Love for Beginners: A USA TODAY Bestselling Contemporary Romance About a Broken Engagement, Starting Over, and Falling in Love Again (The Wildstone Series, 7)

I have to say that a dog named Hog stole this book. Yes, my favorite character in this book is a fraidy cat, support animal dropout, 110-pound St. Bernard/Chewbacca farting dog. Emma Hart is recovering from being hit by a car and spending time in a coma. She has had to relearn to walk and is slowly working her way back to a life. But while she was in the coma, her fiance was not there to support her. Instead, he decided to sleep with her best friend and roommate and got involved with her. Emma is determined to find some sort of normal life despite all of the financial worries she has over paying her medical bills from the accident and another needed surgery for her leg. A surgery which insurance is denying. Plus she has to find a way to make a living that allows her to work within her limits. She is given the chance to buy the local doggy daycare but she isn't quite able to swing the buy all on her own. But her evil nemesis from high school is the property manager of the place and turns out to be her savior. Ali Pratt has been working for her uncle's property management company and is looking for something of her own. And having the chance to be a partner gives her the chance to learn to be friends and interact with people. Emma also realizes she has fallen in love with Simon her evil PT along the way. He is her landlord, the person who believes in her and the perfect man for her. This book is a fun fast read. I didn't want to start this novel because I wanted to make…

Love for Beginners is another hit for author Jill Shalvis. Her books never disappoint. Emma had a serious accident that left her in a coma for two months. During those two months her fiancée and her best friend fell in love. When she woke up from her coma her life had disintegrated and her body was broken and hurting. She had many surgeries and lots of PT while in rehab. It was there that she met Simon, her physical therapist. There was attraction there but both of them ignored it. She also had survivors guilt. She had been out jogging and stepped off the curb when she was hit by a car that did not see the stop sign due to hanging foliage. The driver of that car lost his wife in the accident and Emma just couldn't escape the fact that this was all her fault. This is a story about how Emma gets her life back. She also learns that her life now does not look like her previous life and she is okay with that. After getting her heart broken she doesn't know if she can trust or even feel her own emotions. But there is definitely something between her and Simon. This is a love story and much more. It is also about what you have to do to get your life back. You will shed more than a few tears but in the end you will finally be smiling. I loved every minute of this book and didn't want it to end.

Emma, as the main protagonist, was completely likable and easy to root for. Out jogging when hit by a car seems like pretty bad luck but it brought the delicious physical therapist, Simon into her life and it changed her from a person who may have let people walk on her to learning to have a backbone and to stand up for herself. Something she probably should have done a long time ago. I loved her inner voice that always reminded her that she wasn’t the old Emma but the new Emma 2.0. Her budding romance with Simon while lacking heat (at least for me) did help Emma grow as a character. I looked at it as part of her healing process. Sex with hot PT- check! Of course, there were feelings involved but their romance wasn’t really what this novel was about. It was about Emma’s challenges and how she was facing them. Ali’s story was secondary but I found it just as interesting. She too needed to grow but it was in the reverse of Emma. From an early age Ali has put a wall up, not letting anyone get close. She always considered Emma a rival. Probably because from the outside Emma’s life seemed charmed but just like what you see on Facebook, nothing is as it seems on the surface. Their partnership allowed them both to see the other side of each other. I thought Jill Shalvis did a good job of showing the growth of a female friendship! I’m a big fan of Jill Shalvis’ novels. She always writes great secondary character and/or groups of friends that you always want to get to know. Love…

I love Jill Shalvis and her books always make me smile, and laugh. This one just had me in tears at times, and then laughing the next. Emma just came out of a coma, and found our her fiancé along with her best friend have been well just not cool which is putting it mildly. She’s done with both of them. Her PT instructor finds her a place to live in the same place he lives. It becomes interesting to say the least. He lives there with his dad. More to keep an eye on him after his strokes. Emma is trying to turn her life around. She has a sweet dog Hog which is her support system. The best time is when Emma learns her the one women who she has a bad history with also wants to go into business with. Well it’s that or lose what she wants most of all to work with animals at Paw Pals. But the ending was amazing. It made me laugh, and cry. I highly recommend this book. I haven’t read this book in order. I don’t know that you need to.

I always preorder Jill Shalvis because I know I am going to laugh so hard I snort, cry when characters are hurting and smile so much my checks hurt. The characters are authentic with baggage they are working to overcome and the natural desire to belong and be loved flaws and all. Real alpha men who know that being a man is caring for others, owning your mistakes and being a true partner. Strong resilient women who don’t need someone to make decisions for them but want a partner who sees how they can stand on their own and stands beside them. Realistic romance I can’t wait to read each book. The ensemble characters are awesome and add to the whole story. One of my favorites ☺️