SO INTO YOU

Author: Sandra Hill ISBN: 9780446535779 8/2009 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: GRAND CENTRAL

Angel Sabato has been in love with best friend Grace O'Brien for 10 years—but he's only just realized it. Too bad she doesn't take him seriously when he tells her about his feelings. Reeling from the rejection, Angel hightails it out of town. Now Grace is left to wonder if her problems from the past are keeping her from opening herself to love. But she brushes these "useless" musings aside, concentrating instead on the work she's doing as an apprentice to folk healer Tante Lulu and keeping up with the old woman's good deeds. Such as starting a foundation to help families still homeless after Hurricane Katrina. One family consists of 5 children who lost their parents. The eldest, only seventeen, has been struggling to take care of her siblings and lying like heck to the state agencies in order to keep everyone together. Tante Lulu and Grace take the children under their wings and decide the foundation will build a house for them. Re-enter Angel, who helps with the construction. Unbeknownst to Grace, Tante Lulu has decided to try her hand at matchmaking again. And Tante Lulu has never failed before!

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

We travel back to the Bayou to revisit our favorite group of troublemakers with this latest offering by Sandra Hill. This time, the story revolves around two "honorary members" of the Ledeux family—Grace O'Brien and Angel Sabato.

Grace O'Brien is an ex-nun and poker champion, who has become somewhat of a sidekick to Tante Lulu. She lives in the cottage next door to her and is learning all her tricks of the trade in healing. When Grace breaks Angel Sabato's heart and sends him reeling into the arms of a stewardess, everyone thinks it's "goodbye Angel," including Grace. She is now embarking on a mission with the rest of the Ledeux family to start a foundation for families that have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina; Angel is back and both he and Grace refuse to see eye-to-eye. But Tante Lulu and her good ol' St. Jude aren't through with this couple yet... nope, not even a little bit!

Angel Sabato has been Grace's friend for ten years. They have gone treasure hunting together and generally palled around for all of this time with Grace being totally unaware of Angel's feelings for her. But when Grace rejects Angel and sends him running away to lick his wounds, he swears he is never going back to Louisiana again! But Tante Lulu has different ideas, and no one says no to this feisty lady when she sets her heart on something that she wants!

It was great to see all of the faces that we have all come to know and love throughout this series. They were all out and about in spades and causing a ruckus just like they always do! I have a weakness for the LeDeux men in my heart—I save a corner of it just for them!

Let me preface the rougher part of my review by saying that I LOVE Sandra Hill. I easily own 20-30 of her books, and I never stop reading once I have begun reading them. Not until I have rung every last morsel out of it.

But, with SO INTO YOU, I am just not feeling the connection between Angel and Grace. It seems a little bit contrived and forced, and I never really "got into" them. The rest of the story was FAB, with the foundation;, Grace's little(huge) secret; the LEDEUX men coming back to see me... but Grace and Angel I wasn't buying. I think because he was so in love, almost to the point of embarrassing himself, and she was so standoffish. It was hard to see them getting together, and the only thing that was really great about them was the sex they had, which was H-O-T, by the way. Some of their dialogue was just a little corny, and to be completely honest, I just found them to be a little boring, except for the SEX.

Tante Lulu is on top of her game as she always is in this series. She was funny, over the top, and really saved this book for me…well, her and my honeys, the Ledeux boys. I even liked Angel and Grace separately, but together… not so much. I'm sorry to Sandra Hill because I really dislike giving negative reviews, and I truly do LOVE her books. This one just didn't get me going like the rest of them do!

Kristal Gorman