Still the One

March 2, 2015
Shalvis’s sixth Animal Magnetism contemporary (after Then Came You) suffers from a weak plot and unsympathetic characters. Fiercely independent Darcy Stone, who trains service dogs for veterans, is 100% self-reliant—except when she’s around the sexy, confounding AJ Colten, her old friend and physical therapist. After a terrible car accident, Darcy struggled to regain what walking skills she could under the watchful eye of AJ, who pushed her hard despite his strong romantic feelings for her—feelings he tried to deny because she’s his best friend’s little sister. A particularly humiliating incident led Darcy to vow that she would never let AJ into her heart. But when they head to a conference together and are forced into the charade of an engagement, a snowstorm locks them in and leads to a weekend of improbable passion. AJ and Darcy stumble through various misunderstandings, a lack of communication, and flimsy conflicts in the form of other love interests, while figuring out whether they are really meant for each another. Though AJ is reasonably heroic, hard-headed Darcy is difficult to appreciate, and the plot never gels. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

February 15, 2015
After helping her recover from a devastating accident, physical therapist AJ Colten rejected Darcy Stone's romantic overture; now he needs her help acquiring grants for his program, placing both their hearts in danger. Dedicated wanderer and travel journalist Darcy is sidelined-and lucky to be alive-after icy roads and an aggressive driver forced her car into a tree. Now, nearly a year after the accident, she's relatively healthy and mobile but not hale enough to return to her globe-trotting career. While disappointed, she's grateful to be alive and honest enough to admit that without AJ's help, she'd still be in a wheelchair. Weighing her next steps, Darcy is doing a couple of part-time jobs to help pay the bills and fund her passion project of adopting former service dogs and pairing them with emotionally vulnerable patients, but it's nowhere near the income she made as a journalist. When AJ has the opportunity to meet a potential donor for his pro bono therapy work, he arranges to have a client travel with him to Boise, but the man backs out at the last second. Darcy reluctantly agrees to step in, since her relationship with AJ is tricky. First, he's her brother's best friend; second, she has a mad attraction to him; third, she works for him at his clinic; and fourth, she threw herself at him during her rehabilitation and he rejected her, pushing all of her inadequacy buttons. But she also feels grateful and obligated to him and knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. AJ isn't thrilled that Darcy is his best hope for funding since he has a ton of reasons to keep her at arm's length, reasons that become less compelling as they endure a snowbound weekend and a pretend love affair. Shalvis' newest Animal Magnetism title leverages emotional conflict and sexual tension into a satisfying romance, while physically and emotionally wounded Darcy learns lessons of love and acceptance that readers will cheer for. Another romance winner for Shalvis.