AAR

[Islandgirl2]

What a great read. I have read a batch of Maggie Osborne my favorite being The Two Wives of Bowie Stone followed by I Do, I Do, I Do and I think this has to come in third.

The set up of Sam and Angela being married but not having seen each other in 10 years and all that followed kept me turning pages to see how these two would come to term as mature adults with all the pain and stubborness of who wronged who.

I just love that Maggie doesn't give one more fault than the other but we can truly see both sides and both mistakes.

I loved the developing realtionship between Angie and the girls as much as between herself and Sam.

It felt real and I miss reading romances that show hardships and fighting through rough times united. I don't mind the wealthy aristocrats and balls and oh no society what will they think reads. But every once in a while it's nice to go back into American history and see a realistic struggle with people that you can imagine exisisting.

I'm sad that I don't really see new reads from Ms. Osborne and probably only have a handful more to go before I get to all of her works.

Thumbs up for The Bride of Willow Creek.
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Romance my favorite reading pastime.

[nblibgirl]

I too love Maggie Osborne - for many of the same reasons you cited: more realistic settings, people, situations. I really enjoyed The Wives of Bowie Stone and I Do, I Do, I Do and have Willow Creek in my TBR pile . . . looks like I'll have to move it to the top of the stack.
Thanks for the recommendation!
If you like Maggie Osborne, you might also like Jo Goodman's most recent stories set in the American West/high Colorado Desert (Marry Me and Never Love a Lawman).

[Islandgirl2]

[Lynda X]

I adore Osbourne too, but I would suggest that you don't read all her books in one great big gulp because they can be repetitious. She loves the tomboy heroine whose heart is pure gold and is bewildered by falling in love. I love her humor and her history.

If you like her, I hardily recommend Lavyrle Spencer, especially her HUMMINGBIRD and THE GAMBLE. Although it's set in the Depression and WWII, her MORNING GLORY is one of the best romances, ever written. It's the all-purpose romance I give to people who have nothing but contempt for them, saying, "If you can read the first five pages and put it down, you are truly from outer space." So far, 100% of people I have loaned it to have adored it.

[Islandgirl2]

[Lynda X]

Actually, I have a couple of old authors that you might like. Although Catherine Anderson is still writing today, you cannot compare IMO her old books to her present ones. I have three favorites, out of many: one is "Coming Up Roses" about this woman who has quite a secret. A few pages into it, her little daughter falls into an old well, full of rattlesnakes who have made their nests there. A passing neighbor who hates snakes has to go down to get her. Excellent romance. Her ANNIE'S SONG is about a young woman who is dismissed as retarded by everyone and she's raped in a very short scene in the beginning of the book. The rapist brother, finding out that what has happened and that she is pregnant, intervenes and marries her, mainly for the sake of the baby. I also loved KEEGAN'S WOMAN about a very hard-working young woman whose younger brother is an alcoholic who hates and tries to destroy Keegan, their neighbor. If you can read the first dozen pages and put the books down, I'd be surprised.

I have often on AAR talked about my love for the early Lorraine Heath. I'm gave up on her years ago, but I really, really loved TEXAS DESTINY about a very scarred brother who picks up his brother's mail-order bride. The sequel, which you can definitely read separately is TEXAS EMPIRE about the brother who dreams of starting a--you guessed it--Texas Empire and is willing to marry his neighbor, a stranger to him, a woman who has been psychologically abused by her family for years.

[Islandgirl2]

[PegS]

Thanks from me too, Lynda. I glommed a whole bunch of Lorraine Heath's Westerns during the same period I was discovering Maggie Osbourne (both thanks to AAR!). I've never tried Catherine Anderson but will definitely check her out now.