Still the One
Animal Magnetism #6
By Jill Shalvis
ISBN# 9780425270189
Author’s Website: http://jillshalvis.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Synopsis:
Darcy Stone is game for anything — except sexy Navy veteran and physical therapist A.J. Colten, the guy who’d rejected her when she’d needed him most. Now the shoe is on the other foot and he needs her to play nice and help him secure grants for his patients. Unfortunately, Darcy can’t refuse. She needs the money to fund her passion project: rescuing S&R dogs and placing them with emotionally wounded soldiers.
A.J. admits it — Darcy is irresistible. But he’s already been battle-scarred by a strong-willed, vivacious, adventurous woman like Darcy, and he’s not making the same mistake twice—until he and Darcy are forced to fake a relationship. Growing closer than they’d ever imagined possible, Darcy and AJ have to ask themselves: how much between them is pretend? What’s the real thing? And where does it go from here?
Review:
As a reader, I appreciate Jill Shalvis for what she is, a story teller beyond compare. I know I will be engaged and entertained. And she did not disappoint with this newest book in the Animal Magnetism series!
Darcy, early on in the book, thinking about AJ:
“In fact, during her PT she’d actually hated him. She’d dreamed nightly about strangling him, drowning him… Very satisfying dreams, too. And if there’d been a few others, some that had involved a different kind of altercation altogether between them, of the naked and sweaty variety, well, those were her little secret.”
It certainly gave me a flavor of what was in store for me 🙂
Let’s expound upon AJ and his character….I got a sense of AJ and his manly ways early on. During a rec league football game, where AJ had gotten hit and winded – he was just lying on the ground assessing whether he had been hurt and catching his breath, AJ tells fellow football buddy Wyatt (who is looking in the stands at his new girlfriend Emily):
“If you blow her a kiss back”, AJ muttered, “I’m taking away your man card. In the middle of a game here.” But he was wasting his breath because Wyatt blew her a kiss back. AJ flopped his head back to the grass and groaned. “Hey,“ Wyatt said. “Which of us is going to get laid tonight? Me, that’s who. In fact, I get laid just about every night, so who’s got the man card now?”
I can just feel the testosterone oozing from the page (okay, little hard given that I am reading an electronic copy of the book, but you get my point.
AJ is an all-around great guy….not only is he a PT (physical therapist) running the Sunshine Wellness Center, AJ also consults on physical therapy at military bases across the country, mostly within the special ops units. He also travels to D.C. regularly to fight for better, longer PT care for injured vets. And to add fuel to the “isn’t he a great guy” fire…..he has been working on putting together grants to cover extended treatment for patients with extensive trauma cases who got cut off too early by their insurance company.
So you know the real problems will arise when a patient, Kyle, bails on a business meeting for AJ. So….AJ asks Darcy (a part time employee of Sunshine Wellness as well as patient) if she could attend this meeting. Being as she is a stubborn gal, she figures she can handle alone time with AJ and indicates she will go (okay, this is a simplification but the upshot is the same). The drive is interesting but the best is yet to come! The hotel room scene is chuckle and swoon worthy all at once …..I loved how Darcy describes to herself how AJ looks in her hotel room following the investor meeting….
“Oh boy. Now she had that image in her head, AJ all sprawled out in her bed wearing nothing but what God had given him, and God had been generous. And if that wasn’t just perfect, now her heart was pumping good, and judging by his smug expression, he knew it, too. Rat-fink bastard.”
I totally lost it, in a good way, when Peanut the parrot repeated a few phrases that Darcy said this one particular day while she was working at Belle Haven (her other part time job). I could so NOT stop laughing!!! In fact, the whole scene with Darcy and the various animals at Belle Haven was just great…..
The emotions and openness of Darcy (and eventually AJ) was refreshing. It was good to read about characters with depth. And ‘tude…the enjoyment factor of the two main characters cannot be understated. I got all misty when Darcy said:
“You’re like my mac and cheese”…
You will understand once you too have read this book 🙂
Many ups and downs for Darcy and AJ through their journey but isn’t that what this genre is all about. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride I was taken on by this novel. I was engaged so thoroughly that I had to keep at it and finish the book within a day! Thank you, Jill Shalvis.
