s Pub, the other in front of Reclaimed Woods, both decorated in simple red and gold balls. The only sound around them was the soft trickle of the water flowing from the fountain and some lovelorn crickets mourning the dawn’s lack of warmth.

“Legend states that if you make a wish with a true heart, true love will find you,” she said.

He met her gaze. “Legend also states that if you put your tooth under your pillow the Tooth Fairy will leave you cash.”

She slowed, as always the fountain calling to her to make a wish. Keane slowed too, looking at her with a question.

She searched her pockets for change, but could only come up with a dog treat. “Damn.” It was the swear jar’s fault, all her spare change always ended up in there.

“What?”

“I wanted to make a wish,” she said.

A small smile crossed his face. “You want to make a wish? You’ve lived here for how long and you’ve never made one?”

“Oh, I have.” She paused. “I like to.”

This garnered her a raised brow. “How many times have you wished?”

She bit her lower lip.

“More than once?”

Well, crap. How had they gotten on this subject? “Um…”

“More than…five?”

“Gee, would you look at the time?” she asked and tried to go but he caught her and brought her back around, his smile now a broad grin.

“Fine,” she said. “If you must know, I toss a coin in every time I walk by.”

He lost the battle with his laughter and she stared at him. Seriously, he had the best laugh. “It worked for Pru, I’ll have you know,” she told him. “She wished for true love to find Finn, and then he fell in love with her.”

And Willa had been wishing ever since, even knowing how ridiculous and silly it was.

“So…you’ve been wishing for true love for who exactly?” he asked.

She stared at him in dismay. How had she not thought this through? “Me,” she admitted, slapping her pockets because surely she had even a penny. “But I intend to fix that right now. I’ll just wish for love for someone else.”

“Who?” he asked warily.

She narrowed her eyes at his fear. “You. Got any change?”

My confession: This is my first Jill Shalvis book. I know; a shocking admission!

Willa Davis has built up a successful pet shop from scratch by diversifying to match the needs of her pet eccentric customers...Pet Weddings anyone? She's successful, part of a close-knit group of friends and single! Life is good until a customer comes into her shop, triggering a painful memory she'd rather forget.
"A guy stood on the other side of the glass, mouth grim, expression dialled to Tall, Dark and Attitude-ridden."
Only, she can't make him sorry for his mistake if he can't remember who she is, can she?

Keane Winters is desperate. With his aunt's precious cat in tow, he goes to the South Bark Mutt Shop hoping they'll board this 'pain in the ass' he's been asked to temporarily care for.
He's delighted when the owner is drop dead gorgeous, but left perplexed when she appears angry with him...why?

When two stubborn people meet it's going to be a fascinating and bumpy ride and Ms. Shalvis keeps you constantly entertained with humorous, laugh out loud funny dialogue as the protagonists attempt to overcome their individual issues about themselves and each other. They are beautifully complimented by an array of equally intriguing characters whose own stories I'm interested in reading about too. The pre-Christmas time-line conjures up lots of seasonal feel-good feelings as well as highlighting unfortunate challenges faced by those less unfortunate than ourselves.

I love the San Francisco setting, and after visiting the city many years ago enjoyed revisiting and remembering the city I have memories of as I became embroiled within Willa and Keane's story.

A special shout-out to Petunia 'Pita' for her excellence as a cat with attitude and her ability to run circles around her foster human! As a cat lover and owner, Pita's portrayal sums up all I love about cats.

So, If you are looking for a Christmassy, feel good book heavily embellished with fairy-lights, this is one for you!

***arc generously received courtesy of Avon Books via Edelweiss+***

And don’t miss the first novel in Jill Shalvis’s Heartbreaker Bay Series,

SWEET LITTLE LIES, now available! Grab your copy HERE!

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s sexy contemporary and award-winning books wherever romances are sold and click on the blog button above for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.