Animal Magnetism series by Jill Shalvis

When I read my first Jill Shalvis contemporary romance in July 2011, little did I know that she would quickly become one of my go to authors. In the last 15 months I have read seventeen of her books! They are perfect Friday night reads when you just want to read a fun book that will engage the emotions and make you just want to keep reading until you finish the book with a sigh.

I have read several of her series, but today I want to focus on the Animal Magnetism trilogy! As you can probably see from the covers below, the books feature fit men but animals also feature prominently in the books which definitely up the nnnnaaawww factor!

This alpha male is going to bring out her wild side...

Sunshine, Idaho, is a small and sunny town - the perfect home for man and beast. Well, maybe not for man, as pilot-for-hire Brady Miller discovers when his truck is rear-ended by what appears to be Noah's Ark.

As the co-owner of the town's only kennel, Lilah Young has good reason to be distracted behind the wheel - there are puppies, a piglet, and a duck in her Jeep. But she doesn't find it hard to focus on the sexy, gorgeous stranger she's collided with.

Lilah has lived in Sunshine all her life, and though Brady is just passing through, he has her abandoning her instincts and giving in to a primal desire. It's Brady's nature to resist being tied down, but there's something about Lilah and her menagerie - both animal and human - that keeps him coming back for more

.

When Brady Miller returns to Sunshine, Idaho he makes it very clear that he is only in town for a few weeks to help out his foster brothers Adam and Dell. Brady is a freelance helicopter pilot (ex military) and he knows that the one thing he doesn't want is to settle down in a small town. His brothers would really love to see him stick around and so they are trying to tempt him into staying by bringing in a helicopter to help get them to remote sites when their skills as a vet and rescue service are required.

His return to Sunshine does not get off to a great start when Lilah Young backs into his track. Lilah is working at an animal rescue centre while studying to finish her vet degree. She has lived away from Sunshine for a couple of years but now she is glad and back to stay. As soon as they meet sparks fly, but with both parties knowing that this interlude can't last, their emotions will be kept in check. Well, that's the plan anyway.

Before Brady even knows it he is rebonding with his brothers (although he did do his best to push them away), finds himself the temporary owner of a  dog named Twinkles, and yes, he finds it somewhat bemusing that a man's man like him is the owner of a dog with a name like that.

Lilah is working at the local humane society, plus trying to finish vet school.  She knows that Brady is only a temporary distraction but it doesn't take long before it builds into something more than that. Luckily, she has Adam and Dell looking out for her as they both see her as almost like a little sister, but even they can't protect her from losing her heart to Brady and they can't stop her heart from breaking the closer it gets to the time when Brady needs to leave.

I liked Brady ... a lot! He was a gruff, wounded alpha male with a heart of gold and a soft side when it came to animals and Lilah. She was a little harder for me to come around to, simply because she seemed so young in her manner.

Another fun Shalvis read, which then brings us to the second book in the trilogy....

She's tempting his basic instincts...

Sunshine, Idaho, is a quiet ranching town that provides a perfect refuge for injured animals...and sometimes, people. And veterinarian Dell Connelly suspects there's a reason his clinic's uber-efficient receptionist has taken shelter here.

Jade Bennett couldn't be happier to escape her well-meaning but smothering family and their expectations, not to mention the big-city jungle. There's nothing like working with animals, having a forlorn, grumpy stray kitten make its home under her desk...or enjoying the gorgeous views of her ruggedly sexy boss to help her forget her past.

But Dell's seductive, alluring ways have sparked an uncontrollable desire, one Jade hadn't expected to feel again. And though Dell has never had time for love, Jade's strength and sass is the kind of call no red-blooded male can resist....

In the previous books there were a couple of hints that Dell and Jade had definitely sparks between them, but they have both resisted acting on them, mainly because Dell is Jade's boss. He also has most of the single women from Sunshine and the surrounds chasing after him.

Jade found herself in Sunshine pretty much by accident. After a traumatic incident at her previous workplace, she got in the car and drove and ended up in the small town. She is over qualified for her job as office manager but she is happy, and she is good at her job. Thanks to her the office runs smoothly but her time in Sunshine is coming to an end. She has promised her family that she will return back home and pick up her old life again.

While Dell knows that there is a story, he also knows that Jade is not prepared to share it yet, no matter how hard she presses him to open up to him and no matter who is asking the questions. Jade has sort of held herself aloof from the other towns people too, even when people like Lilah reach out to her.

When it becomes clear that Jade is still scared by something that happened in her past, he offers to teach her some self defence techniques - nothing like a bit of body contact to get the adrenalin pumping and upping the ante on the sexual tension.

The dialogue between the two main characters and between Dell and his brothers was fabulous - it's something of a feature of Jill Shalvis' writing. This time though, it would have been good if Dell and Jade could have communicated with each other about their feelings a bit earlier.

After a tragic stint in the National Guards, Adam Connelly returns to Idaho and to Belle Haven, the animal shelter he owns with his brothers. All Adam wants is to be alone. Then he opens the door to the past—the woman whose heart he once broke. Still gorgeous, still tough-as-nails, but this time, unusually vulnerable.

Holly learned the hard way to never depend on a man for anything. Now, of all men, it’s the last one she wants to see, and the only one she needs. Her father has gone missing in the Bitterroot Mountains and she could use someone with tracking skills to help find him.

For Holly and Adam, each with their ghosts, a trek this desperate, this unpredictable, and this intimate, will have its share of risks—including opening their hearts one more time.

As soon as I saw this book on Netgalley, I had to grab it. And then once I had it, I had to read it straight away. There was no way known that I could wait until we got closer to release date before I started it!

Like his brothers, Adam was a bit of a tear away when he was a youngster. One person he was serious about though was Holly, but when he got into serious trouble he knew that he needed to go and find himself. With the encouragement of some people he respected around him, he joined the military and left Sunshine, seemingly never looking back.

Holly was a young woman at the time, and she was heartbroken. It took her time, but she eventually moved on, but she is the first to admit that she may have made some mistakes. Even when both Adam and then Holly both returned to Sunshine they managed to avoid each other. That is until Holly's father has gone missing. Holly knows that Adam is a search and rescue worker and as she gets more and more worried about her father, he is the only person she can turn to. Of course, when Adam agrees to go and search for him, Holly insists that she needs to go along. After a night of passion (I don't know why but the idea of a night of passion in a sleeping bag in a tent on a cold night doesn't do anything for me!) they return to their normal life but Adam is determined that it doesn't change anything, but then he can't stay away.

Holly is caught up with the drama relating to her family, but she is also hiding her own secrets regarding her ex. Now she needs to let Adam in to her life, but also open up to her brother and her father about what is going on. Adam also needs to let other people in. He has a lot of emotional baggage in relation to his family, understandably so, but still it is time to move on.

I really loved seeing the dynamics between the three brothers as they start being more open with each other, and as they all fall one by one for the women in their lives.

I really enjoyed this. Once again it was a perfect Friday night read. Start it and finish it in one sitting and close the book with a sigh!

At the top of this post I mentioned that this was a trilogy, but actually these are the first three books in a series that has a least one more book in it. I am really hoping that the next story will be Holly's brother's story. I do know it is going to be difficult to wait until the second half of next year before we get to read it!