Review -- Rescue Me

Rescue Me

By Rachel Gibson

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: May 29, 2012

Sadie Jo Hollowell grew up in Lovett, Texas, but left shortly after graduating because she felt there wasn’t much there for her. Her beauty queen mother passed away when she was five and Sadie had never been close to her rancher father. For years, she tried her best to make him happy, but quickly learned he was impossible to please. So Sadie left without a backward glance. She saw her father every few years and that was enough to satisfy them both. Sadie returns to Lovett for the first time in five years to be in her cousin’s wedding. She doesn’t particularly want to go to the wedding (and wants to wear the bright pink dress even less) because she is still single and knows that everyone in the small town will comment on it, as usual. But family is family, so she honors the request. She’ll go and then head back home to Arizona. 

When she arrives at the entrance to her father’s ranch, she sees a handsome man stranded on the side of the road next to a truck with its hood up. At first she attempts to drive right on by (after all, she is alone on an isolated road), but her Texas-bred hospitality won’t let her. She gives him a lift into town, but not without first checking his license (and phoning his info to a friend) and letting him know she’s armed with a stun gun (which is a total lie). He thanks her when she drops him off and tells her that if there’s any way he can repay her to let him know. Sadie bites the bullet and asks him to take her to her cousin’s wedding...but he turns her down flat. 

Former Navy SEAL Vince Haven doesn’t turn Sadie down because he isn’t attracted to her—far from it. He tends to shy away from women who aren’t trouble-free and Sadie seems everything but. He comes to Lovett at the request of his aunt who owns the local Gas and Go. Aunt Luraleen said she had a proposition for him and Vince believes she wants help fixing the place up. Instead, she wants to retire and offers to sell the gas station to him. Because Vince is good at turning places over for profit, he agrees to buy it and stay in Lovett for awhile. When Sadie ends up staying in town longer than planned, Vince thinks that perhaps they can enjoy a simple no-strings-attached relationship. He quickly learns that very little is kept secret while living in a small town...which isn’t necessarily good for someone who has secrets he’d like to keep. 

Rescue Me is my introduction to Rachel Gibson’s books and I am so glad I “found” her! With one book I have fallen in love with her charismatic writing and distinctive characters. Sadie and Vince are completely realistic individuals who stole my heart. Vince is a hot, sexy alpha hero and Sadie has the moxie to match him. I felt for them both in regards to their fathers. Sadie and her father had a challenging relationship—an emotional tug of war that she always lost—while Vince’s father walked out on his family when Vince was ten leaving a very vulnerable little boy without a dad. Sadie and Vince are two wandering souls who find solace and an intrinsic connection with the other. Their exchanges are sensuous, mature, and extremely sexy. Oh, and I loved Sadie’s take on men: 

She didn’t need a man for his money. She needed him for other things she couldn’t do for herself like lift heavy object and knock boots. 

Simple, but it was always shocking how many guys weren’t great at knocking boots. Which was just baffling. Wasn’t sex their number one job? Even above actually having a job? 

Filled with charming secondary characters and cute phrases such as, Bless your heart and You’re just as cute as a bug’s ear, Rachel Gibson’s Rescue Me is sure to please. It was so much fun that I could not put it down. I highly recommend it!

~Andrea