Daisy's Back In Town - Rachel Gibson

Whenever I pick a Rachel Gibson book I always have high expectations. I’ve loved most of them because of her humorous scenes and her unique heroines. I also like her small town settings and in this book that was no exception.

• Daisy Lee Monroe thought she'd brushed the dust of Lovett, Texas, off her high-heeled shoes years ago, but she's come back home only to find that little has changed. Her sister is still crazy, and her mom still has pink plastic flamingos in her front yard. And Jackson Lamott Parrish, the bad boy she'd left behind, is still so sexy it hurts. She'd like nothing better than to avoid this particular man, but she can't. Daisy has something to say to Jackson, and she's not going anywhere until he listens.
Jackson learned his lesson about Daisy the hard way, and now the only word he's interested in hearing from Daisy's red lips is good-bye. But she's popping up everywhere, and he doesn't believe in coincidence. It seems the only way to keep her quiet is with his mouth, but kissing Daisy had once been his downfall. Is he strong enough to resist her now? Strong enough to watch her walk out of his life again? Is he strong enough to make her stay?

This is a secret baby plot. After 15 years Daisy comes back to the small town where she was raised to tell Jack that he is the father of her baby and not her deceased husband.
I liked Jack and Daisy in equal measures. She seems nice enough but really should have told him the truth sooner and he, although the injured part, is too wild to be trustworthy. When I finished the book I was really happy with it and considered rating it an A, now that a few days have gone by I think is more of a B than an A. It missed the rollercoaster of emotions SEP so well delivers and that this plot easily could have.

I liked that Daisy is determined to tell him the truth despite his bad attitude towards her, that their son always knew the truth, that she realises she is still in love with him rather early in the action and their dialogues. Also the small town atmosphere where everyone knows everything and gossips about their neighbours is well developed.

I didn’t like Jack’s wild attitude. It seemed like only him was allowed to feel grief and heartache because of the past – like he didn’t up broke with Daisy, he was just confused and in mourning so it was okay. He also moved things too fast with Nathan, I understand wanting to make up for lost time but immediately deciding he is moving to Lovett was a bit too much, in the end he wasn’t that bad but I didn’t like those first decisions. Oh and I also didn’t like how they got involved before things are straightened out between them. He seemed like a love them and leave them kind of guy.

Having said that I think he got out of his anger of not knowing about Nathan pretty fast. If he was feeling as betrayed as he was saying than it seemed logical that he needed more time or some grand gesture from Daisy to get him out of it. Not just telling him to…

Despite all these flaws the banter between them and some of the funny scenes still maintain it in B range.