Curses!

As promised, this joins the previous post, the one re: the crash & trash letter  that appeared in August's RT Book Reviews.  The author of that letter is from Texas, which just so happens to be the setting for Rachel Gibson's Not Another Bad Date.

In Texas, they do things big. They love "God, family, and football." By football I mean American Gridiron, and by big I mean big football players, big hair, big blue eyes and dates with big jerks. 

When it comes to men, Adele Harris thinks she cursed.  Every man she's dated has turned into a gigantic jerk, and the first man she ever loved, was the big jerk who started it all.  After her pregnant sister's marriage falls apart, Adele returns to the Texas  town where she grew up--and runs into Zach, the big former football player-turned football coaching big jerk who broke her heart 14 years earlier. 

All those years ago, Zach dumped Adele to marry Devon. He's a widowed dad to a teenage girl now,  but he's never forgotten about Adele's big blue eyes or big curly hair, or their lovemaking in a big bed . Once he sees her again, he can't stop thinking about her. Adel can't get her mind off Zach either, but can he redeem himself? Can he prove he's not a big jerk? Will he win Adele back in a big ol' Texas way or will he just stay the first jerkface carved into her bad date totem pole?

Ok. I'll be frank. I was looking for a big read and I didn't get it. I was as disappointed as Adele when she went on a date with Joe, the assistant coach/jerk who gets one of the funniest lines in the story.  I set MYSELF up for disappointment because I expected big things from one of my favourite authors.

Not Another Bad Date opens well. If you're familiar with Rachel Gibson, she's got a knack for drawing you in right away, and I got sucked in in an instant. There's Rachel's trademark steamy sex, sense of humour, and quirky characters like Zach's dead wife, Devon. Unfortunately, for me, the story becomes a vortex of backstory and flashbacks. There's far too much history and not enough here and now, not enough interaction between Adele and Zach. There's so little dialgoue, so few conversations between them I didn't believe he could redeem himself just by sleeping with her. I didn't believe she'd forgive him or want him back just because he was so good in bed he made her forget how he'd wronged her. Plus, there's a silly plot device used and it irritated me. However,  it's a pet peeve of mine that's in the same please spare me basket as a heroine with a ticking biological clock. I don't want to spoil what happens or give anything away. I'll just say, the book seemed rushed, as if I were reading Rachel's quick first draft, not something fully fleshed-out as per her usual wonderful offerings.

This book is part of a series that includes Sex, Lies, and Online Dating, I'm in No Mood For Love, and Tangled up In You.  For me, its weakest of the bunch, and although I didn't enjoy much of it, I'd still place it on my shelf, right along side Lola Carlyle Reveals All. 

3 stars.

Sandra