Holiday Wishes (Heartbreaker Bay, #4.5)

by Jill Shalvis

[Sam@WLABB]

I have been having good luck with novellas lately, which is weird, because I usually feel like they don't give me enough story, but I was amazed with what Shalvis accomplished in this book.

Who? Sean, the serial playboy, who was suddenly feeling lonely and wanting more. Lotti, a serial monogamist, who kept herself emotionally unavailable in order to protect herself.

What? Sean and Lotti were each other first loves, but Sean was still reeling from his parents' deaths, and walked away out of fear of being left behind. He saw this chance meeting after a decade as his second chance with Lotti, and felt like he was finally ready for this relationship. However, Lotti was still dealing with some recent losses and not all too receptive to Sean's advances.

Why? I have always had a soft spot for Sean. I felt like he had the little brother syndrome and was waiting for him to break out on his own. Well what better time than in his own book. When I think about Sean in this book and when we first met him in Sweet Little Lies, I cannot get over how much he has grown. He wants more in his life and he wants to be more for all the people he loves. I loved seeing him try to woo Lotti once again. He was very swoony, but he was also really honest and he put it all out there. I found myself shouting, "he was only 16!", because I just wanted Lotti to stop looking back and start looking forward. I love a second chance romance, and we had that element plus the whole friends to more angle from their teens. This is the stuff I adore.



Overall: Once again, Shalvis gave us a great story, featuring all our friends from Cow Hollow packed with lots of fun and feels, which culminated in a great epilogue.