Review: All I Want

ALL I WANT
Animal Magnetism #7
Jill Shalvis
Contemporary Romance
304 pages
Berkley
Available October 6th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Pilot-for-hire Zoe Stone is happy to call Sunshine, Idaho, her home base. But her quiet life is thrown for a loop when her brother’s friend Parker comes to stay with her for a week. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent is a handsome flirt with a gift for getting under her skin. And the situation only escalates when Parker hires her to fly him around the area while he collects evidence on a suspected smuggler.

Now she has to live and work with the guy. But when they’re in the air, she sees another side of him. He’s driven, focused, and sharp. And while he enjoys giving commentary on her blind dates, she quickly realizes with a shock that it’s Parker who gets her engines going…

MY THOUGHTS
All I Want is yet another fun, engaging romance from Ms. Shalvis, delighting us with a sweet couple and a standout supporting cast of animal characters. Like the relationships before them, Zoe and Parker’s romance is low on the drama and high on the charm, starting with a kiss meant for someone else and continuing with a series of moments that should have been awkward but are completely endearing instead.

Zoe is a woman adapting to an empty nest since her younger brother and sister moved out to be with their significant others, so used to being the responsible, reliable one that she doesn’t know what to do with herself when Parker enters the picture and offers her help in small ways. She’s humorously outraged when she attempts to fix things and ends up making them worse instead, only to wake up the next morning and find her plumbing mishaps and other household issues not-so mysteriously remedied by her new tenant. It takes some convincing to get her to take a chance on Parker knowing his time in Sunshine, Idaho is short-lived, but once she does decide to go all-in she stays honest with herself and Parker for the duration of their fling. She knows he’s leaving, and as much as she wants to tell herself not to get emotionally attached, she knows herself better than that and just admits the feelings to Parker as they come.

Parker is as amused by Zoe’s determination to handle of all aspects of her life herself as we are, adorably enduring her narrowed-eyed glances when she notices that he’s gone behind her and fixed what she couldn’t. He’s as open and honest as she is, never once pretending that a relationship between the two of them is possible long term, and their communication is as much a highlight as their chemistry and their shared love of animals.

While all the books in the Animal Magnetism series have show-stealing furry and feathered characters, none (aside from Peanut the foul-mouthed parrot who does make a brief appearance) is as endearing as Zoe’s dog Oreo. His continual surprise over the fact that he farts nearly every time he barks will have dog owners giggling throughout, completely understanding the look of utter bafflement he directs at his hind end when it happens. Overall, All I Want is one of the strongest installments in this series, Oreo’s prominent role and the honesty (and heat!) between Zoe and Parker ensuring that we breeze right through this romance in no time at all.

Rating: 4/5
 

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.