Tag: Lovett Texas

Throwback Thursday Review: Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson.

Posted October 25, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 8 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson.Reviewer: Rowena
Rescue Me by Rachel Gibson
Series: Lovett Texas #3
Also in this series: Daisy's Back In Town, Crazy On You (Lovett Texas, #2)
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: May 29, 2012
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

She’s 33, unmarried, and stuffed into a Bubble Yum pink bridesmaid dress. And the whole town wants to fix her up with anyone with a dental plan...

Who’s going to rescue Sadie Hollowell now? Everyone in Lovett, Texas knows Sadie has always been a ‘notional’ kind of gal. She got a notion to leave town ASAP and never visit her daddy (bless his heart). Now, she’s back and got the notion to invite a good-looking, hard-muscled, total stranger to her cousin’s wedding. Better a stranger than some of the losers she’s dated.

Vince Haven got his muscles the hard way -- as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. He’s staying in Lovett to visit his crazy aunt -- the proprietor of the local Gas N Go. Before he can get the heck back out of the small town, his aunt makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Maybe he’ll stick around Lovett for a while. Maybe he’ll make a ‘go’ of the Gas N Go. Maybe he’ll rescue Sadie out of that pink dress!

Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy!

This review was originally posted on May 30, 2012.

This book features a hero that if you read Any Man of Mine will remember. Autumn’s brother, Vince is the star of this show. If you’ll remember back to AMoM, Vince was Autumn’s brother that was a Navy SEAL who came back to help her take care of her young son, Connor. In this book, Vince goes to the Lone Star state to see what his Aunt wants and to get away for a little bit. He’s not a fan of Autumn’s fiance Sam and he’s not looking forward to the wedding. He’s in Texas, a long way from Seattle and before he knows what’s what, he’s bought his Aunts Gas and Go mart and he’s in the process of fixing it up.

On his way into town, he runs into a bit of car trouble and finds himself stranded, until a cute blonde comes to save the day. Her name is Sadie and her being back in town is sure to cause some talk.

Seeing Vince in action and getting into his head in this book was a treat for me since I became a fan of his in his sister’s book, Any Man of Mine. I was looking forward to getting to know him and I loved him, just like I knew I would. He was such a man’s man and I ate his character up. Him and Becca’s relationship had me cracking up. What he thought, what Becca thought, what they really thought of each other and then Sadie’s reaction to it all? Was the exact same reaction I had.

It was also good to see him to come to terms with Autumn’s relationship with Sam. It was nice to see that played out in this book as well because I felt like it was brought up in AMoM and then just dropped. I loved the little pieces of Autumn, Sam and Connor in this book.

Rachel Gibson does a great job of writing a humorous contemporary romance with just enough steam to keep you turning the pages and not need to take a shower. I’m a total fan of the way she writes her stories, the way that she fleshes out her characters and still keep us laughing the whole way through. She created a new world for us in this book and I can’t wait for more. I’m mighty curious to see who’s next to get their story from this town in Texas. I love stories set in Texas because the people from around there are so colorful and just too funny.

I’m glad that I read this book, I enjoyed the romance between Vince and Sadie, I enjoyed getting to know the people from Sadie’s past and I’m glad that she was able to make friends in a place where she didn’t have very many friends. I even enjoyed getting to know Sadie’s Dad. It was all wrapped up nicely in an entertaining story and I will definitely be back for more.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5.

Lovett, Texas

four-half-stars


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#DFRAT Review: Crazy on You by Rachel Gibson

Posted June 10, 2012 by Holly in Reviews | 3 Comments

#DFRAT Review: Crazy on You by Rachel GibsonReviewer: Holly
Crazy On You (Lovett Texas, #2) by Rachel Gibson
Series: Lovett Texas #2
Also in this series: Daisy's Back In Town, Rescue Me
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon Impulse
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 128
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
two-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Return to Lovett, Texas, the setting of Daisy's Back in Town, in this smart and sexy new story from Rachel Gibson, the New York Times bestselling author of Rescue Me and the Seattle Chinooks books.

Lily Darlington's been called crazy in her day-and, yeah, driving her car into her ex-husband's living room probably wasn't the smartest move ever made-but the louse deserved it. Now Lily is happily single, and she's turned it all around. She knows she's a good mom, a homeowner, and a businesswoman, all wrapped up in one good-looking package.

