Tangling with Ty

South Village Singles #2

by Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis brings readers book two in the classic series South Village Singles, where four friends make a vow of singlehood in a vibrant suburb of Los Angeles.VOWING TO BE SINGLE IS EASY…Dr. Nicole Mann is simply too busy for romance. Her work as a surgeon consumes her entire world and she prefers it that way. That is, until she meets too-charming-for-his-own-good Ty O’Grady. This sexy architect with his enticing Irish accent has her thinking of something other than medicine. So she’ll prescribe herself an intense—but temporary—round of seduction to cure this Ty fever once and for all.UNTIL THIS SEXY BACHELOR COMES ALONG!Stubborn, strong and entirely too desirable, Nicole is Ty’s match. When one hot touch leads to another, and another, this footloose drifter is suddenly thinking of a relationship with a design to forever. So he’s pulling out all the sensual stops and will do anything to show her a temptation that’s irresistible!Originally published in 2003.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Adult, Harlequin, Category Romance

151 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Jill Shalvis is a NYT, USA Today, and Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of small-town romance and romcoms, known for big feels, found family, and plenty of shenanigans.

If you love small-town chaos, meddling friends and neighbors, sizzling chemistry, and heroes who fall hard for the one woman they absolutely did not plan on, you’re in the right place. Jill’s books blend laugh-out-loud moments with emotional gut punches, slow-burn tension, and deeply earned happily ever afters.

She writes the stories she loves to read: small-town romance and romantic comedies packed with heart, heat, second chances, grumpy/sunshine sparks, and the kind of found-family vibes that make you want to move right into the pages. Many of her series are perfect for binge-reading, and a number of her books are available in Kindle Unlimited and at major retailers.

When she’s not writing, she’s probably plotting new ways to torture her characters, avoiding laundry, or daydreaming about fictional men and the strong, complicated women who bring them to their knees—and then making them work for it.

You can follow Jill here on Goodreads to keep up with new releases, add her books to your shelves, and discover which small town you want to get lost in next.

Reviews

[Gwen (The Gwendolyn Reading Method) · Rating 2 out of 5]

yeah... classic Shalvis perhaps but not good Shalvis

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a Harlequin paperback that I found at Goodwill for cheap, this was surprisingly good. I do love Jill Shalvis as a writer - and although this is from 2003, it's still entertaining. She's obviously gotten a lot better, but this was fun. Just a light little romance, pretty shallow in terms of characters, but quick and fairly uncomplicated. Pretty much what you'd expect from a Harlequin novel. Just right.

[Nate Brightman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tangling with Ty is the second in Jill Shalvis’s South Village Singles series. At under 150 pages it’s more a novella than a novel. It can be read as a stand-alone but as with most books in a series you’ll get more out of the relationships and secondary characters if you read the preceding book Roughing it with Ryan. In this story we have Doctor Nicole Mann who graduated high school at 13 and now in her late twenties is already an accomplished surgeon. One of my issues with this story is the author beats us to death with the fact that being a doctor is Nicole’s whole life. It’s all she’s ever wanted to be and all she does. She works endless shifts at the local hospital, she reads medical digests when she’s home, eats poorly and sleeps rarely. Because Nicole like many geniuses has always been able to focus on a singular target her people skills are lacking and she’s a bit of a nerd. Between Nicole's singular focus on first her education and then her career combined with her fear of people connections and a lack of self esteem regarding her appearance I'm still trying to figure out how she lost her V-card? Nicole uses her work to hide from life because she feels so socially awkward and different from other people. We get it Jill. You don’t have to beat us over the head with it. As Roughing it with Ryan closed Nicole is just moving into the apartment building owned by Taylor and her new neighbor is Suzanne, heroine of the previous story. The three women vow to remain single for life even though shortly thereafter Suzanne accepts Ryan’s marriage proposal. Although the same age as Nicole, Taylor and Suzanne are much more socially adjusted and try to take Nicole under their wing. Taylor in particular takes on a big sister almost motherly role with Nicole trying to show her there is more to life than work. One of the more enjoyable facets of this book for me was the presence of Suzanne as we get to see her moving towards her wedding day with Ryan and Taylor who will be the subject of the next book.
Our hero in this story is Ty an Irishman by birth, an architect, hired to help Taylor refurbish the decaying building she inherited in the gentrified South Village neighborhood. Ty had a very rough start in life being born to a single mom who didn’t want him and left him pretty much to fend for himself from an early age. Ty fell into a tough crowd as a boy to survive and did a lot of things he’s not proud of. He was saved from a life of crime when a policeman he attempted to pickpocket more or less adopted him and finished raising him. But the rejection by his mother and the crimes he committed to survive leaves Ty feeling both unloved and unlovable.
Ty and Nicole just like Ryan and Suzanne in the previous book have an immediate and intense physical attraction. Ty keeps trying to seduce Nicole telling himself the attraction is purely physical. When he realizes it’s more, he tries to avoid her altogether. Nicole for her part tries to deny she feels anything for Ty because she fears social connections even more so than Ty. Taylor (and Suzanne to a lesser extent) try to play matchmaker. The majority of the story is Nicole and Ty dancing around each other in denial of their true feelings. At some point they end up in bed together which forces cracks in both of their emotional walls even though they both are still in denial. Because this is a rather short book once the two have sex everything else falls into place rather quickly. They both realize at different points that they no longer want to be loners and more importantly they want the other. Decent story with likable heroine and hero and secondary characters some steamy sex and heartwarming romance.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I never liked romance novels. I puke as soon as I read virgin or millionaire( yes I do realize its now billionaire). So very few and far between do I pick a regular girly romance up. My mom loves them. And Jill Shalvis is a favorite of hers. So when I needed to grab a book to sit in a waiting room I grabbed this.

The thing about Jill Shalvis is she knows how in few words and few pages to get her reader attached to the character. And I was darn it. I was very much attached to Nicole and Ty. They were so much alike and so very different. Both of these added warmth and spice.

I liked that Ty got hurt and Nicole had doctor him. I like that he yanked her out of her self absorbed world of work. I liked that her letting her guard down got Ty off balance. That he both wanted to push her away so he could move on and never get hurt again, and wanted to put down roots so deep they'd call him willow.

Would I have liked this book to be fleshed out another 100 pages? Yes. I also think this is very early Shalvis and she writes them as long as she wants to now.

[Cathy Egan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost souls

I'm not much for just romance books, but somehow when Jill Shalvis writes them, I can't help liking them. She has a way with creating her characters, and her humor that I instantly get hooked on her books. This is the second in a series she wrote in the early 2000's and it's a really sweet story about two lost souls finding each other. Ty and Nicole are both loners who feel an instant attraction and are drawn to each other. I really enjoyed their story and am looking forward to the next two books in this series.

[Deniz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too cliche and I didn’t particularly like the MCs
Actually I found their commitment issues grating, and this is me mrs.commitment-issues. It just felt Like Shalvis was pushing it too much and milking that angle way beyond what she was supposed to
It’s still a Shalvis book. Good support cast and sugary sweet story line that leaves a pink and fussy smile on my face despite my annoyance with Nicole and Ty- so 2.5 Stars it is

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy and sweet read

I wanted a little bit more angst .... could have been longer. I wanted her to take him to meet his mom. I wish he beat up that jerk doctor. But Ty was a good guy !!!

[Moey17 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple brainless read, not bad, just nothing really to it.

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicole and Ty are so devoted to not getting involved, It was great when they were learning to become committed.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-1/2 Stars

[Mary Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.thefussylibrarian.com

[Jemi Fraser]

A fun and funny read!

[Elliebit]

20%

[Vikki Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can an Irishmen come fix my house, please?

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

so disappointed with this one.
the thing I loved most about this book is also the thing that bothered me the most so it's going to be hard to write this review.
you know how when you are reading a romance novel and the main character tries to give you their excuse for why they couldn't possibly be in a relationship and the whole time you just want to call bs? well in this book I completely and totally believed that Nicole was not looking for a relationship of any kind. and that work was so important to her it was worth sacrificing not only romantic relationships but also family and friends.
so while I appreciate that shalvis was finally able to convince me that her main character wasnt looking for love, it also sucked because it's the friendships that I usually end up loving the most in her books. and this book was severely lacking in that department.
nicole really neglected her friends and even when she was spending time with the Taylor wasnt really that good friend too her. in fact their was one seen when taylor was telling nicole she needed plastic surgery!
in the end this is probably me least favorite of the Shalvis novels I've read and I'm not really a h huge fan of Taylor so I highly doubt I'll enjoy the last book. but we'll see...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've become a big fan of Jill Shalvis in this past year. I've read all her new stuff and a few of the old ones (like this) as well. She is a very consistent writer in terms of character and tone, but her execution of a fully flushed out book has improved greatly. This book was okay. It could have been a lot better, but I felt like there were chunks missing from the story. Maybe it was originally meant to be part of series, but it seemed like we were dropped into the story without much introduction to the characters. The characters themselves were great, but multiples times in the story, I felt like I wasn't let in on a secret. The romance was super-rushed, and there was very little tension built up before the climax, which really didn't happen either. It was disappointing because I really felt the potential was there for oh-so-much more to happen.

[Ashley F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Shalvis' story surrounds Ty and Nicole in the usual uptight girl and sexy down-to-earth man sort of way. Nicole is a young doctor who is a bit of a workaholic. She has virtually no life and no friends save her landlord and other girlfriend. Of course the landlord hires Ty to renovate the place and sparks fly.

Ty and Nicole dance around each other for awhile before finally sleeping together. They have misunderstandings before facing the inevitable romance decree (they work it out).

It was a cute story but in the end I had nothing to say about it other than it was cute. I haven't been able to latch onto a Jill Shalvis story yet since I find them almost sickeningly sweet. Maybe at some point I'll find one I really like.

