Sweet Little Lies by Jill ShalvisSweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #1
Published by Avon on June 28, 2016
Genres: Contemp Romance
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Courtesy review copy
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four-stars

Choose the one guy you can’t have . . .

As captain of a San Francisco Bay tour boat, Pru can handle rough seas—the hard part is life on dry land. Pru loves her new apartment and her neighbors; problem is, she’s in danger of stumbling into love with Mr. Right for Anybody But Her.

Fall for him—hard . . .

Pub owner Finn O’Riley is six-foot-plus of hard-working hottie who always makes time for his friends. When Pru becomes one of them, she discovers how amazing it feels to be on the receiving end of that deep green gaze. But when a freak accident involving darts (don’t ask) leads to shirtless first aid, things rush way past the friend zone. Fast.

And then tell him the truth.

Pru only wants Finn to be happy; it’s what she wishes for at the historic fountain that’s supposed to grant her heart’s desire. But wanting him for herself is a different story—because Pru’s been keeping a secret that could change everything. . . .

Pru has just moved in to the apartment building that shares a courtyard with the neighborhood bar, and local bartender and owner Finn is absolutely the man of her dreams. Or in her dreams rather. But she has a unique problem.

***mild spoiler***

Her parents were killed in a drunk driving accident when she was younger. Her father was the drunk driver. This accident also hurt other people, and Finn’s father was killed.

This would be just a weird coincidence, except that Pru knows who Finn is. She has felt so horribly guilty about her parents’ actions, that she sold her home and gave the money to one of the other victims, and made sure the insurance money she got went to Finn and his brother Sean. You can see where this would get awkward. So she vows to stay away from him as much as possible. Except she can’t stay away.

And Sean doesn’t want to stay away.

But Sean doesn’t know the whole story.

And then when he does…well, let’s just say it could have gone better.

I read the second book in this series first, and enjoyed the author’s voice and story so much that I grabbed this book!

I love the cast of characters, the basic group of characters, and the author’s writing style. If you love contemporary but maybe don’t want small-town romance, this author sets the Heartbreaker Bay series in San Francisco.

The only thing I had a tiny issue with is that Pru (understandably) doesn’t drink. This is made into a big deal, but at a baseball game, it mentions in passing that she wants a hot dog and a beer. I figured it was an editing error, but in the next paragraph, it’s mentioned she’s tipsy. Then it’s never addressed again. For someone who doesn’t drink, I would think this would be addressed. Other than that, I really enjoyed not only the book and the setting, but the whole cast of characters.

***ARC courtesy of Avon Books

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four-stars