After only having experienced Kleypas's historical novels, her contemporaries don't seem to be to my taste. I feel like there is something missing.

I read Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor first, and only read the second one out of curiosity after getting sucked in by the excerpt of this second book.

Personally, I was apprehensive. The excerpt shows how Alice, the heroine's sister, becomes very ill. Upon her recovery, the parents treat her like a fragile china doll. You can see how this will cause problems as they grow to adulthood.
Family issues are hard enough to deal with in real life. In books there seems to be a bit of...unreality about the issues and how the main characters deal with them.

What I'm attempting to say about this book is that I enjoyed it. I want to say I liked it better than the first. The romance is very good nand Ihave no issues with that. The ending, which I won't spoil, was very nicely done and I was quite pleased.

However, the heroine, Lucy's, issues with her family seemed to me unsatisfactorily resolved. If they were at all and I just missed it. Or perhaps Kleypas plans to make it a process, with progress being taken by revealing them in the last book.

Lastly, I want to also agree with another review I saw for this book. Someone referred to this as "chik lit" and after reading that, I nodded my head. Thats how I've thought of the Friday Harbor series. It's romance, certain enough, but the way these couples seem to go through their relationships feels like chik lit. Friends with benefits, no strings attached, etc.

Ultimately, a good book, as already said. I would certainly recommend (thus far) the series to others. Although I would mention they're not what I would consider traditional romances as long-time readers have come to know them.