3 Stars

(South Village Singles Bk 2)

Published by Harlequin (#914)

224 Pages

Originally Published: February 1, 2003

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read the title of this book to write this review, I couldn't remember the storyline but now I do now and I did enjoy it. Nicole has a hard time relating to people. She is a bit socially awkward but brilliant. She loves the challenge of surgery but doesn't have much time for people. Mainly because the words that come out of her mouth are usually misconstrued. She's blunt and an introvert, but she is surrounded by extroverts. Her friends love her as is, but they (and her family) think that she is wasting her life and working herself to death.

Then enters Ty. Irish architect who seems to be running from his past so he drifts throught town and he is super intrigued by Nicole. He likes her awkwardness and he already knows that she's attracted to him but in denial. It was fun watching them get into all kinds of confused drama.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started this book, I thought that I had read it before. And I had, in an anthology. So why another review? because I liked it better this time. In the larger context of the other two books in the trilogy, this book was more interesting than as a stand-alone in the midst of two other stories about Irishmen. Because that's where Ty O'Grady grew up. Abandoned by his mother, it was a long and winding road until he made it as an architect. Working on an old apartment building, he encounters Dr. Nicole Mann.
Nicole is a genius. A busy genius with no time for men. Even charming attractive men with sexy accents. But somehow, she just can't get over this handsome man.
They have to deal with a sexist boss (which, I still have to wonder, why is he a part of the story? It does nothing to move the plot along) and a mystery from the past to find their HEA.

[Katie Mettner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another short, fast read by Jill Shalvis (two hours or so). I could honestly so relate to Nicole Mann in this book on so many levels. Nicole is a doctor workaholic who is rarely home, no purpose. She doesn't want to make friends or let anyone 'in'. She isn't counting on the new architect for her landlord being as cute and sweet as Ty, though.

Love at first sight would be a stretch, but they both were into each other but also both afraid to be into each other. Hurt by their pasts and determined to be alone forever, they fought their attraction rather ineffectively.

I love this short little series of Jill's. It's fun, fast, flirty, and always hot in the bedroom. I also enjoyed the characters from the first book being woven into this one and can't wait for Taylor to fall to her archenemy, love!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book. Nicole is a single minded doctor who doesn't do relationships. She finished high school at 12 and immediately went on to college and medical school. She never learned how to act in social situations and is therefore more comfortable working - which she does a lot. When she meets Ty, her world is thrown off-kilter. Ty is a footloose kind of guy that moves around a lot. He grew up in Dublin, mostly on the streets, and never lets anyone get close to him. But Nicole gets under his skin, and that scares him to death. He sees things in her that he recognizes, and she sees past his facade. I loved the part where she was caring for him after he fell through her ceiling - such a stubborn man!

[Tina "IRead2Escape" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It had all of the makings of a great book. It was a sweet, little read with great characters. It just didn't flow the best. It started off so slow and then in the last 3 chapters everything was rushed together to tie up the story. It seems that the characters should have been developed more throughout the book, so that we could get to know them a bit better.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book by Jill Shalvis. Shalvis never lets me down and that is why she is my favorite author! Ty and Nicole had great chemistry and I loved their story. I really liked Ty's back story and side story with his sister. However I felt like we needed a little bit more of Nicole's story. I also feel like Nicole and her avoiding her family issues should have been resolved before ending the book. Other than that it was great!

[Daniell Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Who doesn't love a man with a accent. All in a book with strong characters, tons of humor and a happy ending. Nicole is a doctor that only has her job on her schedule. Ty is a architect that thinks she needs one more thing on it, him. A book did not want to put down as really enjoyed it. Would have to say of the series this one was my favorite as the author just makes you laugh and fall in love with her characters.

[Jim son of Jim (formerly PhotoJim) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr Nicole Mann is a young work obsessed doctor. Some sort of female Dougie Howser, she is a talented surgeon in her mid 20's. Of course she doesn't let anyone into her very personal life. However, Ty O'Grady is just the man to get her to 'open up'. She does. He does. They live happily ever after.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Starting to think it was the 2nd in a three part series. Was fine as a stand alone, but at the end, the hints started popping up for the next one. Ty was a great guy, had the normal fears of commitment and staying in one place with one woman but he got over it quickly, as to not make him annoying. I loved Nicole. Great book all around.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You just can not go wrong with a Jill Shalvis book. Ty O'Grady is the architect trying to revamp the building Dr. Nicole Mann lives in. Dr. Mann as a surgeon lives, breathes, and sleeps in her medical world, until Ty enters her life. When he falls through her ceiling, well, you just have to read the book to enjoy the story.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some moments where people are just too pushy and it lowers my enjoyment of the story. When the landlady gets Ty to break in to Nichole’s apartment because she didn’t answer the door (she was sleeping), that really annoyed me. Especially because they wouldn’t leave when asked. Rude!!! Frankly I would have been ready to have them arrested for trespassing at that point.

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was only a short book but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It also didn't have the bromances I'm used to with Jill Shalvis but the romance was sweet, the love scenes hot, so what more can you ask for. This is the second in a trilogy so I'm going to have to go back and find the others now.