Welcome back to Sunrise Cove for this heartwarming enemies-to-lovers tale where found family, forgiveness, and love may just be the key to finding yourself, from New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis.
Lexi Clark’s life is falling apart around her, so when she’s summoned home to Sunrise Cove, the last thing she wants to do is face all the complications she left behind. Her past, her stepsister Ashley, and especially her infuriatingly gorgeous childhood nemesis-turned-crush Heath Bowman.
Yep, Lexi’s pretty sure being home again just might kill her. She’s an overachieving art appraiser who doesn’t believe in trust, love, or Happily Ever Afters. Free spirit Ashley, on the other hand, is so full of life it hurts to look at her. But Lexi can’t refuse Ashley’s plea to honor their late mother’s final wish to make amends with the people she’d wronged. So, on behalf of her estranged mother’s estate—and with Heath in tow as the executor—Lexi embarks on a road trip to repay all the people her gambling addicted mother owed money to.
Complicating everything are the feelings that well up for for her mom, for Ashley, and most of all, for Heath. And for the record, she doesn’t like it, or the way he has of scaling the walls she’s built around her heart. The road trip shenanigans that ensue are both funny and heartbreaking, but Lexi finds something shocking along the way. Acceptance. Family. And unbelievably—if you ask Lexi anyway—love.
Review:
Another lovely read from Ms Shalvis!
The Love Fix takes readers back to Sunrise Cove for another found family/complicated relationship with the past story with likeable, mostly relatable characters who just don’t always get along…until they do. They have complicated pasts, which especially for Lexi and Heath, have led them to believe that their future won’t include finding someone who will love them for who they are.
Lexi also has to come to terms with the resentment she’s always felt toward Ashley, who was raised by Lexi’s mom (for the most part after Lexi left to live with her dad) and had a totally different, significantly better relationship with her than Lexi ever did. Even Heath and his little brother Cole had a positive relationship with Lexi’s mom, and for a while here none of them can quite understand why Lexi resented her so much and doesn’t feel the same sorrow that they all do at her passing. Lexi, used to keeping to herself and internalizing everything, resists letting Heath and Ashley get close even as a part of her she’s loathe to acknowledge craves real relationships with them.
See? Complicated.
But of course the task that Daisy (Lexi’s mom) has left for them manages to do the near-impossible–bring them together on a real level, a “love fix,” if you will. And there’ll be a lot of laughter and a few tears along the way before we get to what will presumably be their HEA…ultimately, it was quite satisfying.
My only “complaint,” if we can call it that, is that Lexi, Heath, and Ashley and their assorted side characters felt at times like standard issue Jill Shalvis characters. Not really in a bad way, but for the opening couple of chapters I honestly felt like I’d already read about these people…hadn’t I? Once we get to the task Daisy left them it became obvious that this was indeed a new book and altogether I really did enjoy their story, but the opening had me feeling all kinds of deja vu for a while there. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; it was just a little disorienting at first.
As always, each Sunrise Cove story is a complete standalone book which can be read by itself or in any order along with the others. Don’t hesitate to pick this one up just because you haven’t read any or all of the other seven, because they truly have no connection other than basic geography, nearly unparalleled levels of snark, and a totally normal or completely unhinged fear of arachnids, depending on your own personal feelings on the subject.
I vote for totally normal, of course 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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