When love drives you crazy . . . When sexy Joe Malone never calls after their explosive kiss, Kylie shoves him out of her mind. Until she needs a favor, and it’s a doozy. Something precious to her has been stolen and there’s only one person with unique finder-and-fixer skills that can help—Joe. It means swallowing her pride and somehow trying to avoid the temptation to throttle him—or seduce him. avoid the temptation to throttle him—or seduce him.
the best thing to do . . .
No, Joe didn’t call after the kiss. He’s the fun time guy, not the forever guy. And Kylie, after all she’s been through, deserves a good man who will stay. But everything about Kylie makes it damned hard to focus, and though his brain knows what he has to do, his heart isn’t getting the memo.
… is enjoy the ride.
As Kylie and Joe go on the scavenger hunt of their lives, they discover surprising things about each other. Now, the best way for them to get over “that kiss” might just be to replace it with a hundred more.
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Cute story with quirky characters you can’t help but like and wish were your friends. Shalvis has a way of making you want to read about their lives and adventures.
Just like her other books and series, I love the Heartbreaker Bay books. About That Kiss is an example of the stories keep getting better and better. I loved Joe — man, does he have the world resting on his shoulders. Kylie also has her own heartache to deal with although I did feel like she was given more of a…pass…than Joe was. No matter! I loved them both. Their story had some laugh out loud I Love Lucy moments — hilarious! And just as many touching, sweet ones. The rest of the gang shows up and are as hilarious as always. Truly great read.
I loved Kylie and Joe’s story. They are two people who neber thought they would find “The One” and boy did they ever. They fit together perfectly. And Vinnie was a great add in, the dog.
I absolutely adored this. About That Kiss is my favorite book in the Heartbreaker Bay series so far. I loved the main characters, the animosity between them, the humor, and the bit of mystery mixed in. This was pretty perfect to me!
This series is amazing! I’ve been hooked since Pru and Finn’s story and love it!
Kylie is really sweet, she’s been through a lot in her life and she’s a survivor. She’s a woodworker, an art that her grandfather taught her, she has awesome friends, her dog is loving, loyal and hilarious and lately she’s been trying to avoid Joe… you know after that kiss.
Joe is a hot, sexy, alpha who isn’t afraid of anything. Well, at least he thought so but that chemistry between him and Kylie is freaking him out and he just can’t get her out of his mind. It doesn’t matter if she has dust all over her or even if she’s wearing work boots, he’s just drawn to her specially after that kiss.
Kylie and Joe have an insane chemistry! The push and pull, the way their relationship was slowly changing, how they couldn’t resist and keep their hands of each other, their stubbornness, the hilarious stake outs, Joe opening up to Kylie and those kisses made their story unique, fresh and perfectly balanced between heat, heart, friendship, family (I loved Joe’s dad), suspense and action. Joe is now my second favorite in this series (yes, Archer is still #1!).
Overall, a very sweet, funny, sexy and entertaining contemporary romance with amazing characters that will make you want to move to Heartbreaker Bay (I think I’ve said that in every review I’ve written about this series, honestly it’s just that I get that Friends – yes the TV show – vibe every single time and I love it so, so much!), can’t wait for Lucas and Molly’s story – oh yeah, those looks between them and the sizzling chemistry are very promising. About that Kiss is a must read and I definitely recommend the entire series.
This is the fifth in the Heartbreaker Bay series. I usually start my Christmas themed reading shortly after Thanksgiving. This year is no different except that when I came across the Heartbreaker Bay series, I saw that it had a couple of Christmas themed books and decided to start the entire series. While the majority of the books have been set during Christmas this one is not. I’m definitely sticking with the series until I finish all the ones I’ve got downloaded. Anyway, About That Kiss is all about Kylie Masters and Joe Malone. Both are loners, each in their own way. Each is carrying a boatload of guilt from their past. They get one another like no one ever has before. About That Kiss has a little more suspense than the previous books. There’s a mystery to be solved and some intrigue that goes along with solving it. I’m really enjoying this entire series.
I’m a huge fan of Jill Shalvis and I love the characters of Heartbreaker Bay! All of the characters in this little section of San Francisco are interesting and written with such care that you can’t help but fall in love with them all.
Joe and Kylie’s story is intriguing, fun and full of chemistry. Kylie’s “undercover costumes” are great. I really like Joe’s reactions to her antics. It adds a bit of spice to the attraction.
Through the investigation that Kylie hires Joe for, we learn a great deal about their pasts and what has shaped them into the people that they are. It is an emotional journey that comes to end with a happily ever after.
As always, Jill Shalvis gives me an unhealthy disrespect for morning when it comes to her Heartbreaker Bay series. Can I just say, this was a smoking hot romance between two absolutely phenomenally written characters. Both Joe and Kylie were damaged, but they could still see the humor in life, still enjoy each other’s company, learned how to talk through their issues, and boy, they knew how to steam up his truck windows. Being a carpenter’s daughter myself, I love reading about a strong, talented tradeswoman who doesn’t take any crap in a man’s world. Kylie can see that her work may be different, but it is equally as good as her grandfather’s, who was her mentor. I love that this story had a little bit of mystery to the storyline along with the very hot romance, have I said that already? Because, it was a five alarm fire more often than not.
