Rachel Gibson
Not Another Bad Date (2008)
Author: Rachel Gibson
Genre: Romance (Contemporary)
Plot Summary:
Adele Harris, a 35-year-old single science fiction and fantasy writer, moves back to her home town, Cedar Creek, TX, to care for her sister, Sherilyn, and her neice, Kendra, while Sherilyn struggles with the final months of her pregnancy. Adele has had a string of bad dates and has just about given up on love, choosing to believe that she suffers from a curse, that is until she runs into her ex, Zach Zemaitis. During college Adele and Zach were lovers until Adele's arch nemesis, Devon Hamilton, trapped Zach with an unexpected pregnancy. Adele left town for Idaho and never looked back. Years later, Zach is a retired pro football player and single father (Devon passed away) and finds himself just as attracted to Adele as he was in college. The only problem is that Adele plans on moving back to Idaho once Sherilyn gives birth. SPOILER: Adele finds herself pregnant, with twins!
Geographical Setting: Cedar Creek, TX
Time Period: 2008
Series: Sex, Lies and Online Dating series, book 4
Appeal Characteristics:
This is a fast paced page-turner that features a lot of dialogue, short sentences, two plotlines (one set on Earth, the other set in the afterlife) and multiple viewpoints in which readers are invited into Adele, Zach, and Devon's minds. Characterization is by far the most important aspect of this book. Adele and Zach are relatable and likable and the cast of secondary characters have important storylines in addition to Adele and Zach'z love affair. The storyline is light and often humorous and can best be described as brutally hot in terms of the romantic attraction between the two romantic leads. The backdrop of the book, the great state of Texas, plays a big role. Much attention and detail is given to Zach's time spent playing and coaching football and the long-standing relationship Texans have with the great American pastime. Additionally, Zach's southern accent helps support a warm and relaxed atmosphere and southern socialization via groups like the Junior League are highlighted. Devon's storyline focuses on her preoccupation with high fashion, which further adds to the light and humorous tone of the book. Gibson has a conversational writing style which makes her books very readable, even for those who wouldn't normally count themselves as fans of romance.
Read-alikes: For fans of Gibson's humor interspersed with steamy love scenes set against a richly-described background, try Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan. Animal behaviorist, Emma Jenkins, teams up with undercover investigator, Thomas Tobin, to track down a murderer in rural Maryland with comic and steamy results. For another steamy, humorous relationship featuring a former NFL player check out Sweet Spot by Susan Mallery. This second book in Mallery's trilogy chronicling the lives of the Marcelli sisters focuses on Nicole, the responsible sister that steps up to run the family bakery and look after her youngest sister, and who is none too willing to enter into another relationship after she discovers her husband in bed with her youngest sister. For yet another hot, humorous romance starring a sports star look no further than Hot Property by Carly Phillips. After a World Series disaster, major league center fielder John Roper is in need of a publicist to help him get his life back on track. Enter Amy Stone who must battle Roper's nutty family and crazy stalker and who firmly insists that her relationship with Roper stay strictly professional. For a humorous love story that highlights the reunion between the main romantic leads try Hot Date by Amy Garvey. Recently divorced, Grace Lamb returns to her home town and literally crashes into her first love turned police officer, Nick Griffin. Of their various scrapes the couple find themselves in trouble with the mob over the sale of vintage sex toys. For over the top laugh-out-loud humor and a triple caliente story get your hands on Jennifer Crusie's Welcome to Temptation. Sophie Dempsey films weddings for a living until an assignment brings her to Temptation, OH where her video ends up causing an uproar and she falls for mayor Phineas Tucker. Sophie and Phin find themselves facing gossip, blackmail, adultery, murder and really excellent sex before the story ends.
Red Flags: Swearing, graphic descriptions of sex
See Jane Score (2003)
Author: Rachel Gibson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Plot Summary:
Jane Alcott a thirty year old woman with no love life and no fashion sense by day writes the Single Girl in the City column for the Seattle Times and by night writes the smutty Life of Honey Pie serial for HIM magazine. That is until one day she is asked by the sports editor to fill in for the writer covering the Seattle Chinooks hockey team. Now plain Jane spends most of her time traveling with a bunch of testosterone filled men who won't give her any respect. Luc Martineau hates reporters, especially this new one who seems to nothing about hockey and dresses like an undertaker. He doesn't need her hanging around him asking for interviews and getting in his way. But once Jane sheds her black pants for a skimpy red dress, Luc starts seeing Jane in a whole new light.
Geographical Setting: Seattle
Time Period: present day
Series: none
Appeal Characteristics: The tone of the book is quite light and humorous. There is a lot of sarcastic and bawdy humor. The main characters are well developed and very likeable. The fact that the female lead is not a buxom blonde and yet she still managed to "tame" a womanizing man is an appeal characteristic for many women. Jane, the main character is also very opinionated and career driven; not meek and mild like other female romance characters.Another appeal is that the two main characters try to fight falling in love with each other, they don't even like each other at first, but they end up madly in love.
Read-alikes: Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Star Series are love stories involving Chicago football players,and have the same mix of strong female characters and "bad boy" male characters. Her books also have a humorous tone. Deirdre Martin's Body Check also involves a strong, career-driven woman getting involved with a hockey star with a bad reputation. Kim Cates' The Wishing Tree isn't as light hearted as the other books, but has a strong female lead and a male lead character who is a misunderstood athlete. Jake Page's Demon State involves a love story between a strong female character and not a sports player, but a coach. This book also uses humour. Jenifer Crusie's Bet me has no sports at all but does involve a strong, sassy, not typically beautiful main female character who dislikes the male lead at first but grows to love him. The book alse uses a lot of humour.
Red Flags: There are one or two graphic sex scenes, and a lot of sexual talk.
Tangled Up in You (2007)
Author: Rachel Gibson
Genre: Romance (Contemporary/Romantic Suspense)
Plot Summary:
Maddie Jones was only five years old when her young, single mother was murdered in a bar in Truly, Idaho, along with the man she had been seeing, Loch Hennessy. The killer was Loch's jealous wife, and she committed suicide immediately after commiting the crime, leaving behind two young children named Meg and Mick. Nearly thirty years later, Maddie is a famous true crime author writing under the pen name Maddie Dupree, and she returns to Truly to write the very personal story of this double murder and suicide. She tiptoes into town with the intention of revealing her identity and purpose at the right moment. But over the course of her preliminary investigations into the circumstances of the crime, she meets and unexpectedly falls in love with the orphaned son of her mother's murderer--tall, dark, and handsome Mick Hennessy. Maddie puts off telling him her whole story because Mick apparently holds a lot of resentment for Maddie's mother's role in the tragedy that happened so many years ago. Mick and Maddie enjoy a passionate courtship, though all along Maddie wonders what will happen to their relationship when her secrets are revealed. SPOILER: Maddie finally tells Mick that she is the daughter of the woman who drove his mother to murder, and he feels disgusted and leaves her. The two remain apart for several weeks, while Mick dates other women and Maddie completes the book manuscript she moved to Truly to write. In a dramatic scene, Maddie drops by Mick's office and leaves her only copy of the manuscript on his desk to show her devotion to him. If he wants to read it, he is welcome; if he wants to throw it in the garbage, he is welcome to do that, too. Mick reads the manuscript overnight and realizes Maddie's intentions are pure and that she has written a fair and moving account of the tragedy. In the final scene, Mick and Maddie reunite as the happy couple whose lives were destined from childhood to be intertwined. Nominated for the Romance Writers of America's 2007 RITA award for contemporary romance, Tangled Up in You has all the appeal of a classic romance, but with an edgy, contemporary twist.
Geographical Setting: The fictional town of Truly, Idaho
Time Period: Contemporary with 2007 publication
Series: "Female Writers" series, book 3
Appeal Characteristics:
One of the most appealing elements of Tangled Up in You is its compelling pace. The suspenseful plot drives the reader to continue reading, wondering when the time will come for Maddie to reveal her identity to Mick, and how that will affect their feelings for one another. Although the crime was solved thirty years ago, its impact on Maddie's and Mick's lives is evident today and affects how they relate to each other in way that keeps the reader turning the pages to find out more. Gibson's novel is character centered in that the characters' thoughts and actions drive the story. Gibson describes their physical appearance and mannerisms in elaborate detail so that readers can actually visualize them quite clearly. The book's third-person narrative offers glimpses into the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Their inner monologues often run parallel to the dialogue, with the result that readers can see the contrast between what the characters think and what they actually say. Gibson develops a strong female character in Maddie--but she has a vulnerability about her, to which the reader enjoys being privvy. The novel's tone is quite racy (identified as "hot" on the sensuality scale). Sex scenes are explicit and occur approximately every other chapter, and characters use foul language in otherwise casual speech. Also contributing to the tone are the narrative voice and the voices of the characters, which are very witty. The snappy dialogue lends a sarcastic and smartly humorous tone to the book. Tangled Up in You is framed in an idyllic setting--the small valley town of Truly, Idaho. But there is a downfall to the town's quaintness: Everyone knows each other's business, and nobody forgets anything (including the sordid murder that involved Maddie's and Mick's families, so many years ago). The peaceful description of present-day life in Truly is contrasted with the gritty subplot of the murder and its effects on the families; the juxtaposition shows that there is a dark side to a seemingly innocent setting. Gibson employs a dramatic writing style. It contains elaborate, drawn-out descriptions of everyday acts (for example, opening a bottle of soda or taking off clothes to enter a bath tub) as well as explicit descriptions of sexual acts. Gibson's vivid style brings the town and characters to life before the readers' eyes.
Read-alikes: Table for Five, by Susan Wiggs, is a romance novel about a man and a woman (initially strangers to each other) who have been designated legal guardians for the children of a couple who die in a car accident. It was nominated for the same award that Tangled Up in You was nominated for, but a year later. The humorous tone, well-drawn characters, and the tragic circumstances in which the story takes place make it an appropriate readalike for Tangled Up in You. What I Did for Love, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, is about an actress whose marriage and career have gone south. But then a bad-boy former costar reappears in the protagonist's life, and sparks fly. The novel is described as having snappy dialogue, a humorous tone, and irresistible characters, and it would appeal to readers who liked these elements of Gibson's book. Sex, Lies, and Online Dating, the first book in Gibson's "Female Writers" series, tells the story about a mystery writer who crosses paths with am undercover detective when, over the course of their separate investigations into serial murders, he mistakes her for the killer, and then they unexpectedly fall in love. The female protagonist in this story is a secondary character in Gibson's Tangled Up in You. Readers who enjoy strong female characters, a sexy tone, and a dark subplot will enjoy this first installment in Gibson's page-turning series. Amy Garvey's novel Hot Date is the story of a divorced woman who returns to Pennsylvania to start a business, only to run in to (and fall for) a childhood friend who has grown up to be quite the sexy cop. The small-town setting, humorous tone, and compelling pace of this novel will appeal to readers who liked these aspects of Tangled Up in You. Jennifer Crusie's popular novel Bet Me is the story of a thirty-something woman who is dumped by her boyfriend for not "putting out." She overhears her ex-boyfriend betting a handsome stranger that he can't get her in bed within a month. Bet Me a classic tale of opposites attracting. Like Gibson's novel, it's a contemporary story that's fast-paced and laugh-out-loud funny, and it will impress readers who are looking for a smartly written romantic comedy with a strong, career-driven female lead and a hunky male counterpart.
Red Flags: Foul language, gritty descriptions of murder, and sexually explicit scenes.
|top|
|