A package that police officer Tucker Matthews is dying to unwrap. This ex-military man sure doesn't need another woman in his life. His last girlfriend left him with nothing but memories and a cat named Pinky! But living next door to Lily has been driving him nuts. He dreams about her long blonde hair and even longer legs. And maybe it's time to go a little crazy . . . and fall in love.

This was just ok. The short page count didn’t allow much for character or relationship development. While Lily was fairly well fleshed out (maybe because she was introduced in Daisy’s Back in Town, a book I recently re-read), we didn’t learn enough about Tucker. That he went from “hmm, Lily might be crazy but she’s hot” to “I want everything with you” after one conversation didn’t make sense. I mean, literally one conversation. He goes over to talk to her about playing basketball with her son, thinks she’s hot, goes to work and hears a bunch of rumors about how crazy she is, then knocks on her door and says “I want everything with you”? Uh, no.

I did laugh a couple times and I thought it was sweet how both Tucker and Lily dealt with Pippen. If there hadn’t been a declaration of love 5 days in, I think I’d have enjoyed it more.

2.5 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here in e-format.

two-half-stars


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Author Spotlight Review: Daisy’s Back in Town by Rachel Gibson

Posted October 19, 2010 by Holly in Features, Reviews | 8 Comments

Author Spotlight Review: Daisy’s Back in Town by Rachel GibsonReviewer: Holly
Daisy's Back In Town by Rachel Gibson
Series: Lovett Texas #1
Also in this series: Crazy On You (Lovett Texas, #2), Rescue Me
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: January 1, 2004
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 390
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
five-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Daisy Lee Monroe thought she'd brushed the dust of Lovett, Texas, off her high-heeled shoes years ago, but she's come back home only to find that little has changed. Her sister is still crazy, and her mom still has pink plastic flamingos in her front yard. And Jackson Lamott Parrish, the bad boy she'd left behind, is still so sexy it hurts. She'd like nothing better than to avoid this particular man, but she can't. Daisy has something to say to Jackson, and she's not going anywhere until he listens.

Jackson learned his lesson about Daisy the hard way, and now the only word he's interested in hearing from Daisy's red lips is good-bye. But she's popping up everywhere, and he doesn't believe in coincidence. It seems the only way to keep her quiet is with his mouth, but kissing Daisy had once been his downfall. Is he strong enough to resist her now? Strong enough to watch her walk out of his life again? Is he strong enough to make her stay?

This is a hard novel to read at times. The secret baby plot is a lot harder to swallow here, because the baby in question isn’t really a baby – he’s 15. For me, it’s easy to forgive and forget when the heroine doesn’t tell the hero right away about a baby, but only if it’s cleared up early on. It’s a lot harder to justify after 15 years of silence.

I remember having an argument with a friend about Daisy’s actions several years ago. She couldn’t accept that Daisy had kept her son a secret for so long. I, on the other hand, understood Daisy’s reasons for not telling him in the beginning. I also understood how the longer she went without telling, the easier it was not to. I can’t say I agree with it or condone it, but I understand.

Daisy, Jack and Steven were the best of friends growing up. From 4th grade all the way through high school the three were inseparable. Although Daisy didn’t know it, both Jack and Steven were madly in love with her. For the sake of their friendship, they agreed neither would have her. Until Daisy turned 17 and fell in love with Jack, that is. Try as he might, he couldn’t resist her.

Their relationship was like a crazy roller coaster with high-highs and low-lows. Daisy would freak out and get jealous over nothing, then cling like crazy. Jack would push her away, then devour her. They continued on this way until Jack’s parents died. The months leading up to that Daisy was even worse than usual, clingy and insecure, and Jack kept pushing her away. What he didn’t know what that Daisy was pregnant. So when his parents died and he told her he needed to take a break from her, he wasn’t doing it to be mean, he just needed some space.

But in Daisy’s scared, pregnant 17yo mind, that meant he didn’t love her. So she did what she always did when she and Jack had a falling out – she ran and cried on Steven’s shoulder. Steven, being the upstanding best friend that he was, convinced Daisy she should marry him and let him take care of her baby. So she did.

