Out Of This World [Paperback]

Jill Shalvis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Three weeks ago Rachel Bond inherited a bed-and-breakfast. Too bad that it's in a remote part of Alaska, staffed by a house chef who can't cook and a guide who can't read a map. There's something distinctly strange going on...and that's not counting the fact that Rachel just got hit by lightning, and her good friend Kellan is suddenly possessed with animalistic sexiness she's never seen before. Turns out, Rachel's inheritance is not your regular bed-and-breakfast - it's the portal to an alternative universe where the people possess unique powers that they can transfer to humans. And things are only starting to get weired...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When Rachel Wood, Los Angeles mural artist and self-proclaimed queen of impulsive actions, discovers a distant and extremely eccentric relative has bequeathed her a bed-and-breakfast in the wilds of Alaska, she immediately heads north to check it out, commandeering her best friend's geeky brother, Kel, for support. The B and B is deserted and unwelcoming, and weirdness appears to be the order of the day. The tour guide can't find his way, the cook produces inedible messes, and voices and thuds are heard in the supposedly empty inn. When Rachel is struck by lightning and discovers she can see through anything, and Kel acquires supernatural strength, they begin to consider more sinister explanations. The sudden, overwhelming mutual attraction that flares uncontrollably between them and has them engaging in love play at every possible opportunity (and sometimes at the worst possible moment) is just one more puzzling phenomenon for them to explore. Shalvis breaks new ground with this sexy paranormal romance with chick-lit undertones told from both his and her perspectives. Lynne Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A deliciously sensual writer, full of compassion, humor, and a deep, deep love of romance."

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Brava (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758214448
• ISBN-13: 978-0758214447
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times Bestselling author Jill Shalvis wrote THE SWEETEST THING and over three dozen other romance novels including her acclaimed Lucky Harbor series. The 6-time Rita nominee and 3-time National Readers Choice winner makes her home near Lake Tahoe. Visit her website at http://www.jillshalvis.com for a complete book list and daily blog, and http://www.facebook.com/jillshalvis for other news.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More great fun from Jill Shalvis!, August 29, 2006

By 

Laurie (OH - USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Out Of This World (Paperback)

Rachel Wood has inherited a B&B from her Great Great Aunt Gertrude in, of all places, the Alaskan wilderness. Working as a muralist in LA and living paycheck to paycheck, Rachel decides she'll go to Alaska and check out the B&B, see what is has to offer maybe even sell it. Rachel thanks her lucky stars that her best friend's brother, Kellen McInty, was able to go with her. After a harrowing, white-knuckled arrival in a float plane, and being left in the middle of nowhere by a pilot who apparently believes that a successful flight means landing with both wings intact, Rachel and Kellen hike their way to the B&B. The strange characters and even more strange happenings eventually push Rachel and Kellen together, and once Rachel begins to see things as she never has before, she begins to wonder why she has never seen Kel for the man he truly is.***** Kellen has loved Rachel for what seems like forever, and being thrown together with her in such close quarters in the plane and later in her aunt's cottage, is almost more than he can resist. He is determined to keep her at arms' length, no easy feat given how she in all of her glorious girliness, is afraid of her own shadow and is constantly plastering her gorgeous self to him. Kel doesn't know what to think about the weird goings-on at the B&B, the two on-site caretakers and two visitors who put the s-t-r-a-n-g-e- in strange, but he's determined to get to the bottom of their bizarre behavior.***** Rachel and Kellen are so wonderful for each other that readers will be crossing their fingers for them to get together. The secondary characters and their motives are questionable to say the least, but you can't help but care for them and want them to all be happy. Excepting the bad guys that is - but with that being said, who would ever have expected pirates to show up in the middle of Alaska?***** Jill Shalvis has outdone herself with the humor in this book - and as for first person writing? I'm a full-fledged convert and will never reject another book written in this style.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A keeper-- its hot and funny, September 17, 2006

By 

Judy "book reader" (Cincinnati, ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out Of This World (Paperback)

Out Of This World by Jill Shalvis is a wonderfully funny and wickedly sexy tale.

Artist Rachel Wood has inherited a B & B from a distant relative. Problem is the place is in Alaska of all places. Rachel enlists the help of her best friends brother Kellan McInty to go with her to check the inn out. Hideaway B & B is deep in no mans land and for a city girl like Rachel it's a shocker.

Rachel and Kellan decide to explore around the place and something very strange happens. Rach can now see through things and Kel has gone all supermanish. Getting to the bottom of these bizarre goings on test their patience. Plus all of sudden these two friends can't keep their hands off each other.

Out Of This World delivers a funny, quirky and hotter then hot romance. Both Rach and Kel give their take on things and that really made it an enjoyable read. Added to this mix are the employees, guests of the inn and some out of this world pirates that really up the laughs. This book was such a treat to read, made me laugh out loud so many times. The romance is top notch and it's a joy to watch friends become so much more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars completely unbelievable, June 21, 2009

By 

bijou2311 "bijou2311" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Out Of This World (Paperback)

We have ditzy Rachael who inherits a B&B in Alaska from some crazy great-aunt. She decides to go visit it to see if she is going to keep it or sell, etc and takes her best friends brother (who she has been very good friends with forever). Kellan is a dolphin trainer and generally Mr. Nice Guy. However, he's been in love with Rachel since he's known her but she doesn't see him as anything but a friend because he doesn't meet her bad boy requirements. They go to Alaska to check out this B&B and strange things happen, including getting struck by lightening and acquiring some interesting new abilities.

This is more a paranormal romance type book than a romance and in my opinion a poorly written book regardless of how you classify it. If you are going to write, especially paranormal or science fiction the goal is to make it believable. To write the scenes and create a world that even though it isn't true the reader believes in enough to visualize and enjoy the story. However, that just didn't happen here. The whole thing just felt poorly put together and absolutely awful.

There were NO redeeming characters. Rachael whined a lot until the end and was stupid and short sited. Kellan is just too good to be true (and if he was true why would he be with Rachael). And the supporting characters were ridiculous. What happened wasn't actually explained until the last 50 pages or so, which meant that the reader was as annoyed and aggravated as Rachael and Kellan by not knowing what was going on.

All in all, I'd say skip this book no matter what you are looking for. Try some of the author's other books if you'd like, but not this one.