Sandy M’s review of Her Sexiest Mistake by Jill Shalvis
Contemporary Romance published by Signet Eclipse 6 Dec 05
I picked up this book because I wasn’t in the right area of the house when I’d just finished my current read at the time. So I pulled open the closest drawer — I knew it would be full of books — and Ms. Shalvis’ name jumped out at me. She has become an all-time favorite author for me after reading just a few of her books. So I thought, when I cracked this one open, let’s see if she really does live up to that praise.
I am very glad to say she does. In spades. Her writing is just so much damn fun. Her characters jump off the page, her storylines are interesting, her love scenes are hot and sweet, or down and dirty, to go with the perfect scene. She pulls emotions out of her characters, who then throw them straight at you and you’ll react every single time. Especially with a hero and heroine like Kevin and Mia.
Mia has come a long way in her life. She left behind her mother’s double wide and her need to have a man, any man, all the time. She’s successful in her job, outpacing all the men in that arena too. Everything changes when she has a one-night stand with her new neighbor. She just can’t keep it to one night. There’s something about the man she can’t name that keeps her coming back for more.
Then her attention-needing niece, Hope, shows up on her doorstep, uninvited of course. Mia never had a good relationship with her sister, who is just like their mother, so it doesn’t surprise her when Sugar foists her daughter on Mia for the time being. Even though Mia knows nothing about real relationships and family, she suddenly has love coming to her from very different directions and she has no idea what to do with it. Well, she has one idea that involves her neighbor — in the hallway, on the kitchen floor, wherever he happens to be when she shows up.
And that doesn’t work for Kevin. He wants cuddling and sweet nothings. But Mia will have zilch to do with that. She throws her clothes on as fast as she can the next morning and she’s history. Until she needs her itch scratched again. Kevin finally puts his foot down, either commit or end it. When Mia doesn’t respond, he’s the one who makes the call.
By this time both he and Mia have other issues going on in their lives. Kevin’s younger, deaf brother is constantly in trouble and needs constant bail-outs, always using the guilt card where Kevin is concerned. Mia’s job has always been the highlight of her life, but things begin to go very wrong in the office and she can’t figure out why that doesn’t bother her as much as she thinks it should. Hope is also another factor in their lives. Kevin’s a high school teacher and gets along with Hope quite well. Mia’s never been around kids, especially teenagers, so trying to figure Hope out is beyond her. All Hope wants is love.
I kept screaming at Mia to wake up, wake up! I understand her reticence at wanting to keep control of her life, having now what she never had as a child, but I just wanted her wake up a little sooner, only because she kept throwing a great guy away. But she’d go back to Kevin time and again, and she was the only one who couldn’t see the why of that.
Kevin had his own waking up to do when it came to bailing his brother out of jail, but his moment came earlier on. Pissed his brother off big time, but it was exactly what they both needed. Hope’s character is both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. She’s a super smart kid and some of her hijinks were absolute genius, even if it ticked off a multitude of people. I also enjoyed the side romance of Kevin’s brother and Mia’s best friend. It was a nice little bonus.
I have officially become a Jill Shalvis fangirl. I love everything about her writing. Every book of hers that I’ve read so far, which admittedly isn’t a huge amount because I read my first just last year, is definitely a keeper. You can’t ask for any more than what you get in a Jill Shalvis romance.
Grade: A+
Summary:
Her Choo’s were meant for walking…
Mia Appleby has it all. Just ask her. A fab career in marketing with a salary that keeps her in her favorite designers and a condo in the Los Angeles hills…everything she dreamed of as a little girl gazing out the window of her mom’s trailer at a sewer plant. That old life is completely gone now except for one remaining inherited vice — a weakness for men.
…Until one man made her stop in her tracks.
That is, until she has a one-night stand with handsome Kevin McNight. This new neighbor has burning eyes that match his melt-me body, but they still don’t stop Mia from ending it the next morning, a ploy that has worked with most men. But Kevin is not like the others and he won’t let Mia off that easy. Neither will her runaway Goth niece, Hope, who inconveniently shows up on her doorstep with hopes for a new life. Now Mia must keep her new fan club at a afe distance — before they burst her fairy tale facade.
Read an excerpt.
