Guest Review: It Must Be Love by Rachel Gibson

Ana T.’s review of It Must Be Love by Rachel Gibson.

When Holly first invited me to do a book review for the Book Binge I was a bit worried if I would be up to the challenge. But I said yes (I can’t resist a challenge) and so here we are.

The book I chose to read was Rachel Gibson‘s It Must Be Love. I have enjoyed Gibson’s books in the past (some more than others) and I was curious about this one.

Undercover cop Joe Shanahan’s bad luck hit bottom the morning he stared up into the face of sexy suspect Gabrielle Breedlove. She’d blown his cover—brought him down with a can of hairspray—and now his new assignment was to pose as her boyfriend. But spending as much time as possible with the utterly irresistible New Age beauty caused unexpected complications. To make matters worse, his matchmaking sisters are picking out china patterns.

Joe’s brooding good looks and T-shirt-straining muscles might be easy on the eyes, but how could Gabrielle be attracted to a straight-laced detective who’s determined to find evidence to arrest her? Still, he invades her dreams and when they share a transcendent lovemaking experience, Gabrielle knows it must be love.

I think Gibson’s greatest asset are her characters and how she makes us interested in what they have to tell even when they are not particularly nice and sympathetic. Joe Shanahan is a cop! He is involved in a stolen antiques investigation and one of the suspects is Gabrielle Breedlove. In his personal life he is reaching that age when one starts to think of settling down and having kids and so he is looking for the woman for him. While out following Gabrielle he is not as discreet as he thought and she attacks him believing him to be a stalker. She ends up in jail where she is informed of the charges she may face and led to let Joe pose as her boyfriend so he can keep an eye on her partner – the biggest suspect they have.

Gabrielle comes from an illustrious rich family fallen on hard times. It’s also a family know for its eccentric personalities and different interests. Gabrielle’s mother for instance can “see” the future. She reads auras and believes in karmas. Other than her antique business she makes essential oils that she sells at fairs and loves to meditate.

Gabrielle and Joe couldn’t be more different and he has a hard time understanding that she is not just some crazy woman. Everything changes though when impersonating their boyfriend/girlfriend personalities they find themselves in each others arms and discover a deep attraction for one another. She helps the police in the investigation because they threaten to charge her if she doesn’t but she believes her partner to be innocent. Joe on the other hand is totally convinced the man is guilty and even gets them invited to a party at the suspect’s house to find more evidence.

Their attraction grows the more time they spend with one another and eventually they give in to it and make love. However Joe is called to action immediately afterwards (to arrest Gabrielle’s partner) and when he comes back he is not ready to deal with his feelings and rejects Gabrielle’s declaration of love. His rational mind makes him think it may be only a physical attraction as she is too far from his ideal of a wife. Gabrielle is naturally shocked with his rejection and the betrayal of her partner who used their business as a cover for his is criminal activities.

I really liked the premise of the story and even how it was played out with the attraction slowly making them grow closer but I wish Joe had been more centered on Gabrielle and his feelings. Despite being attracted to her he kept thinking she was a bit of a nut case and so not dating material. This lead him to plan other dates with a girl he thought might make a good wife. (This part actually reminded me of SEP’s IHTBY). I would have no problem with this if he wasn’t involved with Gabrielle at the same time, as it was it seemed a bit like cheating. We could see Gabrielle falling in love with Joe but his feelings were not so obvious and I would have liked to spend more time analysing his feelings.

Joe does eventually come to his senses regarding his feelings for Gabrielle but I think we needed some strong confrontation before she accepted him back. Or maybe some meaningful act on his part to convince her. It seemed to me they solved it too easily…

It was however a funny read!

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here.

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