Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2022
Data scientist Levi Cutler didn't mean to call the woman trapped with him (in a broken gondola perilously on the brink of falling off its line) his girlfriend, but why not make his mother happy if this is going to be his last phone call with her? Traveling nurse Jane is supposed to be working in Lake Tahoe until her contract is up—not falling out of the sky on her first gondola ride or reviving a wounded but handsome stranger while they wait to be rescued. Now that it appears both will make it out alive, Levi asks Jane to pretend to be his girlfriend, at least for a little while. Jane finds herself jealous of his tight-knit, nosy, and altogether wonderful family, but is also thinking she could finally see herself as part of one. Narrator Erin Mallon does a lovely job bringing the novel's heart, humor, and voices to life. VERDICT With an additional secondary romance and a large cast of friends and family, this is a fun series starter and a perfect listen for library patrons looking for some adventurous romance with a gorgeous wintry setting.—Elizabeth Gabriel
FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile
From the outset, narrator Erin Mallon captures the tension when strangers Levi and Jane are trapped on a swinging gondola in the middle of a blizzard. When they think they are about to die, Levi calls his mother and tells her Jane is his girlfriend. Mallon aptly expresses Levi’s exasperation with his overbearing family but still allows his love to shine through her narration. Jane had a troubling childhood, which has affected her adult relationships, and Mallon deftly portrays her emotional changes as she learns to overcome her past. Jane’s best friend is from the South, and Mallon gives her a hint of a twang that is a lovely contrast to Jane's West Coast accent. Mallon smoothly moves between the male and female characters, creating an enjoyable listening experience. S.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/08/2021
Bestseller Shalvis (Love for Beginners) launches the Sunrise Cove series with a charming, emotional romance featuring a cast readers will quickly come to see as old friends. Levi Cutler and Jane Park’s first meeting is as traumatic as they come: the two are trapped in a gondola high above the Lake Tahoe ski slopes during a blizzard. The gondola in front of them has already fallen, and theirs is barely hanging on. Sure that he’s about to die, Levi makes a last call to his mother to assure her he’s happy. He even lets her think he has a girlfriend when she overhears Jane in the background. It’s a lie that turns awkward when the pair inevitably survive, leading into a fake-relationship romance between two people recovering from their own separate traumas in addition to their shared near-death experience. Meanwhile, a secondary romance between Jane’s friends, doctors Charlotte and Mateo, gives readers double the drama. After the adrenaline rush of the opening, the story settles into a comforting tale of love both romantic and platonic. The result is escapism at its finest. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Bestseller Shalvis (Love for Beginners) launches the Sunrise Cove series with a charming, emotional romance featuring a cast readers will quickly come to see as old friends…After the adrenaline rush of the opening, the story settles into a comforting tale of love both romantic and platonic. The result is escapism at its finest.” — Publishers Weekly on The Family You Make
“[A] fun series starter…perfect [for readers] looking for some adventurous romance with a gorgeous wintry setting.” — Library Journal on The Family You Make
“Rife with humor and heart, this book will easily sweep you off your feet. I enjoyed the banter between Levi and Jane from the get-go. They had amazing chemistry and this book definitely reminded me why I love Shalvis’ books.” — Fresh Fiction on The Family You Make
“The novel whizzes by. Shalvis’s fans will be pleased with the message that everyone deserves a second chance.” — Publishers Weekly on Love for Beginners
“Love for Beginners is quintessential Shalvis, with humor and heat (whew, Emma and Simon give us heat), and a cast of characters you’ll hate to leave behind when you turn the last page. But even so, we promise you’ll finish this book feeling warm from the inside—and maybe the outside too: this is the summer’s perfect beach read.” — New York Times bestseller Christina Lauren
“Fall in love with Jill Shalvis! She’s my go-to read for humor and heart.” — Susan Mallery, New York Times bestselling author
“Jill Shalvis’s books are funny, warm, charming and unforgettable.” — RaeAnne Thayne, New York Times bestselling author
“Sisterhood takes center stage in this utterly absorbing novel. Jill Shalvis balances her trademark sunny optimism and humor with unforgettable real-life drama. A book to savor—and share.” — Susan Wiggs, New York Times Bestselling Author, on The Lemon Sisters
“A pair of guarded half-sisters learn to open up in this sweet, summery romance . . . Readers will find it easy to root for Shalvis’s stubborn, vulnerable heroines to recognize both the decency and compassion of the sexy men who love them and their own worthiness to be loved. This heartfelt tale is thoroughly satisfying.” — Publishers Weekly on The Summer Deal
Fresh Fiction on The Family You Make
Rife with humor and heart, this book will easily sweep you off your feet. I enjoyed the banter between Levi and Jane from the get-go. They had amazing chemistry and this book definitely reminded me why I love Shalvis’ books.
