published by Avon (Harpercollins Publisher) in May 2012
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!Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Lovett, Texas series, Book #3/also connected to Any Man of Mine
What do you need to know? Sadie was a late in life baby and even at a young age, never seemed to meet her parents' expectations: she wasn't a boy, but she wasn't a girly, princessy girl to win beauty pageant either. Then, her mother died and Sadie spent the rest of her childhood and adolescence trying to please her father and gain his approval and love... So when Sadie left for college, she decided to live her life and only came back from time to time for short visits.
This time around, she's back in Lovett for her younger cousin's wedding... as a bridesmaid. Sadie is dreading the occasion because she's 33 and unmarried and that's bound to arise questions. So when she gives a ride in town to Vince Haven, ex Navy SEAL, whose truck stalled close to Sadie's family ranch, she asks him on impulse to be her date for the wedding.
Vince is in Lovett to meet his aunt who has a business proposition for him. He's not a man for entanglement and prefers his women to be ones looking for sex only and no commitments. At first, he turns down Sadie... but in the end, shows up at the wedding because he hates owning people... and when Sadie tells him she's looking for sex to release stress, she's found her man.
Why this book? You know when buying books from an author becomes a habit? Well that's what is is with Ms Gibson for me... and this time around, I was determined to break the habit, but there was a promotion "Buy 3, get the 4th free" and I was missing a book... and it did get positive reviews...
My thoughts? Do you ever wonder why you keep buying books from an author whose books have not wowed you? Well that's the situation I am in with Ms Gibson. I'm looking at my bookshelves and the spot with Ms Gibson books... She's a very popular author and well-loved for her contemporary romance and I remember actively looking for her backlist and new releases... but I'm taking a look at my reviews and really, her books have not impressed. I guess the reasons I keep buying her books is that she's very consistent and you know what you get when you buy her books. And Rescue Me is no exception.
Overall, I thought Rescue Me was very readable and I did enjoy it more than her last couple of releases. Sadie and Vince were likable characters and had a lot of potential but that's pretty much what this book has going for itself ^_^; The biggest issue with Rescue Me is that it lacked development, from the characters to the relationship. This is unfortunate because I thought Sadie and Vince were given interesting background stories and there were conflicts to be worked out. Instead, everything was so abrupt - Sadie's father's death and Vince suffering from PTSD. Vince having PTSD is not a surprise, but it was completely brushed aside... and him just admitting it at the end was not a way to resolve it.
Basically, I found that Rescue Me was just the usual Rachel Gibson book. You had two characters that were attracted to each other, knew they didn't want a relationship and had sex with each other only to find out there was more. Ms Gibson tried to pretty it up, giving Sadie and Vince good background stories, but never dwell deeper than the surface. Ditto for the relationship. As a result, it feels like a lot of what happens in Rescue Me is just filler. The good news is that through those filler events, Sadie and Vince did get to know each other and became more than friends... but love? I'm not sure I buy it because I never saw real chemistry between our H/H. Still, the overall feel of Rescue Me was better and I'm glad that Ms Gibson moved away from her hockey series.
My Grade? C++. As I said, I enjoyed Rescue Me more than Ms Gibson's last couple of releases, but at the end of the day, it didn't stand out that much ^_^;
