Review: Always On My Mind

by Jill Shalvis
Rating: 4/5

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING After dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend, Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack's ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a little fib - that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle . . . No-strings attachments suit Jack just fine - perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their "just friends" rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

This is book 8 in the Lucky Harbor series. This particular book is the second in what I consider the “Good Girls Going Bad” trilogy. Leah is back in Lucky Harbor for just long enough to help her grandmother and get out. Jack is a firefighter who refuses to get in a relationship and leave someone like his father did to him and his mother.

Election

It’s hard to imagine but if you’re not in Australia you might not know we had an election yesterday. And the results are pretty clear, we have a new leader.

Kevin Rudd, ex-PM (twice now) made a 30m concession speech that sounded like he’d hastily crossed out all the references to victory and changed them to loss. He tried to save face and claim that no Labor seat had been lost “in Queensland”. Considering they had only about five seats to lose that’s a small victory. And within moments of him saying it, he was wrong. Postal votes are still to come in but with up to 30% of the votes left to count, and such close margins, it could be more than one lost.

Tony Abbott, our new PM’s speech by comparison was much better. It was short (thanks) and it put all the credit for the victory on the voters. Then like I told him to (through the TV) he thanked his helpers and left.

Craig Thompson, former Labor MP, who ran as an independent this year held his seat with a 5.1% margin. After being revealed as a scummy bastard who cheated on his partner in brothels and even more damningly used Trade Union funds to pay for it he was charged with fraud (rightly so IMO) and has failed to get 5.1% of the total vote. He will unfortunately get federal funding as he got 4% and thus receives funds for campaigning.

But whether you care or not, whether you’re a Liberal or Labor voter one thing is sure. Now that the government is a majority and not a minority it will be more effective. I hope.

Currently Listening: Good Girl – Carrie Underwood