Rachel Gibson takes us back to Gospel, Idaho - the setting for TRUE CONFESSIONS - and slightly ties it in with her first novel SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE.  If you love Rachel Gibson’s previous books, this one is sure to please.

Kate Hamilton is a private investigator.  Well, she used to be.  After finding a man’s lost family, only to have him murder them before killing himself, Kate retires from the P.I. business and decides to head to Gospel to help out her widowed grandfather.  On the way, she thinks over her life and decides, just once, to be impulsive.  So, she asks a gorgeous stranger for a one-night stand.  Not only does he turn her down, he leaves her humiliated and running to Idaho faster than you can say potato. 

A former hockey star, Rob Sutter owns the local sport store in town.  He doesn’t date and travels to Seattle to see his two-year-old daughter who lives with his ex-wife.  He takes no interest in the women in town, no matter how forward or shy they are about asking for what they want.  That is, until he walks across the street to the local grocery store and meets the owner’s granddaughter. 

Kate is shocked beyond mortification to come face to face with the gorgeous stranger who turned her down flat in that bar.  Now she has to face him everyday, run into him at poetry readings with her grandfather (who is stepping out with Rob’s mother!), and take him deliveries at his house.  Rob becomes fascinated with the smart and tough woman who has a chip on her shoulder.  True, he could have let her down a little easier, but he has his reasons as to why he did what he did in the bar that night.  Now that he knows her a little better, can he convince her he’d like to take her up on her former offer? 

I love Rachel Gibson’s books and TRUE CONFESSIONS is one of my all-time favorites by her.  I was happy to revisit Gospel and see what the residents were up to.  We get to meet some new ones, a few former ones (I was disappointed at the sparse appearances of Dillon and Hope) and hear about the others.

Rob is believable as a tough guy who seems to have a weak spot.  Kate is a little less believable as a former private investigator but it works with the story.  I love her seemingly tough exterior, but inside she’s not quite as sure of herself as she leads people to think.  The grandfather storyline is a pleasant bonus and keeps the story moving along nicely.  With some quirky residents, highly heated love scenes and a plausible storyline, THE TROUBLE WITH VALENTINE’S DAY was worth the wait from this talented author.