At Last by Jill Shalvis

Synopsis: HER LOVE HAS COME ALONG... — Amy Michaels loves her new life in Lucky Harbor.  A waitress in the local diner, she's looking forward to her first weekend hike through the mountains.  But when a wrong turn takes her off the trail, she finds herself up close and personal with forest ranger Matt Bowers.  And even though she's tempted to kiss that sexy smile right off his face, she won't make the mistake of getting involved with the town heartthrob.

A former cop whose life went south, Matt doesn't let anyone get too close.  But something about the feisty beauty caught his eye the moment he first saw her in the diner.  After a hot night under a starry sky, Matt can't deny their attraction -- or the fact that for the first time in a long time, he feels the stirrings of something more.  Now it's up to Matt to help Amy see that, no matter what is in their past, together they can build a future in Lucky Harbor.

My Thoughts: I've been struggling over the last couple days to put into words what I felt about this book. Honestly it isn't a favorite but it was more enjoyable then an average book. Amy is vulerable yet stubbornly independent. She's struggling to create a life for herself and become something better than who she was in her past. Matt is fascinated with her.

What I Liked: Their attraction. It's really what brings them together, (that and our heroine being lost in the middle of the woods needing a hunka-hunka DNR officer to rescue her) so, anyway, I was not surprised that the love scenes were sizzling. I was surprised that I enjoyed reading them as much as I did. I'm a habitual skipper of the noisy moisture sharing parts in my romance books but didn't skip even one word of the hot lovin' that Ms Shalvis created. I think this attests to her skill in writing these scenes and that she doesn't throw them in to meet some hot monkey sex quota.

The secondary characters were equally fascinating. I am looking forward to the hunky doctor's story and to see where the young homeless person's storyline goes. I'm hoping that we see more of her anyway and she gets a happily ever after someday.

The secondary storyline of Amy's grandmother and her journey to the mountains near Lucky Harbor was also very well done. We learn about it through Amy who is trying to follow the journey made so many decades ago in hopes of finding herself. This storyline gave us insight into Amy.

What I Didn't Like (or rather what I thought could have been a tad better): There was yet another storyline within the book that could have been fleshed out more. We see a group of juvenile delinquents wrecking havoc on Matt and his job but after having read another book with a similar secondary storyline I couldn't help compare them. Which honestly, isn't that fair to Jill to compare her to Nora Roberts but as I just finished reading the Roberts' book I just can't help it. Nora just did it better. I think this secondary storyline was important to the characterization of Matt as it showed his morals, values and his ability to stand against evil (or one snot nosed special brownie eating punk teenager). Because it was important I would have liked to have seen more of it.

Overall a good read that I'm glad I had the opportunity to read. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series (Forever and A Day). Jill Shalvis is quickly becoming my go to author for fun contemporary romances.