On the night of Jack’s parent’s funeral, Daisy and Steven confronted him to tell him they’d gotten married – leaving out the part about the baby.

15 years go by. Steven dies and Daisy realizes she must tell Jack the truth about their son. She goes back to Lovett, TX (her hometown, where Jack still lives) to tell Jack the news, leaving Nathan (her son) behind in Seattle. All along Daisy always thought she did the right thing by not telling Jack, something Steven always fed into. But once she’s back she realizes she made a mistake – that she robbed both Jack and Nathan of a relationship.

I think one of the reasons this works for me is that Daisy realizes she made a mistake and tries her best to make it right. She doesn’t let Jack run all over her, but she understands his anger.

Jack is one of those over-the-top alphas who oozes sexual menace. While that can be off-putting in a lot of ways, it really worked here. I can’t exactly say why it worked, but it did. His anger at Daisy is completely and totally justified, as is his anger at Steven. When he realizes the enormity of their betrayal..well, my heart broke for him. Not only did he lose the woman he loved and his son, but he lost his best friends as well.

Watching Daisy and Jack move forward with their lives and come back together was really hard at times. I wanted them to work things out, but I wasn’t sure how Jack could let go of his anger. I worried that the resolution would come too easily, or that the true conflict would be brushed aside. But that wasn’t the case. Gibson did a credible job of showing us how that anger can eat at a person.

I was also impressed with the way Jack and Nathan’s relationship progressed. Although Jack knew nothing about Nathan, Nathan has known his whole life that Steven wasn’t his real father. That made it easier for him to accept Jack, but he was angry at his mother for not preparing Jack ahead of time and also standoff-ish with Jack because of his anger. Even so, they interacted really well. Nathan was glad to have a man to talk to, and Jack was glad to be able to act like a real dad.

“I know about safe sex,” Nathan said, interrupting Jack’s thoughts.
Jack swallowed. “That’s good.” He smiled at his son, vastly relieved that there would be no hard questions about his own sex life.
“What I want to know is…” Nathan stole a quick look back at the tent. “Where is the clitoris exactly?”
Jack’s smile fell and he opened his mouth. No words came out so he closed it.
Nathan had no problem forming his words, though. “And what the heck is a G-spot?”

Although the overall tone of this novel is serious, there is quite a bit of humor laced throughout.

“Mom,” Nathan called to her.
Daisy pulled her gaze from the tent and the fleeting glimpse of Jack’s bare back, the smooth planes and indent of his spine, the sliver of the white elastic just above the blue waistband of his jeans…”Hmm?”
“What’s a faaar ant?” he asked just above a whisper.
“Fire.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Fire ant. They have a nasty bite that burns.”
Nathan smiled. “Well, why didn’t he just say fire?”
“He thinks he did.”

The secondary characters really round out the story. Not only was I wrapped up in Daisy, Jack and Nathan, but also in Daisy’s mother and sister, Jack’s brother and all the other residents of Lovett. Daisy’s sister, Lily, and her man-hating troubles really added the perfect touch of small-town-Texas-Crazy to the story.

“I’m going to concentrate on getting better and raising Pippen. I’m over feeling bad about Ronnie. I don’t need a man in my life to make me feel important.”
“That’s true.” Lily really did sound as if she were on the road to complete mental health.
“Why should I base my self-worth on a man who counts his hard-ons as personal growth?”
Daisy laughed. “You shouldn’t.”
Lily pulled off a piece of tape holding a cotton ball to the side of her elbow. “Men are the scum of the earth and should be killed.”
Well, maybe not complete mental health.

Steven and his actions were really the only thing that marred my enjoyment of this novel. Gibson tries to make him an sympathetic character because of the way he died, but I had a really hard time feeling sorry for him. Although Jack and Daisy were sneaking around behind his back in high school, his betrayal was 50x worse. He deliberately stole Daisy and her child away from Jack, then continued to push Daisy toward not telling Jack the truth. Not that I’m saying Daisy was blameless, but I really felt like Steven was the villain of the piece. I was glad to see Jack get over his anger in the end, but I don’t know if I would have been able to. Steven’s betrayal was too big.

Although parts of this novel are tough to get through, it’s well worth reading. The individual struggles and hardships of the characters just make them that much more rounded and believable.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Lovett, Texas

five-stars


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