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Meadow Falls–trusting again
Meadow Falls
by Carolyn Brown
Angela Marie Duncan inherits the largest peanut farm in Texas from her father. That might be overwhelming to some, but Angela Marie has been working the peanut farm since she was a child so she knows everything there is to know from planting to harvesting to accounting.
Meadow Falls recounts Angela Marie’s blossoming after her indifferent father passes away. She depends on Mandy her 95 year old nanny and Mandy’s granddaughter Celeste for support as makes choices to shed her old life and rebuild. Celeste has been Angela Marie’s close friend from childhood. Celeste is reeling from a divorce, and Angela Marie has learned that men can be attracted to her for her money. Both have understandable trusts issues with men. Devon enters her life at just the time she needs someone to handle the many mechanical issues that arise on a peanut farm. He brings along his cousin Jesse who is an excellent carpenter who is hired to remake much of the large home. Tongues are wagging in the little town with a big gossip mill. Angela Marie and Devon encourage the rumors to keep unwanted attention away from her. This fake boyfriend trope works, but boundaries can blur.
I enjoyed the characters, plot twists, and romance in this clean novel. Mandy and her friend Polly add a welcome multigenerational vibe. If I had one criticism of this book, it would be that the characters “giggle” and “chuckle” too much. Laughing is great, but let’s pull out the thesaurus and vary the words a little! Otherwise, it was a good read, and includes a mystery of sorts—possible relationships that are suspected based on timeline and photos. It takes DNA samples to suss out the truth.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Publication: January 9, 2024—Montlake
Memorable Lines:
My thoughts kept running around and around in my head like young squirrels chasing each other around and around the tree.
“You don’t forgive to make the other person feel better. You do it to get that hard spot out of your heart. Hate and love cannot abide together. Hate is darkness, and love is light. Love produces peace. Hate eats away at you until there’s nothing left but a dark hole inside your chest that nothing will cure.”
I sat down on the top step and savored every flirty moment and every nuance. I held onto the vibes between us like I would a Fourth of July sparkler and loved every minute.
The Four Winds–Historical Fiction about The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl
The Four Winds
By Kristin Hannah
From prosperity to devastating poverty, The Four Winds takes the reader on a journey across time and across the United States. Since childhood, Elsa has been told she is unattractive, physically weakened by an illness, and ineligible for marriage. Her brief search for adventure and love in her small town leads her to Italian immigrants Tony and Rose and their son Rafe. The Martinellis take Elsa under their wing, connect her to the land, and love her as their own.
The Great Depression rips away the hopes and dreams of the generations who endured the struggle, but Tony and Rose are strong and refuse to give up their land. Then come years and years of drought and dust storms. The government says the farmers are to blame and provides minimal help. Millions of citizens leave Texas and surrounding states to find what is billed as a “land of milk and honey” where they will surely find work so they can support their families. Instead they find difficult work on large farms if they are lucky. They live in filthy conditions on subsistence wages or less. Each day they have to walk miles both ways from muddy tent cities to the fields where there is no guarantee of a job. Those seeking work are maligned by the residents who view them as dirty and lazy. If they manage to get on at a farm that supplies housing, a few toilets, and some running water and electricity, they soon discover that they are paid with credit at the expensive company store. There is a fee for everything, even obtaining pay in cash. When they dig deeper, the workers find that the whole setup, including where they live and when they work is completely set up to satisfy the greed of the owner. A worker is always indebted to the company.
Communists, at physical danger to themselves, work to organize the farm workers to strike for better working conditions. It is an uphill battle because the workers have safety concerns if they protest in addition to the possibility of losing their opportunity for work—such as it is. California is not the “Promised Land” after all.
Elsa is not just the main character of The Four Winds: she is the heroine. She is a strong, strong woman living out a difficult life with perseverance and determination. Come what may, she would do her best for her children whether eking out survival in a formerly rich land where cattle died with bellies full of sand or traveling across the desert in an unreliable vehicle praying that there was enough water and gas to get the family to their destination. She proves to be a good friend to others in need. She compromises when necessary for the sake of her children, but she reaches a limit where she stands up to greedy business people who deserve to be shamed.
