The Rockville 8 is participating in the official Hachette/Grand Central sponsored Jill Shalvis Summer Blog Tour today. And we couldn’t be more thrilled! We’re stop #4 on kickoff day of a tour that will travel from blog site to blog site from July 16 to July 26. For a complete listing of tour stops, see the below.
So, let’s jump right in talking about Jill’s back-to-back releases of Lucky in Love (released June 1, 2012), At Last (released June 26, 2012), and Forever and a Day (released July 31, 2012).
First off, let me say that I love anything written by Jill Shalvis. I came late to reading her books when Simply Irresistible, the first of her Lucky Harbor series books was released in October 2010. Imagine my delight when I found I had a brand-new-to-me author who’d published over three dozen other romance novels. Oh, baby! I love when that happens. And that hadn’t happened to me since I found Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Since then, I’ve found and purchased every single book Jill Shalvis has written. And I love each and every one of them. She’s a master story teller and I can always count on her to deliver a rich, sexy, poignant love story that grips me from beginning to end, no matter if she’s writing for Grand Central Forever, Harlequin Blaze, Brava, Harlequin Temptation or Berkley Sensation. I love them all!
These three books were my favorite of the Lucky Harbor series of books, however, all six books in the series are winners for any reader of contemporary romance. The small-town quirkiness of Lucky Harbor and its town inhabitants is enchanting and fun. The worldbuilding and the characters' emotional journies suck in a reader and hold her rapt from cover to cover.
Visit Lucky Harbor today, where all the heroes are hot, hot, hot and all the heroines are feisty and smart.
You won’t be disappointed. I promise.
So, go ahead, tell us what you love about Lucky Harbor! Let’s dish.
Blog Tour Listing
http://nikkibrandyberry.wordpress.com/ 7/16/2012
http://atastyread.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
marygramlich.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
www.rockville8.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
www.fictionenthusiast.com 7/16/2012
bookswagger.com 7/16/2012
http://www.justanothernewblog.com 7/16/2012
http://maryinhb.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
http://maryinhb.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com 7/16/2012
http://www.a-novel-affair.com/ 7/16/2012
http://booksandmakeup.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
http://hangingwithbells.blogspot.com/ 7/16/2012
www.lovetoreadforfun.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
Www.thebookgirl.net 7/16/2012
http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com 7/16/2012
http://paranormalromanticsuspensereviews.blogspot.ca 7/17/2012
www.sosaloha.blogspot.com 7/17/2012
Lushbookreviewss.blogspot.com 7/17/2012
melindadozier.blogspot.com 7/18/2012
http://fictionally-inclined.blogspot.com/ 7/18/2012
http://www.happilyeverafter-reads.blogspot.com 7/18/2012
http://paranormalromanticsuspensereviews.blogspot.ca 7/18/2012
www.seductivemusings.blogspot.com 7/18/2012
http://modokkerbookpicks.blogspot.com/ 7/19/2012
http://www.cocktailsandbooks.com 7/19/2012
http://brokenteepee.com 7/19/2012
www.boekiesbookreviews.com 7/20/2012
www.thebookpushers.com 7/20/2012
http://ov099.wordpress.com/ 7/20/2012
http://dreyslibrary.com 7/20/2012
http://dreyslibrary.com 7/20/2012
http://readingbetweenthewinesbookclub.blogspot.com/ 7/20/2012
http://romancingrakes4theluvofromance.blogspot.com 7/21/2012
ramblingsfromthischick.blogspot.com 7/21/2012
http://www.guiltypleasuresbookreviews.com/ 7/23/2012
http://theromancereviews.blogspot.com/ 7/23/2012
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com 7/23/2012
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com 7/23/2012
http://www.csmaxwell.blogspot.com 7/23/2012
http://reviewsbymolly.com 7/23/2012
karalovesreading.blogspot.com 7/24/2012
http://www.findthetimetoread.net 7/25/2012
www.stormgoddessbookreviews.blogspot.com 7/25/2012
www.froggaritasbookcase.com 7/26/2012
www.lovetoreadforfun.com 7/26/2012
http://ashleysbookshelf.blogspot.com 7/26/2012
http://asthepagesturn.blogspot.com 7/26/2012
Love these books!
ReplyDeleteWith a recommendation like that, how can I go wrong? I really look forward to discovering Ms. Shalvis and I can't wait to get started on the Lucky Harbor series.
ReplyDeleteWhile I mainly read urban fantasy, I do love a well done contemporary small home town series. You really get to make friends with the characters and then you get to check in every so often to see how they're doing. What's not to love about that?
Candy gave me "At Last" and I've been devouring it like popcorn (my all time favorite food). What I really like about this book --besides the characters--is the way the author gets deep into the character's head and opens that little window so I, the reader, can peek in. Shalvis is a master at this.
ReplyDeleteI love too the witty, oh-so-contemporary dialogue that always strikes just the right cord.
Thanks for turning me on to Jill Shalvis, Candy.
Shellie
Yay, Avery. Me, too! They're awesome reads. Guaranteed good read! All the time, every time.
ReplyDeleteKeely ~ Yay. Hope you enjoy them. I love series set in small towns. Of course, at heart, I'm a small-town girl.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I love about the world Shalvis builds is the quirky chorus of characters. One of my favorites is Lucielle. She's this older woman who catches every scandal and rumor with her phone/camera and posts it to the town's Facebook page. It's hilarous and oh-so fun.
Shellie ~ Glad to turn anyone on to a good author.
ReplyDeleteYes, Shalvis is a master at deep POV. We truly experience the moment with that character because she so able to remove all the barriers.
Ah, a celebration of all things Jill Shalvis! Hooray!
ReplyDeleteI love how the small town scenario continues to love on no matter what other tastes change. When the economy was good and folks spent money like water and made life complicated that way, people longed for small town stories. And now with So many in a financial bind, people still love small town stories. They do such a great job of helping us keep in touch with what's really important--the simple basics like family and community and love.
Hooray for those stories and hooray for Jill Shalvis and the writers who write them!
Nicole ~ You are so right. I think that so many people don't even know their nextdoor neighbors that reading a small-town series gives them that sense of community we seem to have lost in our own neighborhoods today. People long for community. So whether readers are getting it in their contemporary romance or their cozy mystery, they seem to be seeking it out. Because they sure are popular right now!
ReplyDeleteCandy, you've definitely whetted my appetite for the rest of the Lucky Harbor series. Of course, I'm a huge Jill Shalvis fan anyway. My top three (so far) are Storm Watch, Instant Attraction, and Time Out. I just adore her Blaze books. And now I can't wait to read more Lucky Harbor!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYvonne ~ I agree. I love her Blaze books too. Room Service and Time Out are my all time favorite Blazes. Of course I love all the out-doorsy ones, too. Instant Attraction, Instant Temptation, and Instant Gratification--The Wilder brothers. Oh, oh. And Animal Attraction and Animal Magnetism . . . adored them. The third in that trilogy comes out in November--Rescue My Heart. Sigh. Can't wait! K. I'll put my reader geek away now. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWe're honored to have Jill here today! What great recommendations, Candy. I saw some here that my kindle is definitely hungry for. And with vacation starting next week, I can't go wrong. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, Lisa. Go, buy them now. You won't be disappointed and you are driving a lot. So woohoo. Lots of time to read. The Lucky Harbor series and the Animal Magnetism series is on audio, too. Just in case you wanted to know. Several of her Blazes are, too. Enjoy your vacay! And happy reading.
ReplyDeleteI love Lucky Harbor. I can't choose a favorite hero.
ReplyDeleteLynne ~ I totally know what you mean. Lucky Harbor where are the heroes are alpha and hunky! LOL.
ReplyDeleteTy Garrison was one of my all-time favorites. But, really, I love Dr. Scott, too. And I love that Ty Garrison and Matt Bowers beat the crap out of each other in the gym almost every day. Dr. Josh Scott usually looks on and walks away shaking his head at his two friends. Love this band of friends.
Last night I was thinking about small town romance and the rise of that following 9-11 and wars we've been waging in middle east. Robin Carr talked about this in her address at the WRW retreat.
ReplyDeleteIn June 2012, Julie Naughton wrote in PublishersWeekly.com that "smalltown stories from authors such as Robyn Carr have also been very popular."
So what is it about small towns? Hope Ramsay writes about small Southern towns, Jill Shalvis about the Pacific coast. What's the draw of small towns to the romance reader and the romance author?
Shellie
Hey Shellie (and Hey Jill, congrats) I don't think small town stories really took off until the economic downturn. In these tough times, people yearn for a feeling of connection and old-fashioned values. These stores are a far cry from the urban landscape of chick lit and Sex and the City. I think people are just a little jaded by that go-go lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do love Jill's books, but then it's a foregone conclusion because she and I share an editor at Forever Romance. Jill's books are a lot hotter than mine, though. :)
Hey Hope,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. I didn't realize you and Jill had so much in common.
Your books center around a small town too, Last Chance, South Carolina. It's fun to read about all the "characters" that live in a small town and being from a teeny town myself, I can attest that small towns do have characters. And small towns people tend to display idiosyncratic country ways where as big city characters are way too hip for all that.
But lest I suggest that highly dense urban areas, like Montgomery County MD where I leave, don't have country ways, take a gander at http://www.gazette.net/montgomery/ and look for "Damascus Teen Crowned South Central Dairy Princess."
I guess she couldn't really be a "dairy queen." My mom was a Watermelon Queen in her day. Sadly, I have not been crowned the queen or princess of any major food group.
Shellie
I was also a little tardy in discovering Jill but I'm so glad I did! And now, like you, Candy, I have her big long backlist to look forward to. :-) She definitely has a knack for creating that community feel, but with diverse characters--and humor all the way. I envy her flair for sexy and unexpected dialogue. A lot of the comments I've seen about her work include people saying they'd love to live in Lucky Harbor. That's quite a testament to her world building talent!
ReplyDeleteI know, Kathy, right? I so want to live there at times. Then, other times, I remember what it was like growing up in a small town like that where everybody knows your business. Ha!
ReplyDeleteShalvis is really kinda amazing in her worldbuilding, too, because she only delves out what she has to about the world. She hasn't written herself into a corner. She has so many possibilities open yet.
And she keeps bringing new characters into the community who may or may not have ties from the past. I love it! The town that keeps on giving. ;0)
Thanks for stopping by!