Almost Just Friends

by Jill Shalvis

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Writing in her trademark charming and personable style, Jill Shalvis’ Wildstone series continues to explore the lives of friends and family.

USA Today Bestseller

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Wildstone with the touching story of finding your place in the world—and the people who make it home.

Piper Manning’s about as tough as they come, she’s had to be. She raised her siblings and they’ve thankfully flown the coop. All she has to do is finish fixing up the lake house her grandparents left her, sell it, and then she’s free.

When a massive storm hits, she runs into a tall, dark and brooding stranger, Camden Reid. There’s a spark there, one that shocks her. Surprising her further, her sister and brother return, each of them holding their own secrets. The smart move would be for Piper to ignore them all but Cam unleashes emotions deep inside of her that she can’t deny, making her yearn for something she doesn’t understand. And her siblings…well, they need each other.

Only when the secrets come out, it changes everything Piper thinks she knows about her family, herself…and Cam. Can she find a way to outrun the demons? The answer is closer than she thinks—just as the new life she craves may have already begun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062897800
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/21/2020
Series:	Wildstone Series , #4
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	141,232
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning novels wherever books are sold and visit her website, jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Lemon Sisters: “Sisterhood takes center stage in this utterly absorbing novel. Jill Shalvis balances her trademark sunny optimism and humor with unforgettable real-life drama. A book to savor—and share.

Susan Wiggs

Jill Shalvis’s books are funny, warm, charming and unforgettable.” %COMM_CONTRIB%RaeAnne Thayne

Readers will be very satisfied with the ending of Shalvis' latest enjoyable Wildstone story.

Booklist

12/01/2019

Piper Manning is finally close to pursuing her own dreams after years of caring for everyone else. On a stormy night, in a bar to celebrate her birthday, she meets a mysterious hot guy who seems to be flirting with her. He turns out to be Camden Reid, her neighbor's Coast Guard son, in town to reconnect with his father. Piper might not be great with relationships, but she thinks a no-strings-attached fling with Cam might be perfect. Then Piper's brother and sister return home. As her siblings' secrets are revealed, Piper finds herself drawn even more to Cam—but he has secrets of his own. VERDICT Fans of the TV drama series This Is Us as well as love stories ripe with secrets waiting to be spilled will devour Shalvis's latest in the series (after The Lemon Sisters).—Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash

Library Journal

2019-10-28
Piper Manning is determined to sell her family's property so she can leave her hometown behind, but when her siblings come back with life-changing secrets and her sexy neighbor begins to feel like "The One," she might have to redo her to-do list.

As children, Piper and her younger siblings, Gavin and Winnie, were sent to live with their grandparents in Wildstone, California, from the Congo after one of Gavin's friends was killed. Their parents were supposed to meet them later but never made it. Piper wound up being more of a parent than her grandparents, though: "In the end, Piper had done all the raising. It'd taken forever, but now, finally, her brother and sister were off living their own lives." Piper, the queen of the bullet journal, plans to fix up the family's lakeside property her grandparents left the three siblings when they died. Selling it will enable her to study to be a physician's assistant as she's always wanted. However, just as the goal seems in sight, Gavin and Winnie come home, ostensibly for Piper's 30th birthday, and then never leave. Turns out, Piper's brother and sister have recently managed to get into a couple buckets of trouble, and they need some time to reevaluate their options. They aren't willing to share their problems with Piper, though they've been completely open with each other. And Winnie, who's pregnant, has been very open with Piper's neighbor Emmitt Reid and his visiting son, Camden, since the baby's father is Cam's younger brother, Rowan, who died a few months earlier in a car accident. Everyone has issues to navigate, made more complicated by Gavin and Winnie's swearing Cam to secrecy just as he and Piper try—and fail—to ignore their attraction to each other. Shalvis keeps the physical and emotional tension high, though the siblings' refusal to share with Piper becomes tedious and starts to feel childish.

Shalvis' latest retains her spark and sizzle.

Kirkus Reviews

Jill Shalvis’s books are funny, warm, charming and unforgettable.

RaeAnne Thayne

Readers will be very satisfied with the ending of Shalvis' latest enjoyable Wildstone story.

Booklist

I love everything about this book, the family dynamics, the humor and the amazing romance. Just amazing!

Lori Foster