Caffeinated Reviewer

The Backup Plan by Jill Shalvis is the newest standalone romance novel in the Sunrise Cove series. An inheritance attached to a Wild West B&B has Alice returning home. She and two people she once thought of as friends must work together to reopen the B&B. Along the way, friendships will be renewed and love will be found. You’ll want to snuggle up with this five cup read.

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a heartwarming tale of three people who are brought together when they’re bequeathed an old Wild West inn that has the potential to pull their lives apart, but instead turns into the gift of a lifetime.

When Alice receives a call about an unexpected windfall, she’s stunned to learn the gift is a falling-apart-at-the-seams old Wild West B&B she once considered home—and she’s inherited it along with two strangers. Except they weren’t always strangers. Once upon a time, they were friends. One is her ex-BFF Lauren. The other is Knox, the only guy to ever break her heart, all while never even knowing she existed.

It turns out their lives are unknowingly entangled because they once separately helped the same woman without expecting anything in return. Years later, Alice, Lauren, and Knox are broken in their own way, with their own history—and secrets— causing them to start out on the wrong foot with each other. But according to the will, they must renovate and be partners in the inn for one year or else lose their inheritance.

Stuck together, they make a list of rules to keep the peace—rules that end up doing the opposite, but by some miracle they find what they didn’t even know they were looking for—acceptance, true friendship, and in a case (or two!), true love

Coffee Dates with the Backup Plan

• First Date: I love the premise for the Backup Plan. Alice, Knox, and Lauren each inherit a part of the Last Chance Inn after Eleanor passes away. Alice is Eleanor’s granddaughter and grew up at the inn. Lauren was her best friend and dated her brother, who died in a car accident that caused a rift between them. Knox’s mom was an alcoholic who worked as a maid at the inn. Eleanor gave him odd jobs and encourage him along the way. Their inheritance comes with stipulations. The three of them must fix it up and have thirty days to do it.
• Second Date: House rules and working towards fixing up the inn, blend with each person’s experiences with Eleanor and the past. We see the girls work on their fragile friendship and discover their personalities, weaknesses, fears and secret hopes. We learn Alice crushed on Knox as a teen, but he barely looked at her. I loved the banter, snark and chemistry between them.
• Third Date: Alice has said from the beginning she’ll leave at the end of the thirty days and it was interesting to see the three of them work together, grow individual and learn about the past through emails Eleanor wrote to her sister. I was fully invested from Lauren’s budding romance with a local to the slow-burning, give and take romance developing between Knox and Alice that was red hot.

Fans of small-town romances will devour this one. It had all the elements I love in a Shalvis novel. It’s the perfect read for a snowy Sunday afternoon by the fire.

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About Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras with her family and far too many assorted quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill's latest, ONE IN A MILLION, on shelves and e-readers now, and get all her bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold.

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About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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