Book Review: Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson

At First Sight: At 25, and following the death of her mother, all Autumn Haven wanted was to relax in Vegas and do all the silly, touristy things you can do in there. She didn't plan on running into Sam LeClaire. Already a successful hockey player based in Seattle, Sam was just looking at a few days of mindless entertainment in Vegas, anything to keep his mind occupied on a day that is difficult to him. But, from the moment he saw Autumn at a club, he became a little bit obsessed with having her.

A few days later, things had spiraled out of control, and their hook up ended up on a quickie marriage and a bitter divorce. And they would have rather never seen each other again, but with a young son between them that was impossible. Not that they didn't try to stay away from each other, but after a few years without seeing each other, an small work emergency (Autumn is an event planner) forces Autumn to be around Sam more than she had in years.

Having matured a little in the years past, and with the realization that he hasn't been the best of father - that in fact, he's turning into his own father - Sam is determined to do better by his son, which forces him an Autumn together, something that in turn forces them to examine their relationship and what exactly they feel for each other, even after all the years that have passed.

Second Glance: I was both reluctant and excited to read Any Man Of Mine, I'm a long time fan of Rachel Gibson, but I haven't loved her latest books. I'm happy to say that I liked Any Man of Mine a bit more. It wasn't exactly what I expected - for some reason I thought it was more of a secret baby plot - but it was a nice story. Gibson knows how to write a funny story, and I really liked how she wrote Conner - Sam and Autumn's son - and made him sound like a 5 year old.

I liked Autumn, I just did, even though she could hold a hell of a grudge for a really long time, usually I wouldn't like that, but I liked it on her because it made sense due to the stuff Sam had done to her in the past. Sam was harder, he was a big jerk for a large part of the book and his transformation was very slow (which sort of made sense for who he was, but I thought he was a jerk for more than half of the book, which put off some of the enjoyment).

But by the end, I was happy of how things had progressed. 

Bottom Line: Over all, I think that the characters could have been developed a bit more and a bit better, but I still enjoyed the book (though I did roll my eyes a few times). Some things were left hanging - sort of fell by the side and were forgotten and never explained, through out the story. But I did have a good time reading it. It was fun. Just not the best book by Rachel Gibson, but not so bad either.  

Cover Comment: I really liked this cover, mostly because Autumn it's supposed to look like that! The guy isn't really like Sam - because Sam is blond - but it's still nice. I like it better than the covers for the last couple books by this author. 

2/3

*This book comes out April 26th, 2011