Almost Just Friends

August 1, 2019

Having sent the siblings she raised out into the world, Piper Manning is fixing up the lake house her grandparents left her so she can sell it and get on with her life. But then her brother and sister moodily return home, Piper meets Byron-broody Camden Reid during a raging storm, and some life-changing family secrets must come out before love can transpire. With a 200,000-copy paperback and 25,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 16, 2019
Shalvis (The Lemon Sisters) unites two people healing from emotional trauma in this tender contemporary. EMT Piper Manning is reluctantly celebrating her 30th birthday at a bar in her hometown of Wildstone, Calif., when she meets her neighbor’s 32-year-old son, Cam Hayes, a DEA agent. The attraction between them ignites during a particularly stormy night, but Piper is reluctant to let anyone get too close to her. After her parents died, she raised her younger siblings, Winnie and Gavin; they’ve recently moved out and she’s ready to live life on her own terms. Cam is also reeling from his younger brother’s recent death and not sure how to connect with civilians. Then Piper’s siblings come back home, seeking comfort from their sister but reluctant to admit the ways their lives have fallen apart. Piper’s relationship with Cam heats up, but she’s afraid that coming to rely on him will further hamper her quest for independence. Believable, realistic characters are at the heart of this novel. Shalvis will immediately grab the reader’s attention with a strong heroine and caring connection between two wounded souls. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

November 15, 2019
Piper Manning is determined to sell her family's property so she can leave her hometown behind, but when her siblings come back with life-changing secrets and her sexy neighbor begins to feel like "The One," she might have to redo her to-do list. As children, Piper and her younger siblings, Gavin and Winnie, were sent to live with their grandparents in Wildstone, California, from the Congo after one of Gavin's friends was killed. Their parents were supposed to meet them later but never made it. Piper wound up being more of a parent than her grandparents, though: "In the end, Piper had done all the raising. It'd taken forever, but now, finally, her brother and sister were off living their own lives." Piper, the queen of the bullet journal, plans to fix up the family's lakeside property her grandparents left the three siblings when they died. Selling it will enable her to study to be a physician's assistant as she's always wanted. However, just as the goal seems in sight, Gavin and Winnie come home, ostensibly for Piper's 30th birthday, and then never leave. Turns out, Piper's brother and sister have recently managed to get into a couple buckets of trouble, and they need some time to reevaluate their options. They aren't willing to share their problems with Piper, though they've been completely open with each other. And Winnie, who's pregnant, has been very open with Piper's neighbor Emmitt Reid and his visiting son, Camden, since the baby's father is Cam's younger brother, Rowan, who died a few months earlier in a car accident. Everyone has issues to navigate, made more complicated by Gavin and Winnie's swearing Cam to secrecy just as he and Piper try--and fail--to ignore their attraction to each other. Shalvis keeps the physical and emotional tension high, though the siblings' refusal to share with Piper becomes tedious and starts to feel childish. Shalvis' latest retains her spark and sizzle.

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November 1, 2019
Medical technician Piper Manning is used to caring for others. She was left in charge of her siblings at age 18, and they finally seem to be adults. She is hoping to sell the lake-front property her grandparents left her so she can afford to get her physician's assistant degree. Camden Reid is back in the coastal town of Wildstone, California, to check on his father after Cam's brother's death in a car accident. As he and Piper explore their strong feelings for each other, Cam must also try to manage his grief and Piper has to deal with her siblings. Her brother returns home after kicking a three-year addiction, and her sister has quit college and informed Piper and Cam that she is pregnant with Cam's brother's baby. It takes some arguments and a memorable food fight to help start their healing, but ultimately the two families find a way to work together toward a united future. Readers will be very satisfied with the ending of Shalvis' latest enjoyable Wildstone story, following Rainy Day Friends (2018).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)