It’s in His Kiss

by Jill Shalvis

August 26, 2014 · Grand Central

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This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Erica. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Long Contemporary category.

Here is Erica's review:

I love Jill Shalvis. I really do. She writes these funny, sexy, sweet stories featuring snappy, literally laugh out loud dialogue and heroines who are frequently goofy and make terrible decisions and are addicted to various forms of junk food, and her stories always leave me feeling warm and happy. It’s like anti-depressants in book form.

It’s in His Kiss is no different. It’s one of the Lucky Harbor books, the first of the final trilogy, which makes it number 10, but you can totally read this by itself. Lucky Harbor is fun times, as always. Lucille is bonkers. The guys of Lucky Harbor all hang out and work out together. The small coastal town vibe is alive and well and wonderful, and one of my favorite things about it.

Becca is a fantastic character. Smart, determined, goofy, and she has issues. I liked the fact that Becca was the seriously damaged character. I mean, Sam is not a picnic or anything, but out of the two Becca is the one with major Dramatic Backstory. She does things that are groan-inducing, but I’ve always liked that about Shalvis heroines. There’s a scene where Becca is caught watching Sam and his hottie friends working out outside, and she drops to the floor to try to hide, and it’s hilarious. And even as I’m laughing and cringing, I’m thinking, holy shit, that is so something I would do. There’s a moment where she says, “Apparently sharing orgasms was easier than sharing your soul.” And I laugh and mutter, “Real talk, girl.”

Sam is… Sam is really sigh-worthy. He’s protective, but in a sweet way. He’s gentle and sexy and fantastic. He has damage, too, which causes some very annoying drama at the end of the book. Seriously, I wanted to beat him over the head with something large and heavy. But he keeps buying her ranch-flavored popcorn, so I can forgive him.

One of my absolute favorite things about how Shalvis writes is that friends are always so important to the story. The heroes always have a pack of bros they hang with, which is partly sequel-bait, and partly because even if they don’t let people in, or they have issues or whatever the drama is, relationships are important. The heroines always develop a sisterhood of friends (or real sisters), and they are always really integral to the characters and development and all of that. I love this. Even as I recognize the sequel-bait nature of the thing, the friends are still important and real and it’s so awesome that it’s not JUST about the romance (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I am a fan of romance, after all), it’s also about friends and coming to be accepted and loved by the town, which is almost another character.

Anyway, I totally cheated and “read” this by listening to the audiobook, and it. is. fantastic. It’s narrated by Suehyla El Attar, who has this great low, rich voice. She really gets the Shalvis rhythm and humor. She makes her female voices interesting, but real. Becca’s voice is a nice mix of sweet and gentle and slightly timid. She does great male voices, too, which is pretty fantastic. There are moments where I actually forget that it’s a woman talking and I get all kinds butterflies.

But. But there are problems with all of Shalvis’s books. The heroes are all super “manly” and rugged and beefcake. And while they’re hot and all of that, I get a tiny bit frustrated that there are no math professor heroes or something like that. Some lanky and not cut with a six-pack dude. All of the heroines are thin with a fear of spiders and matching underwear. I have matched my underwear like four times in my life. I’m just saying, there’s a big fantasy element to the series. This small town with this epic population of supermodel-worthy guys? That shit is not real. And, if you, say, decide to go on a Shalvis binge and read all of the Lucky Harbor books in a week, you start to get really irritated by the similarities of all the characters. Hence my comment that all the heroines are afraid of spiders. I’m not a fan of spiders, but I don’t completely lose my shit when I see one either. You beat the shit out of it with a  flip flop and get a handy dude to move the carcass and move on with your life. (Mostly kidding.) But while I don’t need every character to be like me, I would rather not every character be so similar.

I also have big issues with the way that the male characters swear their asses off in these books, but the women don’t. The guys say fuck and call each other pussies, and so on, but the women never say anything harder than shit, and I may be reaching on that one. And once again, it’s not something that I need a character to do, but when you realize that after ten books not one of them (even a character who once lived on the streets, and you know she would be dropping some damn f-bombs), has ever said something harder than shit, it’s a little annoying. Especially with the gender disparity. But then again, I swear like a sailor and always have, so maybe I’m a little too biased.

It’s like… I love these books because the characters, especially the heroines, do stupid, funny shit and you’re like, oh man, that is so me. Because it is, it’s funny, and it’s way out there, but there’s so much that’s real to it, that the moments of just pure fantasy – another guy with a six pack and cut biceps, another thin pretty girl in matching pink panties and bra – weaken the story.

But all that being said, I still really, really love Jill Shalvis and her writing. Even as I’m rolling my eyes at another oh-my-god-there’s-a-spider dance, I’m chuckling at the goofy things happening, laughing out loud at Lucille, and getting all the butterflies from pretty significantly hot for a small-town contemporary sexytimes. It’s a damn good time to be in her world, even with the fantasy glaze on everything.

So, grading. This is a hard one to grade, because so much of what bothers me bothers me because of the rest of the series. Well, mostly. I am still really irritated at Sam for the drama at the end of the book, but he redeemed himself enough that I still wound up making happy sighs when it ended. I really enjoy the book, but it’s not Earth-shattering or anything. It’s like… It’s like curling up in a warm blanket on a chilly day. It’s comfortable. It’s pleasant. It’s fun. So. Ummm. Okay, I’m going with a B. But just to make clear how much I enjoy these books, despite all my criticisms, I am totally getting the next book in the series and glomming onto that. So, make of that what you will.