Reader response to The Trouble with Valentine’s Day seems to be varied. I was never a big fan of Rachel Gibson’s books because her heroes were complete jerks to me. I’m just not a fan of the alpha male. Dominating men annoy me. Here is the back blurb:
Kate Hamilton should know. Dumped by her boyfriend, stressed out by her job, she’s returned to Gospel, Idaho, for some rest and small-town fun. But when her first attempted seduction of a hunky stranger is completely rejected, she wonders what else could go wrong? Well, for starters, she quickly realizes that the Mountain Momma Crafters’ original poetry readings is about as good as it gets on a Friday night. Then she comes face-to-face with Rob Sutter, former ice hockey madman, owner of Sutter Sports — and the hunky stranger who told her to get lost. Rob’s been more than burned by love — but then he and Kate find themselves in an ultra-compromising position in the M & S Market after hours, giving the phrase “clean-up in aisle five” a whole new meaning, and causing a whole lot of gossip in Gospel ..
The Trouble with Valentine’s Day by Rachel Gibson is one of the best contemporary romances kicking off the new year. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and found it very entertaining. There were several reasons why this novel will sit on my keeper shelf: Realistic views about picking up strangers in bars was done very well. Rob Sutter, an ex-hockey player, learns the consequences of that the hard way. Rob is described as this incredibly sexy, hard muscled jock with a soul patch, tattoo and Fan Manchu look which to me looks very sexy.
After leaving Seattle behind since it holds such dark memories, Rob opens up a sporting goods store in Idaho. Rob still has his hang-ups over this incident in his past that leaves him less sure about his judgment of people. He eventually runs into Kate Hamilton who has her own hang-ups as well as a private investigator. Her career seems to be going nowhere fast and plus: Katie seems to attract men who can’t commit or who won’t commit to her. So, she decides to leave private investigation behind and stay with her grandfather and help him run his store. Don’t you just love that scenario?
The Relationship: Rob and Katie have a short but brief history: they first meet at a bar where Katie feels the need to be a little different, daring and risky while Rob is carrying baggage from a one night stand from hell. She gets up enough nerve to proposition the first guy she’s attracted to who happens to be… Rob Sutter and let’s just say that she is humiliated and probably won’t ever have one of those daring little moments ever again.
As fate would have it and a few months down the road, Rob Sutter’s sporting goods store happens to be just right across the street from her grandfather’s grocery store. Rumors were flying about the whereabouts of the owner and Rob eventually turns up to the dismay of Katie’s ego and heart. Rob and Katie are soon introduced and Katie, remembering that night at the bar that seemed as if it was yesterday, is forever devastated by her past behavior everytime she sees Rob around town and Rob is not going anywhere, anytime soon either.
Rob, when introduced to her by her grandfather, pretends not to remember Katie but he eventually lets her know later on —in not so many words–that he does remember that night quite well, actually. What I really liked about their relationship was that it was realistic. Or it seemed to be. There wasn’t the “love at first sight” scenario that drives me crazy. They didn’t exactly like each other when they first meet but you see a friendship develop between them which is a nice change. The other subplots of the story involves Rob’s ex-wife Louisa and their daughter Amelia who still lives in Seattle while Rob makes his home in Idaho. A lot of that was rather hurried or not explained well enough by the end of the story. Subplots are usually left dangling. Rob goes back and forth about this feelings about his ex-wife while at the same time he is attracted to Katie. I admit that this got to be rather annoying. But there is a wall between Rob and Katie, which Rob is reluctant to let down due to his past, which is understandable.. Eventually, Rob does get the girl in the end and all is well in the world. This is a romance novel after all.
There were some loose ends, one concerning Katie’s job. The reader had no clue if she was going back to it or not. Probably not. There were a few humorous moments in the novel. I’ve never been a reader who finds humor in much of anything. I avoid romances with humor. Give me angst anyday, but I digress. Previous authors whose humor I’ve enjoyed:  I loved Janet Evanovich (up until about High Five) and I can say that Gibson made me laugh a few times and I was pleasantly surprised at that. Dialogue was realistic and the romantic relationship between Rob and Katie was realistic (or as close as one an get) and there was a nice secondary romance with Katie’s grandfather Stanley that had me snoozing. Stanley is a wonderful character but I’d prefer he was mentioned and not heard. Yes, he is a widow who has found love again. Yippee. The secondary lovestory didn’t detract too much from the main romance which is always a plus but I could have done without it altogether.
The Trouble with Valentine’s Day was a pleasure to read. Highly recommend it. Reader reaction seems varied on this book so let me say that this is my second Rachel Gibson novel and that I’ve not had much luck with her previous novels as I have found her heroes very unlikable assholes. However, after reading The Trouble with Valentine’s Day, I have decided to hang on to those novels that gave me fits and starts and plan to continue to reading Ms. Gibson. Highly recommend this contemporary romance (Just don’t tell Jane, OK? Thanks)
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