I can’t decide if I’m #TeamKylie or #TeamJoe or #Both, TBH. Kylie’s sweet, funny, adventurous, smart, and doesn’t take any crap from Joe. Joe is sexy as hell, caring, snarky, smart, controlled, and not used to being with a woman who doesn’t take any crap from him. I liked the way Jill was able to take Joe, a military guy/bounty hunter and keep him hardened, rough, and defensive, yet when it came to the time he spent with Kylie, a completely different style of that harden, rough, defensive man was seen. You saw the real Joe whenever he dealt with his sister, Molly, his dad, or Kylie. Joe wasn’t a bad guy, he wasn’t even misunderstood, he was just too afraid to shed the fear of his past to build a better future.
In the end, and let me see, I believe the end was about 1 a.m., I closed the book with a smile on my face knowing that another chapter of true love had been written in Heartbreaker Bay.
About That Kiss is the 5th book in the Heartbreaker Bay Series. It’s a Rom-Com with some suspense thrown in. This book is amazing and it hits all the emotional switches!
Joe Malone is one heck of a sexy man and he’s had his eye on Kylie now for a year, he kisses her and it rocks his world but he never calls afterwards. Kylie forces that kiss and Joe out of her memory bank until he shows up 3 days later looking for a birthday present for his sister. She in turn she needs a major favor because her precious memento of her grandpa’s has been stolen and Kylie knows that Joe’s finder and fix it skills will come in handy. So, they both put aside feelings and come to a agreement of sorts.
Joe isn’t a forever kind of guy and Kylie deserves a man who will stick around. But everything about Kylie makes focusing impossible. He’s never had this problem before. There is just something about her that makes him different and he can’t help falling for her.
Joe and Kylie start the hunt for her stolen penguin and discover new and interesting things about each other along the way. So, instead of getting over that one perfect kiss they decide to keep kissing and maybe improve on it.
I love this series and the quirky little town and its characters.
Kylie is a master craftswoman with her woodworking skills and Joe is a local expert at finding people and things. She’s on the hunt for a stolen possession and he’s determined to help her. The chemistry between these two is explosive…and funny as they are kind of in denial.
A mystery, a budding romance, crazy family members, interfering friends in a loving way, small town atmosphere, what more do you need? Great story, I loved it.
One cliche after another
It was OK, had some seamy parts.
Love her books so much!
Not my favorite of this series, although I have always loved the hero, Joe. A fun and humorous read.
Sizzling, sexy, suspenseful read. I love the way all three linked to make for a great novel featuring Joe and Kylie. A kiss they shared previously is on both their minds. When they together go on a hunt for a precious penguin that Kylie’s grandfather made, they find that just one kiss is not going to suffice – they need many more to cure their cravings for each other. Just a great read!
About That Kiss is the fifth book in the Heartbreaker Bay series, of which I have only read one book. While these may technically be read as standalones, I felt like I was missing info and wish I had read all the earlier books first. There is quite a bit of character crossover and references to their stories (particularly the fateful fountain) and, as I didn’t know everyone, I felt like I was the clueless new kid on the block.
So this story is about a kiss (duh) that seems to have happened off-page… or maybe in a previous book? We start off the story two days after the kiss has happened. I wish that scene had been included in a prologue or something because I felt like I was coming into the story late. So the gist is that our heroine (Kylie) and hero (Joe) had a steamy, possibly drunken, kiss at a bar. Then he didn’t call her, but comes into her reclaimed wood store a couple days after.
Kylie Masters is a woodworker, making pieces for a quaint store called Reclaimed Wood. She is following in her grandfather’s footsteps, who was a master woodworker and raised Kylie. This is pretty unique for a heroine, so I liked that aspect and envied her creative/crafty ability. Sometimes Kylie seemed anti-romance, but then there were also mentions about her huge crush on her boss, Gibbs. She has a close-knit group of girlfriends, which I also envied. (It’s so hard to find a good girl posse as an adult! But I digress.)
Joe Malone is kind of a tortured hero. He is also anti-romance, but it has more to do with how he seems himself than what he really has to offer a mate. But Joe espouses all the characteristics of a good hero. He is tough and capable, protective, caring, and a little bit vulnerable. After a rough childhood, Joe is working in the investigation and security field with some of the earlier heroes of the series (I think). He also takes care of his mentally ill father and slightly disabled sister, and has served as the bedrock of the family from a young age.
The romance between these two was at arm’s length much of the time. They tried to deny their feelings, were deathly afraid of the town wishing fountain, but ultimately give in to the chemistry. I thought they were pretty good when they were together, but neither had the courage to communicate with the other. Luckily they had the investigation to fall back on, as that kept pushing them together as I’m sure they would have never talked otherwise.
I didn’t feel like there was a lot of character development in this book, and it kept me from connecting with either character. In fact, the heroine kinda got on my nerves. So I’m thinking that there may have been some character building throughout the series that I missed, as I don’t recall this being an issue in other Shalvis books that I’ve read. I also felt like the suspense aspect was a bit weak. If I am reading romantic suspense, I tend to want the heart-pounding action and suspense… where this one was just a little mystery investigation.
So while I usually like Jill Shalvis’ books, this one was just okay for me. It didn’t hold my interest well and I kept taking breaks during my roadtrip to listen to other books.
I love Jill’s Heartbreaker Bay series. The bit of mystery in About that Kiss really drew me into the story. And of course Joe. What’s not to love about Joe?
If you enjoy a dash of mystery with a steamy, witty romance, check out About that Kiss.
If you have already started this series, then it makes sense to read this book. Definitely not my favorite and it seemed to drag. Joe and Kylie were definitely not as fun for me as Colbie and Spence or Elle and Archer. Now, that said, Lucas and Molly? The groundwork is laid and I bet it’s going to be great.
LOVE this author
It definitely picked up in reading enjoyment after the first quarter. That part was a little slow.