The Four Winds exposes a sad part of our history showing a period in time that was devastating to people. Through no fault of their own they found themselves unable to care for their families. Many were proud and refused government aid. Some of that help from the government was commendable putting men to work in respectable jobs, but some was too little, too late and unreliable in execution. The people of California were depicted as mean-spirited and unwilling to help those who needed help. They looked down on the laborers with contempt. The one exception that stood out for me was an understanding librarian who checked out books to Elsa’s daughter and then gave Elsa a library card which Elsa presented to her daughter as her Christmas gift. It was treasured.
This work of historical fiction concludes nicely, but there is not a happy ending for everyone. The book is more realistic than that. Overall it is well written and kept me wanting to read more. It is a sad book, however. It has to be—it is about sad times.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Publication: March 14, 2023—St. Martin’s Griffin
Memorable Lines:
“Believe me, Elsa, this little girl will love you as no one ever has…and make you crazy and try your soul. Often all at the same time.” In Rose’s dark, tear-brightened eyes. Elsa saw a perfect reflection of her own emotions and a soul-deep understanding of this bond—motherhood—shared by women for millennia.
“Girls like that, unkind girls who think it’s funny to laugh at another’s misfortune, are nothing. Specks on fleas on a dog’s butt.”
Once, Elsa would have said, God will provide, and she would have believed it, but her faith had hit the same hard times that had struck the country. Now, the only help women had was each other. “I’ll be here for you,” Elsa said, then added, “Maybe that’s how God provides. He put me in your path and you in mine.”
Winter hit the San Joaquin Valley hard, a frightening combination of bad weather and no work. Day after day, rain fell from steel-wool-colored skies, fat drops clattering on the automobiles and tin-can shacks and tents clustered along the ditch bank. Puddles of mud formed and wandered, became trenches. Brown splatter marks discolored everything.
Poverty was a soul-crushing thing. A cave that tightened around you, its pinprick of light closing a little more at the end of each desperate, unchanged day.
Two Stories for Children
The Quilt Story—love across generations
by Tony Johnston
illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Over the years I have enjoyed sharing legends as presented by Tomie dePaola with my Kindergarten and First Grade classes. Today I reread The Quilt Story written by children’s author Tony Johnston. Tomie dePaola illustrated this book as beautifully and as appropriately as he does his own texts.
The Quilt Story begins in the days of covered wagons as Abigail’s mother makes her a quilt that Abigail uses and enjoys in many ways. It becomes a special comfort to Abigail when her family leaves their old life behind to begin a new one in the woods where her father builds a log cabin. Many years later a descendent of Abigail discovers the quilt, having suffered varmint attacks and natural aging, in the attic. She takes it to her mother and asks her to fix it.
The story is sweet and touching. Ms. Johnston and Mr. dePaola share so much contextually. Abigail’s sadness is apparent and understandable when the rest of the family is happy. The passage of time is indicated by the types of transportation, the clothing, and the homes, but both mothers are kind and comforting. The Quilt Story is reassuring to children in our minimalist and disposable age indicating that some objects do hold emotional memories of times and people of the past.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Children’s Literature, Historical Fiction
Publication: 1985—Putnam Publishing Group
October 1990—Scholastic
Memorable Lines:
So her mother rocked her
as mothers do.
Then tucked her in.
And Abigail felt at home again
under the quilt.
The Cowboy and the Black-Eyed Pea
by Tony Johnston
illustrated by Warren Ludwig
What a delightful reimagining of “The Princess and the Pea!” Set on the “biggest spread in the great state of Texas,” there is humor all the way through. The main character, who is also the heroine of this tale, is Farethee Well, “a young woman of bodacious beauty.” She is also clever and devises a plan to execute her father’s final wishes to “Find a real cowboy who’ll love you for yourself, not just for your longhorn herd.”
Her plan involves hiding a black-eyed pea under a saddle blanket because only a real cowboy would be “sorely troubled” by it. Watching the various suitors as they ride out to unknowingly perform the test is very funny—both in text and in the illustrations. Harkening back to the original fairy tale, a young cowboy arrives in the rain without knowing about the contest for the young cowgirl’s hand. One stampede and a pile of saddle blankets later, the real cowboy is discovered.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Children’s Fiction, Humor
Notes: 1.Don’t look for realism in the cowgirl’s test. If she put a black-eyed pea under the saddle blanket, it would be the horse that felt it, not the cowboy. Just remember it is a remake of a fairy tale and have yourself a Texas-sized good time!
2. Contains humor on both an adult and children’s level so all readers will enjoy this!
Publication: 1992—Putnam & Grosset
Memorable Lines:
Sure enough, quick as you can say “set another place at table,” cowboys from hither and yon came seeking Farethee Well’s hand.
The Devine Doughnut Shop–divine doughnuts in Devine, TX
The Devine Doughnut Shop
by Carolyn Brown
Anyone who has traveled across Texas by car knows that most small towns in Texas have a doughnut shop. It’s a standard! Devine, Texas, an actual town near San Antonio, in this novel boasts the most divine doughnuts in the area. They are made in small batches from a secret recipe passed down through four generations of Devine women who are a “family of sisters.”
Grace and Sarah are biological sisters and their cousin Macy is like a third sister. The three women, who also live together in a house near the shop, are up at three o’clock six days a week making their delicious doughnuts.
All of the these women have suffered shattered romantic relationships ranging from a bad boy spouse who couldn’t stay around to parent his newborn, to a boyfriend who lied about his marriage, to a serial con man. In The Devine Doughnut Shop, the reader watches as some of these disasters unfold.
Grace’s teenage daughter Aubrey is beset with her own trust issues in her desire to be popular. She is used by a group of “mean girls” and foolishly casts off her old friends. One of those friends, Raelene, is herself abandoned by her own mother just a few months before her high school graduation. She finds herself without a home or food and in danger of losing the college scholarship she has worked for.
The mean girls have moms who spoil them and were obviously bullies themselves in high school. Now they are vicious gossipers who excel in and celebrate making others miserable.
All of the characters have trust issues to overcome. Grace finds herself oddly attracted to a successful businessman with a good heart. Married to his job, Travis is surprised by his attraction to this hard-working, no nonsense mother of a teenager who won’t sell either her business or the secret recipe. Is he really interested in Grace or does he just see her as a stepping stone to another business deal? What will it take for these characters to turn their lives around and begin to trust in love again?
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction, Romance
Notes: Standalone
Publication: February 14, 2023—Mountlake
Memorable Lines:
She was wearing a five-dollar thrift store dress, but she was riding in a modern-day golden chariot, and she had to admit that the excitement bouncing around in the back of the limo was contagious.
“The way to a man’s heart might be through his stomach, but the way to a woman’s heart is through her family.”
“Honey, I’m swimming with the dolphins.” Beezy held up her tote bag. “I’ve got my bathing suit right here, and I don’t give a rip if my hair gets wet. At my age, we got to do what we can when we can, because tomorrow we might be too old and decrepit to even feed ourselves.”
Spurred to Justice–creepy “Grave Digger”
Spurred to Justice
by Delores Fossen
There were a lot of “firsts” in this read for me. I had never read any books in The Law in Lubbock County series, books by Delores Fossen, or books published under the Harlequin Intrigue imprint. I am sharing my reflections on each topic:
The Series: I could tell that there was a personal relationship backstory between the protagonists Adalyn and Nolan but that gap did not affect my understanding of the plot in Spurred to Justice.
The Author: Delores Fossen is a good writer creating likable characters. Her plot has misdirection for the reader and for FBI Special Agent Nolan and ex-cop, current security officer Adalyn. She adds significant plot twists to keep suspense at the forefront.
The Imprint: I like Harlequin Heartwarming books so I thought I might like a novel from the same publisher but with a small amount of suspense. Spurred to Justice had only a little of things that I prefer not to have in books I read: foul language, open bedroom doors, and creepy murders. The inappropriate language is mainly handled by describing someone cursing with the actual words appearing only a few times. The sex scenes do not go all the way to culmination because the pair is always interrupted by phone calls or texts. The creepy factor is the Grave Digger whose taunting and method of murder gives those trying to stop him literal nightmares, but more of the book delves into his identity rather than how he commits the murders.
Reading Spurred to Justice was an experiment for me. My conclusion is that although I did not dislike this book, I won’t be pursuing any similar novels in the future.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery and Thriller, Romance
Notes: #4 in The Law in Lubbock County series, but could be read as a standalone
Publication: January 24, 2023—Harlequin Intrigue
Memorable Lines:
But her body had to be firing off all kinds of signals that this was a primal sort of showdown with the person who’d tried to murder her and would almost certainly try again if he got the chance.
