About That Kiss (Heartbreaker Bay, #5)

by Jill Shalvis

[Rowena]

About that Kiss is the fifth book in Jill Shalvis’ Heartbreaker Bay series and I really think that Jill Shalvis has finally hit her stride with this series. The first couple of books were okay or just good for me but the last couple have really entertained me and I’m happy to report that this book was another good one.

Kylie and Joe are in the same circle of friends and they kissed but aren’t talking about that kiss because Joe never called Kylie after that explosive kiss. Kylie has done a whole lot of thinking about the kiss but is stubborn enough to not bring it up since it obviously didn’t affect Joe at all. Now Joe is all up in her grill about a birthday gift that he wants Kylie to make for his sister but she’s much too busy to help him out (and just a tad bit annoyed with him that she wants to see him squirm). All of that is flipped on its head when something of personal value is taken from her and she needs Joe’s help finding it.

Joe is a lone ranger. He works better alone so why he thought that Kylie would let him work this case alone, he’ll never know. It’s hard to keep her in his thoughts and not in his space when she is determined to be his partner on finding her missing penguin. The more time that they spend together, the harder it is for him to remember that he’s not good enough for her. She deserves far better but every moment in her company, his resolve to stay away goes up in smoke.

Seeing these two grow closer and closer was fun at the same time that it was sweet. I loved how grown up the two of them were about their feelings. Joe had distinct reasons for feeling the way that he did and so did Kylie. Kylie wasn’t a hot and cold kind of person and I appreciated that though she was torn about her feelings for Joe, she didn’t lead anyone else (Gib) on until she figured her shit out. I also really adored that though Joe thought Kylie was a little crazy with her request, he realized almost from the jump how important this was to her and he took her seriously.

There’s a lot going on in this book but it was a lot of fun to figure things out, fall in love right along with Joe and Kylie and get to know the other characters from this world that we haven’t seen a lot of in the other books. There are still stories to be told and I’m here for it all. This was another winner from Jill Shalvis and I can’t wait for more.