It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis - Review

It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis

Rating: 4 Stars

Description:  Things are going from bad to much much worse for florist, Ali Winters.  First she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, then she finds out via text message that he is dumping her and that he didn't renew the lease on their shared house so she needs to be out yesterday, then the actual owner of said house shows up and catches her in a somewhat embarrassing situation and then now ex-boyfriend shows up with the police and accuses her of stealing $50,000 from a fundraiser.
The owner of the house, Luke Hanover, isn't having a great day either.  He's fled San Francisco to the house his grandmother left him in Lucky Harbor to get away from the guilt and media attention after a high profile homicide case went horribly wrong.  He's really not looking to face his family demons and he's definitely not looking to get involved with cute but chaotic Ali Winters.

Genre: Romance

My Impression:  This series seems to actually be getting better with time.  I loved all the characters.  Ali was cute, friendly and smart.  She had her baggage but she genuinely tries to make the best of things.  Luke feels that he has let everyone in his life down and while it's not true it's reasonable that he would feel this way. The only negative is that I thought Sawyer, who was a main character in book #3, kind of looks like a jerk.  This was disappointing because I had really liked him.  Shalvis does a good job of making this feel like a series without having to have the walk through of every character who ever appeared in past books.  The characters that are mentioned have a logical reason for being in the story and don't just weight it down with an over-large and confusing cast list.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?:  Yes!  The next one's about a pastry chef and is already on my bookshelf waiting for me.

Would I Recommend this Book?:  Yes