Review: Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis

Slow Heat

Author: Jill Shalvis

Publication: Berkley; Original edition (February 2, 2010)

Product Description: Baseball player Wade O'Riley's bad-boy image is about to be cleaned up by publicist Samantha McNead. But the sexual tension between them is about to drive Wade to his knees.

My Thoughts: I used to love reading Harlequin Romances. Back in the days before the internet I lived a long way away from the nearest bookstore but Harlequin would send me boxes of books each month. I subscribed to the Desires, Intimate Moments, and Temptations among other series. Now, over time, I have gotten rid of most of my old Harlequins. But, if you look at the ones I have kept, most often they are about a professional athlete. I confess, I have this thing about professional athletes falling in love with an ordinary girl (wish fulfillment, much?) Anyway, when I saw this book that pairs a professional baseball player with the team's publicist, I knew I had to have it and had to read it soon. And the cover did not discourage me at all!!

Each chapter begins with a baseball-inspired quote. Chapter 1's is "Confucius say: Baseball wrong -- man with four balls cannot walk."  Chapter 3's is "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in. --Casey Stengal" I like how the quotes relate to the themes of the chapters. It was fun to read the quote and try to figure out what the chapter would be about.

I loved this book. I liked the relationship between Samantha and Wade. Both of them were afraid to love because both had suffered through many of the same disappointments in the past. Wade was a poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks who grew up with an alcoholic father after being abandoned by his mother. Samantha was a rich girl from the best part of town who grew up with an indifferent, workaholic father after the death of her mother. It took a lot of courage to find each other and become convinced that the other would be there for them.

I liked the subplots too of Sam getting to know her nephew Tag who was living with her while his father, her younger brother, was in rehab. The other subplot has Wade dealing with his father who is also trying to stop drinking and build a relationship with Wade.

The book was filled with lots of emotional moments, funny moments and sexy moments. I highly recommend it for lovers of happy endings.

Favorite Quotes:

He stretched some more, straightening his arms above him, briefly exposing a flash of washboard abs between the hem of his shirt and the waistband of his jeans. Jeans that were faded at all the stress points. He had some very fine stress points.

But his tough-on-the-outside Sam was holding on to a surprisingly soft, tender, bruised heart on the inside, and it did something odd to his own heart.

Challenges: 2010 E-Book Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge