Tangled Up in Love

Tangled Up in Love is a 2002 romance novel by Nancy Wagner, writing under the name Hailey North, and the first book in her series Finding Love in Doolittle, Arkansas. Wagner is a Mississippi native who worked as a game show lawyer in California before taking up writing and later moving to Louisiana.

Stacey St. Cyr operates St. Cyr & Bell Advertising and Public Relations in New Orleans, Louisiana, with her business partner, Donna Bell. She is en route to a spa vacation in Hot Springs (Garland County) when her purebred bearded collie, True Blue, becomes sick in the car, leading her to pull over at midnight in the small town of Doolittle, Arkansas, located between Hot Springs and El Dorado (Union County). The gas station attendant directs her to the local veterinarian, Michael Halliday (Dr. Mike, as he is known), who quickly discovers that True is pregnant, much to the chagrin of Stacey. Mike boards the dog for the night and directs Stacey to the Schoolhouse Inn.

Michael is the divorced father of two daughters, Jessica and Kristen, while Stacey is determined not to marry, having been jilted by fiancé Robert after a year-long engagement. However, both are struck by an immediate attraction to one another. Unwilling to admit that she was on her way to a vacation (forced upon her by her business partner), Stacey confabulates a narrative about scouting out retirement property for her parents, which leads to her being cornered by a real estate agent the next day. She is only able to extricate herself by helping Jessica set up a display of kittens for adoption at the farmer’s market. Michael invites Stacey over for dinner, and they end up kissing but are seen by Jessica. The next day, they have a picnic and go rowing on the lake.

Jessica and Kristen are constantly fighting with their mother Pauline and their stepfather Cecil, a local politician. As the community lacked a proper animal shelter, Kristen decides that her group class project should be raising money for a shelter, and Stacey offers her own assistance. The evening of the picnic, Stacey’s long-divorced parents, Louis and Joanne, both show up and stay at the same hotel. Michael, after returning home to tuck in his children, comes back to the hotel, and he and Stacey have sex. By the time she wakes up in the morning, he has returned to his house, and her parents, who have reconciled somewhat, plan to go through the motions of being shown retirement property by the local real estate agent. Understanding his need to return to his daughters, but also feeling somewhat betrayed, Stacey intends to retrieve her dog and leave town, but Michael talks her into staying, and they end up having dinner together with her parents, after which Stacey confesses to Michael that her parents are divorced and that growing up in a divided family makes her reluctant to enter the same situation.

Stacey returns to her life in New Orleans, and after some time in this long-distance relationship, Michael and his daughters drive down to New Orleans to visit Stacey, arriving right as True gives birth to her puppies. Later that evening, he proposes to Stacey, and although he suggests a commuter marriage, so that she can continue her work, she offers to move to Doolittle and do her work remotely.

For additional information:
Hailey North. https://haileynorth.com/ (accessed May 9, 2025).

North, Hailey. Tangled Up in Love. New York: Avon Books, 2002.

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas