Debbie Macomber

From Amazon:

From Amazon:

The town of Promise  to me is friends, love, fear, togetherness, but most of all you can be there without being there you get to live the lifes of others in Promise. 

I just got them from my daughter who had them away and ask me to read them and her words to me were mother go on a vacation in your mind to a small town.

The Manning Sisters is actually two of Debbie Macomber's earlier books reissued in one volumne.  These stories have stood the test of time.

The Cowboys Lady  Originally published in 1990

This book showed how following your dreams can change your life.  It definitely makes you study your own goals.  It has encouraged me to make my list of twenty wishes.  I am sure with a little work these wishes too, may come true.

This was the third in the "Blossom Street" Series. I enjoyed this book , but not as well as previous. In this book many favorites return, and they are planning Alix's wedding to Jordon. Margaret's daughter is carjacked. There seems to be a lot more going on in this one.

Susannah Nelson is feeling unsettled, now at 50 she's looking back at the way her life has gone and wondering about the road she left untraveled. Going back to help her mother after her father's death, Susannah visits old friends and wonders about the boyfriend she never saw again when she was shipped off to school abroad.

     I liked Joe... a lot... but he really wasn't enough to save it from a, to me, very unlikely heroine who just couldn't see her nose in front of her face and two very lacklustre and "filler" secondary characters.  There was more life in Cait's brother Martin, and other than her memory of him, a telephone call and a brief appearance at the end, he was barely in the story.  Sorry, the character of Cait just pushed a lot of buttons for me and I really, really wouldn't have continued to read it past the first chapter except for Joe.  *shrug*

                Original release in 1991 

RATING:
Excellence: Okay (kinda) ~ 1.5 stars
Steaminess: Romantic to (barely) Sensual

     I've had this book for quite awhile on my keeper shelves:  I'm not sure why I kept it all those years ago, but I won't this time around.  The story was okay, but I just never really connected with either Dori or Gavin.  Of course connecting with Gavin was nearly impossible for anyone:  not just committment phobic, but running terrified due to a disastrous first marriage.
   To be honest, I've never been a fan of Debbie Macomber's writing... definitely one of those examples of "not everyone is going to love every author...."  Well, this is one of mine.  It was pretty much a case of not being able to get into the story, or into the characters... not the fault of the author, just a personality 'thing' I guess.

                    Original release 1986

RATING:
Excellence: Good ~ 2.5 stars
Steaminess: Romantic to (barely) Sensual