The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral.

Hoover’s ( November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.Īt first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids.

Intentions and motivations continually shift at times they seem inauthentic, at other times simply unconvincing.ĭespite great pacing and well-executed emotional high notes, Shalvis misses the mark in creating authentic, cohesive main characters, undermining the overall success of the book. Holly claims strength as a guiding principal but represents the quality in unsettling, implausible ways. The character tells himself he doesn’t want to get involved, that he’ll only wind up hurting Holly-but then seduces her with a sweet wistfulness that seems at odds with his professed intentions and his angry, wounded persona. However, something goes awry in this book. Shalvis’ book, the third in her Animal Magnetism series ( Animal Attraction, 2011, etc.), contains many of the things Shalvis is known for: great dialogue, smooth writing and compelling pacing. Holly and Adam must lay themselves bare to one another before they can overcome the emotional ghosts of their individual and shared pasts. Will it? Of course, Holly has her own secrets, and neither time, distance nor antipathy seem to have dulled the raging attraction between the ex-lovers. She’s married now, to the guy she hooked up with almost as soon as he left her, so reentering her orbit won’t be particularly risky.

But, they both know that Holly wouldn’t ask if she weren’t desperate, since she’s made it pretty clear she can’t stand the sight of him after what he did to her. Still nursing emotional wounds he suffered in battle, as well as guilt over the fatal accident which led him to enlist, the last thing he needs is Holly Reid-the only girl he ever loved and whom he abandoned for her own good-demanding his help to find her father. When Adam, an emotionally wounded veteran, decides to help Holly-the woman he left behind 10 years ago when he enlisted after a local tragedy and found himself in Afghanistan-he opens the door to a future he’s convinced he doesn’t deserve.Īdam Connelly really just wants to be left alone.

Rescue my heart jill shalvis