Jill Shalvis Interview Today

We are welcoming

Jill Shalvis

About the author:

New York Times 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 bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

We are interviewing her on the book

Once In A Lifetime

Rad-Reader:  Ben is pretty handy (and handsy!)—do you trust Alpha Man to handle construction projects around the house or do you prefer to hire someone with official qualifications?

Jill:  Ha.  Alpha Man is a general contractor.  He does it all, thankfully, since I can’t fix a damn thing without breaking it.

Rad-Reader:  What would readers be surprised to find out about you?

Jill:  That I’m not a natural romantic at heart.  I have to work at it.  Ask poor Alpha Man, my idea of romance is Taco Bell on a dock at the lake…

Rad-Reader:  What’s your idea of a dream vacation?

Jill:  Somewhere on an island with warm sun, calm waters, and an outlet to charge my Kindle.  Oh, and food that magically appears…

Rad-Reader:  What’s the funniest “meet-cute” you’ve ever written?

Jill:  Well, it might just be in “Once In A Lifetime”, when in the opening scene, Aubrey tosses her drink in Ben’s face.

Rad-Reader:  What can your fans look forward to next in the Lucky Harbor series?

Jill:  Next up is a Lucky Harbor trilogy for this coming summer and fall, It’s In His Kiss, He’s So Fine, and Once In A Million, the stories of the three sexy hot guys who run Lucky Harbor Charters.

Social Media Links:

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Buy Links:

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MY REVIEW:

       Making amends are never easy.  Yet, that is one of two goals Aubrey Wellingtons set for herself.  You see Aubrey has always been known as a mean girl when really she spent her whole life in fear that people would find out it was a bluff to keep people away.  She didn’t want them to see she was less than, not smart like the sister her dad chose to take in the divorce, or fearful of not being liked so she was bitchy first in order to stand up to the bullies.

     The first goal was to reopen her aunt’s old bookstore.  She knows by all the naysayers that with e-books and all being such a big thing, that they think it won’t work.  She just wants a gathering place where the lonely and afraid can find comfort in books and friendship in the bookstore.  The second goal she’s made a list of all the people that she needs to make amends to.  She just happened upon an AA meeting by accident and saw such brave people who had the courage to do so and decided she needed to do so also.

There was someone on her list that had held a special place in her heart since the day he defended her against some bullies, Ben McDaniel.  He was back in town and the first time she sees him she was trying to throw a drink in her ex’s face, he moved and it hit Ben instead.  Yeah, she wasn’t starting out too well.

     Ben McDaniel was home after several years with the Department of Defense and the Army Corp. of Engineers.  He was in some of the worst dangerous war-torn countries just trying to outrun the pain and memories.  You see he had lost his wife to a drunk driver and he couldn’t stick around with the memories.  After a too close for comfort suicide bombing he decided it was time to come home.  Jack his cousin roped him into doing a construction remodel and making bookshelves for guess who, you got it, Aubrey.  He almost turned it down.  He couldn’t though her uncle was doing it in the memory of his late wife and for Aubrey and paying for it all.

     When Aubrey finds out she is not happy at all tries to fire him.  He explains he doesn’t work for her he works for the owner of the building her uncle.  She tries to call her uncle and finds out from Ben her uncle went on a month’s cruise with his new girlfriend.  Though it is tense they work it out, the work schedule, of course, trying not to be there at the same time.  On the few occasions that it did happen sparks were flying.  Then one day he kisses her…

     I so enjoyed this story.  I have to say I did miss the meddling that usually went on in this town by all the seniors.  It was always so funny.  What there was, was very cute.  I do have to say I really did not care for Jack’s character in this book at all.  I thought he acted like a total jerk.  I guess really it was the tone of kidding which with having brothers sometimes are barb’s towards each other than not and it just seemed mean.

     I liked the whole storyline of Aubrey making her amends and how she feels they effects all these years later.  Understanding the 12 steps program and the amends portion, this is never is easy for either party.  So, for her to take it on is fearless.  I like that Jill always seems to empower her female characters on some level.  You just never make amends if it will cause life and Jill made that clear with her character Aubrey’s handling of some of those she needed to make amends to.  Even asking advice of her Pastor friend.  So, refreshing to read.

     This book brings out a lot of uncomfortable issues but they are handled in an amazingly simple to the point, sometimes loving, sometimes painful but always honest way to fit the storyline.  Yet, still giving you a fun, enjoyable, and HEA.  Provided by NetGalley

           Excerpt:

Aubrey got a look at the man she’d inadvertently drenched and stopped breathing. Oh, God. Had she really thought her day couldn’t get any worse? Why would she tempt fate by even thinking that? Because of course, things had gotten worse. They always did.

Ben McDaniel slowly stood up from his barstool, dripping vodka from his hair, eyelashes, nose… He was six feet plus of hard muscles and brute strength on a body that didn’t carry a single extra ounce of fat on him. For the past five years, he’d been in and out of a variety of Third World countries designing and building water systems with the Army Corp of Engineers. His last venture had been for the Department of Defense in Iraq, which Aubrey only knew because Lucky Harbor’s Facebook page was good as gospel.

He swiped his face with his arm, deceptively chill and laid-back.

In truth, he was about as badass as they came.

Aubrey should know, she’d seen him in action. But she managed to meet his gaze. Cool, casual even. One had to be with Ben, the man could spot a weakness a mile away. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Are you?”

She felt herself flush. He’d always seemed to see right through her. And she was pretty sure he’d never cared for her. He had good reason for that, she reminded herself. He just didn’t know the half of it. “Yes, I am sorry,” she said. Her heart was pounding so loudly she was surprised she could hear herself speak. “Are you 
okay?”

He ran his fingers through a sexy disorder of sun-streaked brown hair. His eyes were the same color, light milk chocolate marbled with gold caramel. It was hard to make such a warm-colored gaze seem hard, but Ben managed it with no effort at all. “Need to work on your aim,” he said.

Poor Ben's all wet

Excerpt:

A few snowflakes floated lazily out of the low, dense clouds.  One block over, the Pacific Ocean carved into the harbor, which was lined by three-story high, rugged bluffs teeming with the untouched forestland that was the Olympic Mountains.  Around him, the oak-lined streets were strung with white lights, shining brightly through the morning gloom.  Peaceful.  Still. 

       A month ago, he’d been in South America, elbows deep in a project rebuilding a water system for the war-torn land.  Before that, he’d been in Haiti.  And before that, Africa.  And before that … Indonesia?  Hell, it might have been another planet for all he remembered.  It was all rolling together.

        He went to places after disaster hit, whether man or nature made, and he saw people at their very worst moments.  Sometimes he changed lives, sometimes he improved them, but at some point over the past five years, he’d become numb to it.  So much so that when he’d gone to check out a new jobsite at the wrong place, only to have the right place blown to bits by a suicide bomber just before he got there, he’d finally realized something.

       He didn’t always have to be the guy on the front line.  He could design and plan water systems for devastated countries from anywhere.  Hell, he could become a consultant instead.  Five years of wading knee deep in crap, both figuratively and literally, was enough for anyone.  He didn’t want to be in the right hellhole next time.

       So he’d come home, with no idea what was next.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````

It was dark outside when she got back to the Book & Bean, and she stopped short just outside the door. She’d locked up when she left and turned off the lights.

But the door was unlocked now, and the lights on. She went still, then pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1. She didn’t hit send but kept her thumb hovered over call. Taking a step inside, she paused. “Hello?”

“Hey.”

The low, slightly rough voice wasn’t what had her heart pumping. That honor went to the fact that there was a man on a ladder in the back of her store.

Ben.

He was in jeans with a tool belt slung low on his hips, his t-shirt clinging to him. He seemed a little irritated, a little sweaty, and just looking at him Aubrey got a whole lot hot and bothered in places that had no business being hot and bothered by this man at all. “What are you doing in here?” she asked.

“I work here.”

“What are you talking about? Get out.”

“Sorry, Sunshine.” He wasn’t even looking at her, but using some sort of long, claw-like tool to pull down a ceiling tile above the wall she’d been working on. And his tool worked way better than hers.

His movements were agile and surprisingly graceful for a guy his size. Not that he was bulky in any way. Nope, that tall, built body was all lean, tough muscle, and it screamed power. And with each subtle movement, his body made it clear that it knew exactly what to do with all that power. “The owner of this building hired me,” he said. “Said you were making a mess of things because your pride was bigger than your wallet.”

This caught her completely off guard, both the insult and the information. “My uncle owns this building,” she said.

He smiled thinly. “Yep. Happy Birthday.”

“It’s not my birthday.”

“Then happy you’ve-got-a-great-uncle day.”

 `````````````````````````````````````````````````

“You’re incredible, Ben, you know that? You’re an insensitive, first-class jerk, and–”

He leaned in. “And what?” he asked, voice dangerously low.

“And…” Stymied at her ridiculous and constant reaction to him, Aubrey put her hands to his chest to give him another shove, but somehow got her wires crossed and she fisted his shirt instead.

“Dare me,” he said softly.

Oh, how she hated how well he knew her. “I dare you to kiss me,” she whispered, and then to make sure he did, she put her mouth on his first… 

Thanks So Much Jill For Sharing Will Us Today It was Fun For Us All J