Title: Love For Beginners
Author: Jill Shalvis
eBook (also available in Paperback, Hardcover, and Audio)
Pages: 384 (the story ended on page 376 and there are book club questions and an excerpt from her next book.)
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780063025455 (eBook version)
Release Date: 6-8-21
Book Details: This was an eBook, so I was able to customize my reading experience.
Where To Find It: Barnes and Noble has it, however I read this copy via a library app called Libby.
Time that the story takes place? Current day
POV? Third person
What caught your eye? My local library offers eBooks and this one was on the list of authors with new books out. While I wasn’t able to request the current book by Jill Shalvis, this one: Love For Beginners, was available and it looked interesting.
Did you enjoy it? I did. This is one of the few books that has made me tear up in a few years. But it wasn’t sad weeping, it was relatable weeping, it was “Yeah, that’s right!” weeping.
Was it predictable? No. I had no clue where this was going. I wasn’t even entirely certain I was reading a romance, which we’ll get into in the review.
Was it sexy? Tame? Tame sexy, if you will. There is sex in this, but it isn’t the focal point of the story. Not a lot descriptors either, nothing that would make you go, “Holy cheese! I’m reading The Sex out in public!” However, this is a very romantic book, very emotional.
Did you find it funny? Entertaining? Very funny, very entertaining. All of the characters in this are very likeable and felt like people you’d know in the real world.
Would you read it again? I would actually. This was a great comfort read.
Is this part of a series? It is, The Wildstone Series, this is book 7. And of course I haven’t read any of the other books! According to Jill Shalvis’s website, none of the books have to be read in any order, they’re all standalones.
This was a good story. I know that people like to go, “Wow it was a GREAT book!” And don’t get me wrong, I could say this was a great book and it was, however I can’t just say GREAT without saying how GOOD this was.
I could argue that this was almost too relatable of a story. Because what our Leading Lady, Emma, is going through is something that a lot of us have faced, well not exactly what Emma is facing, but just the navigating life after your world falls apart. Emma, a P.E. teacher, has literally lost everything. An avid jogger that was accustomed to running marathons and having control over her mobility. One morning while out for her jog, she’s hit by a car, goes flying, another car is then involved in the accident—a fatality actually occurs—Emma ends up in a coma for two months, suffers from some kind of infection that only added even more complications, and she’s being held together with rods and screws and a couple hundred feet of duct tape.
Okay, not duct tape, but really at this point, it couldn’t hurt.
Emma had a boyfriend, Ned, they were going to get married and everything. Only, while languishing in a coma, Ned and Emma’s best friend, Cindy thought it was a great idea to hook up. On a regular basis. And living in the apartment that Emma shared with Cindy. Or was it Ned? Either way, all three are under the same roof and Emma has no interest in listening to banshee sex happen in the next room.
So she tells the Exes Squared (her name for the two of them) that she’s moving out. With the help of her physical therapist, Simon—also nicknamed Hard Ass PT by Emma as this guy refuses to let Emma give up on herself—Emma moves into a new apartment. The Exes Squared try to talk her out of it, even as they are taking her to her new dwelling, Emma is not having it. She’s done. You two can go and never come back again. A sentiment that she keeps true to throughout the whole book.
Simon is the hero of this story and he’s a complicated guy. Not only is a he a physical therapist, but he also works at his father’s company, Armstrong Industries, and taking care of/living with his father after a series of strokes. Simon is taking care of his father and the company out of a deathbed promise to his mother that he would always be there for his dad.
However, Dale, Simon’s father, is a bit of a handful. But honestly, is one of the most interesting supporting characters in the book. Seriously, for all his grumpy grumpiness and routinely walking around without pants (and sometimes no underwear), he’s a real sweetheart who still has a good deal going on upstairs. The advice that he hands out—wanted or not—is often times exactly what is needed to diffuse a moment.
Then we have Alison, Simon’s cousin. She also works for Armstrong Industries and is really, really good at her job. She’s also an introvert, who really needs to work on some social skills. In fact, she’s got a list of things to work on and these are at the title/beginning of each chapter. Also, apparently she and Emma were frenemies in school (though Emma has no memory of being horrible to Alison, as it was Alison who was horrible to Emma). Oh, and Alison is still smarting over the break up with her boyfriend, Ryan, who is apparently the most people person out there. He’s one of these guys that has WAY too many friends and is WAY too close to his family for Alison’s comfort. It was one of the reasons they parted ways, she apparently didn’t make enough effort to befriend Ryan’s gaggle of friends.
Okay, wow! That was a lot of stuff there. Now you’re probably asking, so what’s the plot? Honestly? One of rediscovery and recovery. Emma can’t go back to her old life, nor does she want to. She’s found new goals and new reasons to live. One of her new dreams is taking over the pet daycare center Paw Pals from her employer who is looking to retire. Of course, Emma isn’t exactly flush with funds, because of the accident and banks are a bit dickish about handing out a loan to a woman who was in a coma for two months. A coma is no excuse for lack of income. And it was pointed out to me that I hadn’t made clear Emma’s employment situation: Yes, she was a P.E. teacher, however with the accident, she’s lost her job and her ability to do it and she’s been working at Paw Pals for a bit because not only is it the only things she’s able (and loves) to do—it’s also the only place that will hire her in her current state.
It was also impossible to focus on one relationship without mentioning the others. We can’t just focus on Simon and Emma’s relationship without looking at the satellite relationships, everything affects all the other relationships. Which is kind of an interesting.
There is a lot going on in this book, I mean, A LOT. And it’s all good. Like I said earlier, it’s all completely relatable. Learning to get your life back together, caring for an ill parent, having to deal with an enemy from high school, winning back a lost love, and learning to just be a good person.
I wouldn’t say this is an out right full blown romance, don’t get me wrong, there is certainly romance in this. However, I felt this was more of a love letter of self discovery. Discovering that you don’t need this or that or even certain people in your life to be happy and complete. Learning to be happy on your terms and defining what happiness looks like.
Watching all the characters come to terms with the fact that life doesn’t follow any particular set of rules even if you do, was highly entertaining. And these were all characters you were cheering for. Of course you know it’s going to be fine, but the struggle and compromise and just all of it was great. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking and truly the first book I’ve actually gotten misty eyed reading. It ends on a high note, happily ever afters all around!
**I always appreciate when authors give warnings about certain things and situations that may be alarming or triggering to some readers. And I think we need to add a new warning: This book mentions the COVID-19 pandemic, because I gotta tell you all, I do not EVER want to be reminded of that period for a good little while. At least not in a romance novel. I read to escape and I don’t want to be reminded of what I’m escaping from.**
