Tangled Up In You

Rachel's back!

Even on her off days, Rachel Gibson's books are better than most. But there have been some "less good" than others. I was so excited when I got into this one and it reminded me of some of her earlier books, like my all-time favorite, Truly Madly Yours. The lovers from that story even make cameo appearances in this one. That's actually one of my favorite Rachel Gibson trademarks. I love the way she links the characters and places from book to book. In Tangled Up In You, she makes references to half the women in town having good hair and the other half having over-processed, badly-styled hair. That is an inside joke from Truly Madly Yours. This book is about Maddie, the third female writer in a four-part series. First we had Lucy's story, then Clare's, and next will be Adele's. But this one seemed different from the last two in that it went back to the small town of Truly and the male hero was more rough-edged. Even though Maddie now lives in Boise and is a famous, successful writer, she goes back to the town where she briefly lived with her mother before her tragic death. In the first two books of the author series, Gibson joked about Maddie being the tough as nails writer who carries weapons in her purse. She doesn't contradict that in this story, but now we get to see why Maddie is as tough as she is. She experienced tragedy at the tender age of five and didn't grow up in a warm fuzzy environment. I found Maddie very likable and real. The way she ends up breaking down and taking in a kitten is hilarious. In true Gibson style, bar owner Mick Hennessey is a semi-reformed bad boy. Luckily he's only semi-reformed, because we all want a touch of bad boy in our heroes. Mick grew up with the whole town knowing his tragic family history, so he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. When he was six, Mick's father had an affair with a waitress at his bar, and his mother shot them both dead in the bar. This would seemingly make it impossible for Mick and Maddie to ever be ...