ARC Review: What I Love About You by Rachel Gibson

Rachel Gibson is a go-to author that I actually haven’t read in awhile. With all the books out there I find it hard to get to the authors I use to love. So I was glad to have a chance to get back to her. She writes small towns and humorous romance with the best of them and What I Love About You did not disappoint on either front.

First there is Blake. He’s an ex-SEAL and now a private military contractor who is battling his demons, alcohol and PTSD (though he swears he doesn’t have PTSD). He moves to Truly, Idaho to get away from it all and see if he can put his life back together after rehab. What he doesn’t want is the lovely lady next door or her cute 5-year-old daughter. But you can’t always get what you want, but as the song says, “Sometimes you get what you need.” And that’s exactly what Blake gets.

Natalie is an independent single mother. Her ex-husband is in jail, and she has made something of her life since that horrible day years ago when she found out about her husband’s betrayal. Now she has a great business, a hysterical best friend Lilah and an adorable 5-year-old daughter, Charlotte. She doesn’t need or want a man in her life, especially the mysterious and grouchy next-door neighbor Blake. But then he becomes friends with her daughter, they end up sharing a dog, and how could she not notice how good-looking he is? So of course they do get involved.

I mean it wouldn’t be a romance if the two main characters didn’t get involved, right? Well that is my one problem with this book. Yes it’s fun, yes it’s fluffy and yes Charlotte “weally” steals the show. But the romance was kind of lacking. There is chemistry and it’s definitely steamy. But there just didn’t seem to be much romance. As far as character growth and development, this book is stellar. The humor is cute and placed perfectly. I felt the novel was well paced, but somehow I wanted a little more.

Do you ever feel like that, the book is great but something is just missing? That is how I felt with What I Love About You. I loved Natalie, Charlotte and even grumpy Blake. I love the ending and I enjoyed getting to know the characters, but I just needed more romance. But don’t let my review scare you, it really is a interesting and entertaining book and I look forward to reading the other Truly, Idaho books though this one is definitely a stand-alone.


**ARC provided by Publisher**

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