Nolan kept his tone as dry as the West Texas dust.
The Grave Digger would have known this shock would cloud their minds and maybe cause them to lose focus.
The Book of Lost Friends–unforgettable
The Book of Lost Friends
by Lisa Wingate
Slavery and the Civil War tore families apart—especially Black families. Some of their stories appeared in the newspaper Southwestern Christian Advocate as desperate appeals to locate or discover news of long lost family members. Pastors were encouraged to read them to their congregations, and optimism sprang up in the hearts of many former slaves as they hoped and prayed to be united many years later with family who in countless cases were only a name passed down from parent to child. I can’t imagine the pain parents suffered at having their children ripped away from them and sold often never to be heard from again. The Black slaves were people, but they were regarded as disposable property.
The Book of Lost Friends begins with the story of Hannie Gossett who misses her family desperately. Unable to read or write, she has all of their names recorded in her memory. In 1875, Hannie and Tati who raised her are close to completing a ten year period of working a piece of land that belongs to her former slave owners. Just as the contract’s transfer should be completed, the former master disappears and the contract is put in jeopardy. Hannie begins a journey with great risks to find him. A black woman traveling alone is a dangerous undertaking, and her departure could annul the very contract she is trying to locate.
This novel has a dual timeline. Every other chapter alternates to tell the story of Benny Silva, a young teacher who has a past with secrets but a heart to make a difference for her students growing up in poverty in Augustine, Louisiana, in 1987. Constantly bombarded with negative messages about their worth, these students go to a different school from those who have more prosperous parents. The school building is in bad shape, the students’ attendance and behavior are abysmal, and parent support is almost non-existent.
When Benny discovers and obtains access to a private library of books, she thinks she may have found a motivator for her students. She wins support from some local women the students respect, and the teens become excited about a school project.
As both timelines move forward, it is difficult for the reader to leave one timeline to see where the story is going in the other timeline. In a good dual timeline novel, the reader is equally interested in both timelines and in discovering where they cross or overlap. Lisa Wingate is an expert at storytelling and at weaving her tales together. There are many other fascinating characters, and The Book of Lost Friends quickly became a book I didn’t want to put down. It is so well told that I could put myself in the story imagining vividly the struggles of the former slaves and of the students captive to poverty and dysfunctional families.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: 1. All of the Hannie chapters include a letter to the editor of the Lost Friends column so you can read for yourself this part of history.
2. At the author’s website, lisawingate.com there are valuable resources listed under the heading “for book clubs” that include discussion questions and pictures and information the author gathered by visiting plantations and national parks. There are also links to pertinent interviews and podcasts as well as a database that has been created based on the Lost Friends letters.
Publication: 2020—Ballantine Books (Random House)
Memorable Lines:
Few things are more life affirming than watching an idea that was fledgling and frail in its infancy, seemingly destined for birth and death in almost the same breath, stretch its lungs and curl its fingers around the threads of life, and hang on with a determination that can’t be understood, only felt.
The thing about so many of the kids here—country kids, town kids, a sad majority of these kids—is that their norm is constant drama, constant escalation. Conversations start, grow louder, get ugly, get personal. Insults fly and then lead to pushing, shoving, hair pulling, scratching, throwing punches, you name it…All too often children in Augustine grow up in a pressure cooker.
When you’re a kid in a tough family situation, you’re painfully vulnerable to trying to fill the void with peers. As much as I’m in favor of young love in theory, I’m also aware of the potential fallout. I can’t help feeling that Lil’ Ray and LaJuna need a teenage relationship about as much as I need five-inch stilettos.
The Bluebonnet Battle–feuding families
The Bluebonnet Battle
by Carolyn Brown
I expected a romance with conflict between two feuding families. What I got in The Bluebonnet Battle was a very mean-spirited tale. There were clearly two sides. Matilda is an angry woman who excels in manipulating others to get what she wants. The other side is headed up by Liddy who has certainly been wronged but is vindictive and unforgiving. In fact, one of her friends suggests to Liddy that she pray for Matilda explaining that it might not change Matilda but it might take the anger out of Liddy’s heart. