Review: It Had To Be You

by Jill Shalvis
Rating: 5/5

Ali Winters is not having a good day. Her boyfriend left her, everyone in town thinks she's a thief, and now she's about to be kicked out of her home. Her only shot at keeping a roof over her head and clearing her name is to beg for help from a police detective who's as sexy as he is stern.... After a high-profile case goes wrong, Luke Hanover returns to his hometown for some peace and quiet. Instead he finds a bombshell brunette in a heap of trouble. As he helps Ali put her world back together, the pieces of Luke's own life finally seem to fall into place. Is this the start of a sizzling fling? Or are Luke and Ali on the brink of something big in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

This is book seven in Jill Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor series.

We open up with Ali, finding out that her boyfriend has a) cheated on her, b) texted her the breakup and c) not renewed the lease on their house leaving her homeless. Besides Teddy being a giant asshole, a really, really giant one, leaving Ali homeless by text means that she’s found by the owner of the house half-naked.

Luke, is burnt out after a case went bad in San Francisco where he’s a cop. His first meeting with Ali involves seeing her bitch Teddy out to his voicemail half-naked and handing her a sweater. Since the case in SF that went bad involved a senator who murdered several women the press are all over it and when Ali offers to run interference and cook in exchange for a few extra nights in the house he agrees. He says it’s because he wants her help, but it’s totally because he’s a marshmallow.

I really liked Ali, she was so sweet and cheerful even in the face of such rage inducing adversity. To the point where I have to say that I think the actual villain had a point regarding Teddy (spoilers!).

I really liked Ali’s mum. She was someone who chased after love throughout Ali’s childhood, but she was a good person. Eternally optimistic and caring for her children over any man. She pushes Ali to have a relationship, but only because she genuinely believes it’ll make Ali happy. This is so utterly refreshing. Yes Ali wanted out to be a new person, but it wasn’t because her mum was toxic, just different. And the support her mother and sister give her without question is lovely and really like a close-knit family.

Luke had a great realisation and grovel over his love for Ali after crushing her spirits a little bit. Ali actually turns him down to start with because it was so inept, but he perseveres all of it ends well. While, I was sympathetic to Luke the first time around as being in his head you could tell he really cared for Ali he was just so new to being in love that he stuffed it up; I agreed with Ali’s pushing him away, because from what she knew and his actions, it was the right decision.

Now let’s get down to brass tax, compared to the rest of the series and as a entry in the Lucky Harbor series how does it work? And is worth your cash/time?

I think this one really works better than some of the second ‘trilogy’, Lucky in Love, At Last and Forever and a Day, because it’s more loosely connected to the characters of the previous books but not the setting. It really could be read separately, with the first books just giving you a better experience and recognition of some of the background characters, Tara and Sawyer amongst them. Lucille and her Facebook are back, and so are Lucky Harbor’s zanier senior citizens.

I would absolutely recommend this to you as worth the time and money to read it. It’s classic Shalvis, sexy, funny and sweet with a beautiful HEA on top.

**I received this book as an ARC from Jill Shalvis via NetGalley**

Currently Listening: Somewhere in Neverland – All Time Low