GRR Review Twisted Up (Taking Chances Book 1) by Erin Nicholas

Twisted up is a tale of love and sacrifice, and a bit of family drama amidst the town of Chance, Nebraska, infamous due to a string of EF-4 twisters that keep striking the town year after year.

Avery grew up in a toxic family and was virtually adopted by their neighbor, the Mitchells, and Avery loved Jake Mitchell, and after he took her to the prom, she even gave him her v-card, only to see him leave the next day to join the army without saying goodbye. The Mitchell family's attempt to get her away from her own toxic family by providing her with a scholarship out-of-state was interpreted as "you don't want me either" so she ran to a different state but returned years later with a degree and became the town Fire Chief. Jake in the meanwhile, after army, went into national guard and became disaster preparedness and recovery specialist, and flies all over the nation helping towns like Chance recover from all sorts of disasters, and comes back into town every year and have a torrid sex affair (it's not really love if he can't stay) with Avery... But this year, when EF-4 tornado struck during his visit, Avery and Jake will have to work together to heal the town, and each other. They have to learn what happened that night after Jake left, and if they can have a future together, whether in Chance or... elsewhere.

Both Jake and Avery's motivations and all the events that lead to those motivations were nicely mentioned without making them fully dramatic, though even I had a problem with the elder Mitchell's plan to push Avery out of town to get her away from her toxic family. The idea of giving her a scholarship out of state then lock her out of the Mitchell house as well (telling her to go away) seems so horribly cruel though it's possible they didn't know that Avery gave Jake her v-card and believed they had a future together and thus needs extra consoling rather than extra kick in the rear. That lead to like a 6 year "pretend we barely knew each other" misunderstanding that did not get resolved until Jake and tornado came through town to force the big revelation.

Category: contemporary

Primary Plot: Man came back to town after tornado tore through, found old crush is now town's fire chief... can they work together... and rekindle their love?

Tropes: reunion, small town,

Overall Rating:  4/5