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Out Of The Blue
For Hannah Novak, running a bed-and-breakfast with her two best friends was adventure enough. But they didn t feel that way. They wanted to devote the summer to serious manhunting loser cleans toilets! Fine for them, but Hannah was, uh...inexperienced. How could she seduce anyone?
Then out of the blue came Zach Thomas, looking for a bed...and breakfast. Hannah had always thought the rugged cop was the sexiest man alive, and, bet or no bet, she wanted him. So she checked him in to her own room with every intention of checking him out!
Then out of the blue came Zach Thomas, looking for a bed...and breakfast. Hannah had always thought the rugged cop was the sexiest man alive, and, bet or no bet, she wanted him. So she checked him in to her own room with every intention of checking him out!
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 10, 2000
207 people are currently reading
479 people want to read
About the author
Jill Shalvis
386 books13.8k followersJill 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 9, 2017
The worst Jill shalvis book I've read!
The heroine was nutty and rapey! The whole story was ridiculous!
The heroine was nutty and rapey! The whole story was ridiculous!
January 12, 2017
Author: Jill Shalvis
First published: 2000
Length: 2396 kindle locations
Setting: Contemporary. Norfolk Woods Inn.
Sex: Explicit. Reasonably frequent.
Hero: Undercover cop.
Heroine: Inn keeper
Trigger: male rape-ish
Light and pretty plot-less, book revolves around Hannah’s somewhat inept attempts to seduce Zach and solve that pesky virgin problem she has. Resulting in Love and HEA.
Curiously, in the move to have a strong, sexually aggressive woman we end up with what amounts to male rape.
1. She wants to have sex with him and is told some moves by others so that he won’t be able to resist.
2. He’s exhausted and asleep; she strips and climbs in with him. He wakes and tells her no. She keeps trying. He keeps saying no.
3. He’s asleep and already spurned her multiple times. He wakes to her basically mounting him. He goes with it.
If the roles were reversed, it would be assault. But because it’s a woman doing it to a male (who apparently always wants it because male) it’s okay.
I don’t think it is.
Interesting book. Not a huge amount of romance (in fact, approaching zero). It’s all about the sex.
References:
Author's website: http://jillshalvis.com/books/out-of-t...
(Read in The Wrong Man ISBN 9781488704680)
-CR-
First published: 2000
Length: 2396 kindle locations
Setting: Contemporary. Norfolk Woods Inn.
Sex: Explicit. Reasonably frequent.
Hero: Undercover cop.
Heroine: Inn keeper
Trigger: male rape-ish
Light and pretty plot-less, book revolves around Hannah’s somewhat inept attempts to seduce Zach and solve that pesky virgin problem she has. Resulting in Love and HEA.
Curiously, in the move to have a strong, sexually aggressive woman we end up with what amounts to male rape.
1. She wants to have sex with him and is told some moves by others so that he won’t be able to resist.
2. He’s exhausted and asleep; she strips and climbs in with him. He wakes and tells her no. She keeps trying. He keeps saying no.
3. He’s asleep and already spurned her multiple times. He wakes to her basically mounting him. He goes with it.
If the roles were reversed, it would be assault. But because it’s a woman doing it to a male (who apparently always wants it because male) it’s okay.
I don’t think it is.
Interesting book. Not a huge amount of romance (in fact, approaching zero). It’s all about the sex.
References:
Author's website: http://jillshalvis.com/books/out-of-t...
(Read in The Wrong Man ISBN 9781488704680)
-CR-
August 24, 2018
Zachary is on R&R and finds himself in Hannah's sights. She's tired of being a virgin and picks Zachary to take care of it. She pursues him in a variety of ways trying to seduce him and change his no to a yes. It's very uncomfortable and when she finally seduces him as he's sleeping, all I could think of was if a man was doing this to a woman it would be called something else. No means no and in today's culture whether it's happening to a man or a woman this is simply not okay behavior, this scene killed the story for me. I finished it but was glad when it was finally over. I sincerely hope this author will not have similar scenes in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2013
Two-haiku review:
Undercover cop
Wounded, returns home to rest
Falls for sister's friend
Common virgin theme
But nicely done with some depth
Wish it were longer
Undercover cop
Wounded, returns home to rest
Falls for sister's friend
Common virgin theme
But nicely done with some depth
Wish it were longer
February 10, 2019
Three and a half stars
Hannah's made a bet with her friends with whom she co-owns a beachside inn--last one to get un-single this summer cleans toilets for the rest of the season. And when Zach comes to town to recuperate--her bestie Alexi's gorgeous older brother--she figures who better than him to make the leap with.
