Title: Animal Magnetism Series: Animal Magnetism #1
Author: Jill Shalvis
Published: July 2, 2013
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 295
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Co-owner of the town's only kennel, Lilah Young has lived in Sunshine, Idaho, all her life. Pilot-for-hire Brady Miller is just passing through. But he soon has Lilah 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 that keeps him coming back for more.
Animal-centric contemporary romance. I’m so glad it’s a thing. Really, really glad. Because animals (mostly dogs) are awesome, and tend to amp up the cute factor in a story by a factor of about 1000. Animal Magnetism is overflowing with animals. They are seriously everywhere in this story, and that’s pretty wonderful. Jill Shalvis had already written a cute, feel-good romance with this book; adding in all the animals made it way better.
The (human) characters in question here are Brady and Lilah. Brady was a foster kid growing up, and after some time in Afghanistan is mostly a drifter. Lilah grew up dirt poor, and is struggling to make ends meet, staying safe in her hometown. Connection with Brady’s foster brothers brings the two of them together, and romance happens. There are also a lot of furry critters, including dogs, cats, ducks, lambs, racoons, and pot-bellied pigs (Lilah runs a kennel and Brady’s brothers run an animal hospital.)
Animal Magnetism is just an all-around cute novel. It makes you happy while you’re reading it. The connection between Brady and Lilah is very focused on physical attraction the understanding that it’s a short-term relationship, so watching the lust inevitably become love was really sweet. Both protagonists have come from pretty messed up childhoods and broken homes, so they had common ground there—it was simply that their responses to their awful childhoods were so different. And the little things were cute, too; bonding over junk food, playing with animals, etc.
At the same time, I would have liked to see a little bit more from the relationship between Brady and Lilah. At first, both of them have sex with the understanding that Brady will be leaving town soon, that it permanence isn’t even an option. The two of them then have a lot of sex, all while internally falling for each other. Problem is, there isn’t a lot of conversation happening in Animal Magnetism. The book takes place over the course of the month, and the two of them only have one heart-to-heart type deal, which, for the record, occurs whilst they’re inebriated. So. I’m not saying that you can’t fall in love with someone in a month, but I am saying that I would hope you’d have a better understanding of each other before using the L-word.
But, I mean, what the heck, Renae? This is a fluffy romance. Don’t expect logic. Am I right? Right.
In any case, I do think Jill Shalvis is a really good writer. There was definite chemistry present in Animal Magnetism, and the author definitely had a handle on humor and cute factor. Her writing is strong and clear, and I think she manages to achieve the small-town, animal-centric romance atmosphere perfectly. (My real life background is definitely small-town, animal-centric, for the record.)
So yeah. If you like cute, fluffy things or adorable romance, Animal Magnetism is a good place to look. Shalvis’ writing is very good, her characters are well-rounded, and the story is easy and charming and very likable. This is a very satisfying contemporary romance.
