Book Review: I'm In No Mood For Love

Rachel Gibson is one of those authors I just refuse to give up on. You know, the kind whose first few books you read were really good and so you started reading all her books and buying them as soon as they came out? But then they start writing some not-so-good books but you keep buying them anyway? Hoping for a change? Julie Garwood is that way for me, too. I just have the hardest time accepting that the woman who wrote Ransom, The Wedding, The Gift, and The Secret is really as crappy with contemporaries as Murder List and Slow Burn seem to indicate.

Part of my affection for Rachel comes from the fact that she's from my hometown and often writes stories set there or at least in my state. We neighbors need to stick together. And really, I loved Simply irresistible and See Jane Score, although those are two of her books that DON'T take place in my town. Hmm...

But lately I have been quite dissolutioned with her writing. The heroine in Daisy's Back In Town irritated me. The romance in The Trouble With Valentine's Day just lacked zing and credibility. And don't even get me started on why the hero's attraction to the heroine in Sex, Lies, and On-line Dating was beyond unbelievable. So I have to admit that there was some serious hesitation before I put I'm In No Mood For Love in my Wal-Mart basket. But I'm hopeful.

And she came through! I'm In No Mood For Love is a fairly uncomplicated, simple story about a woman who keeps falling for the wrong kind of man and knows it. She even knows it when she meets the hero and is refreshingly honest with herself. And I could respect her because she wasn't stupid and she stood up for herself. Bravo, Ms. Gibson. That's not as common as you might think in romance novels these days. And I was so glad to see that she didn't throw in some silly mystery plotline like she did in Sex, Lies, and On-line Dating. I know what she was trying to do in that earlier book, but I like this result much better. The hero was very likeable, too. I would have had the hots for him just like the heroine did.

I do have one little bone to pick with Ms. Gibson, though, because it appears she is horribly, horribly directionally challenged. Homedale is west of Boise, honey, west. That means if you're looking at a map, it should be to the lef- well, here, just look.


Does this help? I hope so. Also, one doesn't travel north (or south) on I-84, because technically it runs east and west. As a general rule, all evenly numbered interstates do. I like it when you give us Boise tidbits, but you got to make sure you get them right or you lose credibility.

Lindsey's Grade: B+