Cute take on the best-friend's older brother trope. A bit simplistic but enjoyable, quick read to put you in a summer fling mood...
Hannah's made a bet with her friends with whom she co-owns a beachside inn--last one to get un-single this summer cleans toilets for the rest of the season. And when Zach comes to town to recuperate--her bestie Alexi's gorgeous older brother--she figures who better than him to make the leap with.
Cute take on the best-friend's older brother trope. A bit simplistic but enjoyable, quick read to put you in a summer fling mood...
February 23, 2018
Loved the friendship between the women running the Bed and Breakfast and the past love come back to haunt the hero and heroine. A strong heroine and an undercover cop with regrets made for a story full of conflicts and hot sex.
March 3, 2025
I like this author but feel she coasted on the sexual hijinks and missed a solid plot. The heroine was vapid and the hunky cop did his part to fall in love. This author has done better stories. This is not one of them. I was generous in my rating.
July 7, 2025
I think I would have enjoyed this story more when I was younger. Today, I found it a little silly & immature. It bothered me that Hannah didn't respect Zach's decisions & continued to manipulate him into sleeping with her. If it were reversed, we would have been horrified.
July 23, 2025
When Zach comes to back to town and the inn is booked Hannah puts him in her room and tries to seduce him. Zach doesn't want to take advantage of Hannah, but she keeps making it hard to resist her. It was a fast moving good book!
July 7, 2017
Very sweet funny read. Love that Hannah and Zack found their way after knowing each other growing up.
November 1, 2018
Ok, amusing at times, but just braincandy.
June 30, 2019
I really liked this one In spite of the bad reviews. It was emotionally charged, romantic and sexy. Too short, maybe.
April 18, 2016
Out of the Blue is a waste of time. I hate to say this about any book, and even more about a book by Jill Shalvis, which is one of my favorite authors, but it's the truth.
Out of the Blue was published last month, a couple of weeks before Nobody but You, but I hadn't been able to pick it up before. I took it with me to read during the weekend and I was sorely disappointed. It certainly was not what I've come to expect from Jill Shalvis. Then I hopped on Amazon and found these words below the synopsis (which I had failed to see before, in the excitement of downloading a new book by Jill Shalvis): "previously published.". So...I Googled and discovered that Out of the Blue is really a reprint of an old Harlquin novel from the year 2000. Which explains it all, as most of Jill Shalvis' earlier works turned out to be really silly books, in my opinion. I wish Amazon had warned my, in big, bold letters, that this was a reprint from 2000. As is it, I feel that I've wasted time and money reading something I would not have picked otherwise.
There's very little plot in Out of the Blue, and what little there is, is so predictable you'll cringe: woman is 24, single and a virgin; thinks she's doomed to be alone and is desperate to loose her virginity; makes a bet with friends about who will not be single by the end of the summer; older brother of one of the friends (on who the woman had mad crush while in high school) comes home unexpectedly; woman puts herself in his bed (or, rather, puts him in her bed) and expects him to do the rest; he resists because she's his little sister's best friend but ends up caving in; fast forward a few days; they are in love and making plans for the future. There: it took me less than six lines to give you as much as Out of the Blue's 224 pages will ever give you. Enough said.
On top of this silly plot (or lack of it), I'm a firm believer that all books serve a purpose, and even romance novels can be educational. And this one passes all the wrong messages: a woman should not feel inferior (and her friends should not make her feel so) because she isn't dating or because she's still a virgin. And she should not become involved with the first man she sees because of a bet or her own sense of inferiority. Honestly, I just wish both Jill Shalvis and Harlequin hadn't bothered to reprint this book.
