My Kind of Wonderful is the second story in the Cedar Ridge Series by Jill Shalvis. I enjoy Ms. Shalvis’ work. She writes contemporary romances and excels in writing stories set in small towns usually inhabited by a great group of characters with some interesting locals thrown in for comic relief and I am a sucker for these types of stories.
First the blurb:
UNEXPECTED AND UNDENIABLE…
Bailey Moore has an agenda: skiing in the Rockies, exploring castles in Europe, ballroom dancing in Argentina. Now that she has a second lease on life, she’s determined not to miss a thing. What she doesn’t realize is that item #1 comes with a six-foot-one ski god hot enough to melt a polar ice cap. She doesn’t want to miss out on him either, but Hudson Kincaid isn’t the type of guy to love and let go. And as gorgeous as Cedar Ridge is, she’s not planning to stick around.
As head of ski patrol at his family’s resort, Hud thinks he’s seen it all. But never has he run into someone like Bailey. She might look delicate, but her attitude is all firecracker. And her infectious joy touches something deep within him that he’s been missing far too long. Now he’ll just have to convince Bailey to take a chance on her biggest adventure yet . . . something rare and all kinds of wonderful.
My review:
I liked both leads in this story. Bailey is recovering from a terminal illness and has started working on her bucket list. The first item to tackle is doing a mural. She has been commissioned (although she is doing it for free) by Hudson’s mother, a delightful character in a nursing home suffering from memory problems. Hudson wants nothing to do with the mural. While Bailey is painting the mural, she and Hudson’s relationship develops. During the course of the book, Bailey finds out why Hudson is so withdrawn from everyone on an emotional level which is really very sad for his character. How they overcome the obstacles of their relationship is the true story.
Ms. Shalvis writes well and her characters engage me from the beginning. Not every author can do that. Another character in this book I enjoyed was the mountains of Cedar Ridge. Ms. Shalvis’ descriptions of the mountains and the ski lodge and the joys and dangers (with humor thrown in also) is enjoyable. Of course, as a resident of the Tahoe area, I sure she understands this aspect of her story very well.
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