REVIEW: Hot Winter Nights by Jill Shalvis

In Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6) by Jill Shalvis, Investigator Lucas Knight might be taking it slow after he got shot in the line of duty, but when a client demands he celebrate a job well done at the local bar, he can’t say no. Unfortunately, pain meds and alcohol don’t go together well. And when Lucas wakes up in a daze with a warm, soft woman by his side, he doesn’t remember anything. The fact that it turns out to be his closest friend Joe’s younger sister, his coworker at the Hunt Agency, Molly Malone? Not good.

Lucas is supposed to be keeping an eye on her for Joe. Not taking advantage of her. But when Molly won’t give him details into what supposedly went on between them, Lucas is pretty sure she’s just giving him a hard time and that nothing happened that night. Although if he’s being honest, he wouldn’t mind if it had. As much as he tries to get feisty Molly out of his head, he can’t. So when Archer and Joe pair them up on her first unofficial case, tasking him with protecting her, Lucas starts off with every intention of doing just that. Too bad his heart gets thrown into the mix, complicating everything.

“I need to know what happened the other night,” he said…
The door opened and Molly stood there, brows raised. “You sure you want to hear it? I mean…suppose you were really bad. And not the good kind of bad.”
“I was not.” Hell. “Was I?”
“Well, it’s a little hard to remember,” she said. “Since it didn’t take but a minute.”

Molly Malone has been trying to prove her worth at the Hunt Agency since she was hired. And while she rocks it as the office manager and even does some intel for the guys, she wants to work alongside them out in the field. But they’re an overprotective bunch, including her brother Joe who also works there. She understands why Joe is, after the tricky childhood they barely survived, but Molly wants her boss Archer and the others to take her seriously. So when she has a chance to work her own case on the side, to figure out what’s really happening to the profits at the local Christmas village, operation Bad Santa is soon underway. Somehow, though, sexy badass Lucas insists he partner up with her on the case. And Molly can’t seem to tell him no. Somewhere along the way, the platonic night she spent in his bed turns into friendship and then threatens to become so much more. Something she’s not interested in if it means she’ll lose her independence–and her heart–in the process.

“I want you, and I’m tired of resisting. But when I get you naked, it won’t be in an office where anyone can walk in, or in my car, and it sure as hell won’t be something one of us can’t remember.”
All her girlie parts quivered and she ordered them to behave. “You said when, not if,” she murmured.

Hot Winter Nights was Jill Shalvis at her lighthearted, sexiest best. With a hero and heroine fighting their attraction at every turn, both strong-willed and kind-hearted, along with some holiday shenanigans, this story definitely made my day.

“Love isn’t pretty and romantic. You know that, right? Love is just stumbling through life with your best friend.”

Jill Shavis books are my happy place so it’s only right that the first Christmas book I read this year is Hot Winter Nights. And what a fun time it was! I didn’t think it was overly holiday-ish (that’s totally a word, right?) as it focused more on Molly and Lucas’s crazy-hot chemistry together and the sleuthing they did at the local Christmas village. Although the majority of the chapter titles–written as hashtags–were holiday related and seriously funny. My favorite was probably #MerryElfingChristmas. (Something I think to myself daily during the holiday rush where I work in customer service. lol)

Lucas and Molly were pretty awesome together. She had lots of sass to her but she was a truly good, absolutely lovely person through and through. I laughed over how Molly gave Lucas a hard time about the night she slept in his bed, the night he couldn’t remember, and had some fun busting his chops about it. They had great chemistry obviously, which made for some comical and smexy bantering as well. Lucas surprised me a little as we got to know him better. From previous books I thought he was rather stoic and the strong silent type. Which he was. But not only was he kind of mischievous and with a bit of a dirty mouth *sigh*, he was also hiding two huge losses in his life that changed him greatly. And I liked that we found out Lucas was a caregiver, just like Molly–both of them taking care of their families, sometimes putting on a strong front for their loved ones.

Seeing Molly’s side of her relationship with her older brother Joe (who falls for Kylie in book 5: About That Kiss) put their whole dynamic into perspective for me. I realized why they were both overprotective of each other. And why Lucas got the vibe that Joe would probably choke him out if he put a hand on Molly. (lol) I think Lucas and Molly’s bond as they worked together to solve the Bad Santa case was natural but it shocked their friends and coworkers. Speaking of the rest of the Heartbreaker Bay crew, we of course got to catch up with them all. And I must say that there were some wonderful things happening for the bunch.

Heartfelt but with Shalvis’s trademark snarky humor, Hot Winter Nights was a blend of a brother’s best friend *and* an office romance trope. And I think it will be sure to satisfy any contemporary romance fan.

Book Info:

Publication: September 25th 2018 | Avon | Heartbreaker Bay #6

Who needs mistletoe?

Most people wouldn’t think of a bad Santa case as the perfect Christmas gift. Then again, Molly Malone, office manager at Hunt Investigations, isn’t most people, and she could really use a distraction from the fantasies she’s been having since spending the night with her very secret crush, Lucas Knight. Nothing happened, not that Lucas knows that—but Molly just wants to enjoy being a little naughty for once …

Whiskey and pain meds for almost-healed bullet wounds don’t mix. Lucas needs to remember that next time he’s shot on the job, which may be sooner rather than later if Molly’s brother, Joe, finds out about them. Lucas can’t believe he’s drawing a blank on his (supposedly) passionate tryst with Molly, who’s the hottest, smartest, strongest woman he’s ever known. Strong enough to kick his butt if she discovers he’s been assigned to babysit her on her first case. And hot enough to melt his cold heart this Christmas.