Out of the Blue was published last month, a couple of weeks before Nobody but You, but I hadn't been able to pick it up before. I took it with me to read during the weekend and I was sorely disappointed. It certainly was not what I've come to expect from Jill Shalvis. Then I hopped on Amazon and found these words below the synopsis (which I had failed to see before, in the excitement of downloading a new book by Jill Shalvis): "previously published.". So...I Googled and discovered that Out of the Blue is really a reprint of an old Harlquin novel from the year 2000. Which explains it all, as most of Jill Shalvis' earlier works turned out to be really silly books, in my opinion. I wish Amazon had warned my, in big, bold letters, that this was a reprint from 2000. As is it, I feel that I've wasted time and money reading something I would not have picked otherwise.
There's very little plot in Out of the Blue, and what little there is, is so predictable you'll cringe: woman is 24, single and a virgin; thinks she's doomed to be alone and is desperate to loose her virginity; makes a bet with friends about who will not be single by the end of the summer; older brother of one of the friends (on who the woman had mad crush while in high school) comes home unexpectedly; woman puts herself in his bed (or, rather, puts him in her bed) and expects him to do the rest; he resists because she's his little sister's best friend but ends up caving in; fast forward a few days; they are in love and making plans for the future. There: it took me less than six lines to give you as much as Out of the Blue's 224 pages will ever give you. Enough said.
On top of this silly plot (or lack of it), I'm a firm believer that all books serve a purpose, and even romance novels can be educational. And this one passes all the wrong messages: a woman should not feel inferior (and her friends should not make her feel so) because she isn't dating or because she's still a virgin. And she should not become involved with the first man she sees because of a bet or her own sense of inferiority. Honestly, I just wish both Jill Shalvis and Harlequin hadn't bothered to reprint this book.
April 18, 2010
Hannah Novak runs a bed and breakfast with her two best friends. They make a bet to see who can land a man first-the loser has to clean the toilets for the rest of the summer. Hannah is almost positive she's going to lose this bet. After all she's the only virgin she knows at the age of 24 and has no idea how to seduce a guy. Then comes Zach Thomas, one of her friends brothers checks in at the B & B. He's an undercover cop who is just recovering from a gun shot wound and knows that time spent in his hometown will be just the place to relax.
When Hannah checks Zach in & there are no available rooms for him to stay in, she realizes she just might have a chance at the competition-she's always had a crush on Zach, and what better time is there to act on it then now? She offers to let Zach stay in her apartment until a room becomes available. She then sets out to seduce him, but the question is how? After getting advice from her brother (which failed) and her friends (which also failed) she's beginning to lose hope that he's even attracted to her. Little does she know though, that Zach is attracted to her, but is fighting his feelings for her.They finally cave into their feelings, but will they be able to admit that what they have together is much more then just a fling?
I was looking forward to reading this book because I really loved Jill Shalvis' baseball series, and wanted to see what her older stuff was like. Her writing has greatly improved since this book! I thought this was just an ok read-the problem I have with harlequin's is that they are so formulaic that you pretty much know how the book will end and what's going to happen next. This book is perfect if you want something that's short & sweet., otherwise I'd skip it.
When Hannah checks Zach in & there are no available rooms for him to stay in, she realizes she just might have a chance at the competition-she's always had a crush on Zach, and what better time is there to act on it then now? She offers to let Zach stay in her apartment until a room becomes available. She then sets out to seduce him, but the question is how? After getting advice from her brother (which failed) and her friends (which also failed) she's beginning to lose hope that he's even attracted to her. Little does she know though, that Zach is attracted to her, but is fighting his feelings for her.They finally cave into their feelings, but will they be able to admit that what they have together is much more then just a fling?
I was looking forward to reading this book because I really loved Jill Shalvis' baseball series, and wanted to see what her older stuff was like. Her writing has greatly improved since this book! I thought this was just an ok read-the problem I have with harlequin's is that they are so formulaic that you pretty much know how the book will end and what's going to happen next. This book is perfect if you want something that's short & sweet., otherwise I'd skip it.
