Review: Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis

In Chasing Christmas Eve, Ms Shalvis returns us to the Heartbreak Bay neighborhood of San Francisco and the group of friends who inhabit the Pacific Pier building. This time, the focus in on Spence and the mystery woman he pulls from the fountain, Colbie.

Spence has been a secondary character in the previous Heartbreak Bay books, so we know a little bit about him, but we really get to know him here. He’s been just enough of a mystery character in previous installments that this book really does stand on its own in terms of the main characters.

I liked both Spence and Colbie and appreciated how they each shined a light on what the other perceived as faults in their own personality. This was all around a fun, feel good story. It was classic Shalvis, even if Spence was a toned down version of her typical Alpha hero. Colbie was a slightly different heroine, but one that played well against Spence.

As this is part of the series, the secondary cast is larger and key individuals are important actors in this story. Most of the secondary cast were key players in the previous books, but there are no real spoilers here about how the couples paired up. If this is your first read of the series, you could easily go back and read the other books at any point.

Chasing Christmas Eve was pretty much what I expect when I pick up a book by Ms. Shalvis. There was lots of humor, big doses of friendship, and our main characters learned a lesson or two about love and themselves.