New York Times bestseller Christina Lauren
Love for Beginners is quintessential Shalvis, with humor and heat (whew, Emma and Simon give us heat), and a cast of characters you’ll hate to leave behind when you turn the last page. But even so, we promise you’ll finish this book feeling warm from the inside—and maybe the outside too: this is the summer’s perfect beach read.
RaeAnne Thayne
Jill Shalvis’s books are funny, warm, charming and unforgettable.
Susan Mallery
Fall in love with Jill Shalvis! She’s my go-to read for humor and heart.
Susan Wiggs
Sisterhood takes center stage in this utterly absorbing novel. Jill Shalvis balances her trademark sunny optimism and humor with unforgettable real-life drama. A book to savor—and share.”
Library Journal
08/01/2021
In the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Chamberlain's The Last House on the Street, Kayla Carter is mourning the husband who died building their dream house in a North Carolina community as warnings from not one but two older women not to move into the house eventually lead to a story of prejudice and violence that rocked the community a half-century earlier (150,000-copy first printing). A librarian like her creator, debut novelist Jurczyk, Liesl Weiss is shocked to discover that a valuable manuscript has gone missing from The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections but is told not to raise a ruckus—but she starts investigating when a colleague goes missing as well. Getting readied for television by the BBC, May's debut novel, Wahala ("trouble"), features three British Nigerian women whose close friendship is blown to bits when a glamorous and ultimately venomous outsider insinuates herself into the group. In No. 1 New York Times best-selling Mitchard's The Good Son, Thea Demetriou must find a way to support her son emotionally when he returns home from prison after having committed a heinous crime. Patterson and Lupica join forces with The Horsewoman, the story of a mother and daughter who are both champion riders—and are up against each other in competitons leading to the Paris Olympics. In Shalvis's series starter, The Family You Make, Jane is dangerously stranded on a ski lift with Levi Cutler, who impulsively tells his parents by cellphone that she is his girlfriend—a charade she agrees to keep up when she finds herself falling for him and his warm, embracing family. Sorell follows up her well-rendered small-press debut, Mothers and Other Strangers, with Three Wise Women: an officious advice columnist and her two troubled adult daughters. In Steel's latest, a young woman who survived a neglectful childhood by hunkering down can remain Invisible no longer when her dream of becoming a film director unexpectedly puts her in front of the camera. Revisiting Perdita Street, the setting of Wiggs's beloved The Lost and Found Bookstore, Sugar and Salt makes love bloom between San Francisco baker Jerome "Sugar" Barnes and barbecue master Molly Salton, trying to forget an unhappy past in Texas.
FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile
From the outset, narrator Erin Mallon captures the tension when strangers Levi and Jane are trapped on a swinging gondola in the middle of a blizzard. When they think they are about to die, Levi calls his mother and tells her Jane is his girlfriend. Mallon aptly expresses Levi’s exasperation with his overbearing family but still allows his love to shine through her narration. Jane had a troubling childhood, which has affected her adult relationships, and Mallon deftly portrays her emotional changes as she learns to overcome her past. Jane’s best friend is from the South, and Mallon gives her a hint of a twang that is a lovely contrast to Jane's West Coast accent. Mallon smoothly moves between the male and female characters, creating an enjoyable listening experience. S.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