March 27, 2012
This was perfection. I feel like a broken record but I love Jill's voice. I love how mature her characters are. I love that she writes dialogue better than anyone else I've ever read. These people she tells stories about have adult conversations. Her men can be sexy and alpha but say these things that melt me into a puddle. It's fantastic. Reading a Jill Shalvis book is exactly like dessert. Delicious, sweet and just a bit naughty.
This book was obviously short, it was a Temptation, but it was jammed packed full of everything that I've come to think of as signature Jill. Friendship, hope, love, humor, sex and so much Romance I was in a constant state of swoon. Jill does something that not every romance author can make me do - she makes me YEARN with them. Believe me I know that there is a happy ending coming up. I expect it and I know I'll get it but I still worry, I still sit there sometimes and wonder how in the hell she'll get these two people over whatever obstacles separate them and mostly I yearn and burn and get a heated pool in my belly and a little mist in my eyes and for however long I take to read her book my heart is not just mine for awhile. I feel everything these characters feel and this book did not dissapoint.
I couldn't put it down. Quick, hot and so sweet it was obviously perfection. Instant Favorite.
This book was obviously short, it was a Temptation, but it was jammed packed full of everything that I've come to think of as signature Jill. Friendship, hope, love, humor, sex and so much Romance I was in a constant state of swoon. Jill does something that not every romance author can make me do - she makes me YEARN with them. Believe me I know that there is a happy ending coming up. I expect it and I know I'll get it but I still worry, I still sit there sometimes and wonder how in the hell she'll get these two people over whatever obstacles separate them and mostly I yearn and burn and get a heated pool in my belly and a little mist in my eyes and for however long I take to read her book my heart is not just mine for awhile. I feel everything these characters feel and this book did not dissapoint.
I couldn't put it down. Quick, hot and so sweet it was obviously perfection. Instant Favorite.
April 16, 2016
Not my favorite of hers
I enjoy Jill Shalvis immensely, but this particular story is not her strongest. It was a bit of a trifle of a storyline - the characters were not quite fully formed, it was a little too neat and tidy, and the conclusion lacked much motivation.
I enjoy Jill Shalvis immensely, but this particular story is not her strongest. It was a bit of a trifle of a storyline - the characters were not quite fully formed, it was a little too neat and tidy, and the conclusion lacked much motivation.
June 9, 2016
Read this as a digital reissue. I love Jill Shalvis but she's definitely become a much better story teller than when this one was written. It all happened so fast that I didn't feel the characters emotions but overall an ok read.
June 12, 2016
I love Jill Shalvis and she gives her characters a warmth I enjoy. This was an older re-issue so the story was kind of stupid; the characters were old-fashioned style. But it was a very quick read. There were sexy times.
February 6, 2017
Quick read. So cute, a little bit steamy. I was impressed with Zach's ability to give in to Hannah so quickly and really enjoyed her lack of experience and clumsiness. I was thankful they both realized they loved each other so quickly and would do anything to be together. Love this Jill Shalvis!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2009
Oh, another funny romance!
May 5, 2011
Light but enjoyable. The plot is pretty much what the blurb says. Some funny moments as Zach tries to work out what Hannah is trying to do.
January 29, 2013
I enjoyed this book even if is really simple.
PS:There's the original idea of Lucky Harbor BB in it :-)
PS:There's the original idea of Lucky Harbor BB in it :-)
April 16, 2013
Dropped it because lack of chemistry... You expect me to believe that the hero and heroine fell in love after one night when she literally just dropped in on him?! The heroine is irritating.
August 29, 2013
I could not get past how incredibly annoying and LAME the heroine was. DNF!
May 26, 2016
Cute sweet funny story, really light hearted but a little short for my liking
April 22, 2016
I love Jill Shalvis & her writing. She knows how to weave a romance & work out the problems so they can be together forever.
March 30, 2016
Great book really enjoyed it. I loved the characters.
May 1, 2016
I have read many of Jill's book and really loved this one too. I cannot wait to read the next book... I am hoping it becomes a series too. It is a love story that spans several decades!
July 3, 2016
This one was a little weaker than Jill Shalvis' usual funny, heartwarming fare but still somewhat enjoyable.
April 4, 2017
Quick read, not as good as the later books but hey, free e-book from the library.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews