True Confessions by Rachel Gibson

When I go on vacation I like to bring along something light, funny, and sexy to read. TC fit the bill fairly well but it's silliness was a bit overdone in places.

Have you ever wondered who writes those insanely stupid stories in tabloids about alien abductions or the latest Elvis sightings? In TC, Hope Spencer is just such a writer (I refuse to call her a reporter) for a tabloid in LA. She has decided to come to Gospel, Idaho, because she has run out of ideas and hopes that the small town atmosphere and quirky residents will provide some inspiration. And boy, was she right. Gospel is full of quirky characters just like all stereotypical small towns. But of course they have their hunky sheriff, Dylan Taber. I don't know how many books I have read that feature small towns with quirky characters and a hunky sheriff. Probably dozens. What's up with this, people?

Hope has decided to keep her profession a secret from everyone in town because she didn't want anyone to figure out that all those weird aliens stories were inspired by the town's wacky residents (okay, really, who could see themselves in nutty stories in a tabloid about aliens masquerading as people?). Also, she was being stalked in LA and didn't want the stalker figuring out where she was hiding out. Oh, did I mention that the stalker is a dwarf wrestler? I'm NOT making this stuff up. At this point I'm smacking myself on the forehead wondering if Gibson was on drugs when she wrote this or very clever tongue-in-cheek funny. I went with the latter and the humor actually worked for me. Each chapter begins with a very funny tabloid heading like "Demonic Car Alarm Hypnotizes Community" or "Squirrel is Proven Aphrodisiac".

Dylan, the hunky sheriff, also has a secret. More about that later. At one time he had served as a police officer in LA, but has returned to Gospel to raise his young son alone. Dylan is quite the eligible bachelor in the area with his good looks and aw-shucks country boy charm. When Hope and Dylan meet there is an instant attraction and their sex scenes were pretty steamy. All the characters were well done and funny/likeable. Generally, I don't like kids in books but Dylan's son Adam is great and only plays a small role.

Dylan's big secret involves Adam and was really no big deal. Spoiler: When Dylan lived in LA, he had an affair with an actress. She got pregnant and let him take the baby to raise alone. She is now a very famous star of a hot TV show where she plays an angel (kind of like Touched by an Angel). She doesn't want anyone to know she had a son out of wedlock. *gasp* (how shocking!) So Dylan and Adam are forced to keep the identity of Adam's mother a secret. An actress who had a child out of wedlock?!? Never heard of such a thing. :) The actress is concerned that if the secret comes out it will ruin her career. Oh, please. The only way this is believable is if that TV show was some kind of religious holier-than-thou inspirational crap and even then I don't buy it. (see, it can't be worse than Ted Haggard)

Anyway, predictably, Hope's secret is revealed and then someone finds out Dylan's secret and blabs it to the tabloids. Of course, Dylan blames Hope for spilling the beans and wants nothing to do with her. But Hope had nothing to do with it. This created some conflict but it doesn't last long and we get a quick ending.

Basically, TC is a light and fluffy book with nothing deep about it and was a very fast read. Perfect for a vacation while you lay around on the beach after leaving your brain at home.

My grade: B-