Book Review: Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis

At First Sight: Chloe Traeger, also known as The Wild Child, has never had a problem living up to her nickname, though she has started to change a little since opening the Lucky Harbor Inn with her sisters Tara and Maddie. 

As the only one raised by their mother Phoebe (the original wild child), Chloe has never had any roots or a home to come back to, until she decided to stick with her half sisters and make a go of the Inn they inherited from their mother. She is a bit of a wanderer so she divides her time between helping out at the inn and roaming the country offering her spa services and her all-natural skin care line. 

Though, lately, the roaming is starting to feel a little old, even if she's not ready to settle down just yet. 

Settling down, however, is not a problem for Sheriff Sawyer Thompson. Once a child terror and teenage delinquent, Sawyer has worked hard to turn his life around and, at 35, he's the respected and beloved Sheriff of Lucky Harbor. Nothing baffles Sawyer... except for Chloe. 

Ever since their first meeting, sparks have flown between them at each opportunity, even if, on the surface, they are as different as two people can be. But Chloe calls to Sawyer's dark side, the one he swears he left behind years ago... or did he?

Second Glance: I have to say that I quite liked Head Over Heels. I really love Lucky Harbor and love that by now I know many of the secondary characters and what their deal is, so it feels like a living community to me, that's lovely. 

I quite loved Sawyer and Chloe's story too, it wasn't melodramatic - at least I didn't think - and they are both likable and engaging, I cared about them. And I thought they worked well together. 

Chloe is impulsive and she often gets in trouble because of it, but she's not dumb, she's just trying to find a balance between being true to herself and fitting in with the sisters she's growing to love, and the town she wants to call home.  Sawyer thinks he has a lot of making up to do for his misspent youth, but he doesn't realize that, as far as the town is concerned, he has already done more than enough, and that's he's loved for himself. He's a good guy -  a big, hot as hell, strong, good guy - and I loved him for it. 

I had two problems with the story, however. First, it was the asthma thing. Chloe has asthma and she kind of gets an attack over everything, including having sex, and they are E.R.-trip worthy attacks. Now, I know I'm not a doctor, and that everyone lives their diseases differently, but I know a few people with asthma, and most of them are kick-ass athletes, so I had a hard time buying into the "I can't get worked up or I get an attack" thing. 

And secondly, I wished the pace was a bit faster. Both Sawyer and Chloe have been established as characters for two books already, and yeah, I understand there was a bit of building up on their characters that needed to be done once they took center stage, but I felt like it was too slow. And the DEA subplot was a bit distracting.

Not a problem but yes a gripe, there is this character that shows up late in the game, a guest at the inn, and I felt like she was made too big a deal of and they just dropped off the face of the book. 

Bottom Line: Over all, I loved Head Over Heels, it was a sweet romance that made laugh many times. It wasn't perfect but I'll be happy to return to Lucky Harbor any time!

Favorite Quote: "It's a compliment." She said, amused."Sweet is a positive quality."

"Yeah," he said. "In puppies."