Review: If It's Only Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #6)

Chelle
Mar 11, 2022
3 min read

Title: If It’s Only Love
Author: Lexi Ryan
Series: The Boys of Jackson Harbor #6
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: ☆☆☆.5
Trigger Warnings: eating disorders, mental health/panic and anxiety

Fair warning, I’ve binged this whole series and am writing these reviews AFTER reading, and the one thing I have to say about this world is there’s a lot of repetition of storylines, tropes and HEA’s. And because of the statement above, I wonder if I would have rated this book higher if I hadn’t read this series one book after the other, as there’s a lot that I liked about this one. Finally getting to read more about Shay, who’s become a wonderful voice in all the other books so far, was something I enjoyed, though I did have a few struggles. Not so much with Easton or Shay themselves, but the repeated tropes *cough pregnancy cough* turning up in this one again. Whilst this one was done in a very different manner than the others in this series, when Shay found out she was pregnant, I actually had to put down my kindle and take a break, because, really?! Must everyone in Jackson Harbor have babies, get married, and overcome trauma in the same ways? Every unplanned pregnancy is so readily accepted by these characters (Ellie was the same in her book), and whilst I’m pro-life, I just found it stark in comparison to what was happening around them. Overall, the plotline was mostly predictable between the pair. Their main trope was right people, wrong timing, though, I do feel like there was some room to explore this a little more instead of getting hung up on other parts of the storyline. I really liked Easton, and I loved that Shay was chubbier than the other women in this series. However, with god-like brothers who all seemed to be born with abs, I can understand why Shay had such a body image complex. I liked that the author attempted to address this, but I felt she let Shay down with the quick sidenote to her eating disorder. I also liked that Easton had panic attacks, and mental health was talked about in this book. Again, I wish there had been more focus on it, but it is a shorter book, so it makes sense it wasn’t at the forefront. Their connection was believable, and yet I found Shay pushing Easton away and the reasoning behind their stilted communication before he came home to be a little too hyped up? She had valid reasons, but it didn’t hold true enough to me when the guy was literally the love of her life. I dunno, I’m probably being nitpicky. And whilst I was rolling my eyes at the other books when the guys started professing their need to be forever, in this one, when Easton was telling Shay why he loved her, gosh, I really got behind that. I was so happy they got together, and I almost gave this 4 stars because of it. Again, the ending was sweet, and everything wrapped up neatly, with a proposal just around the corner. Thank god, it wasn’t written into this as I would have screamed if it had 3 books ending in the same way, haha.

Review: If It's Only Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #6)

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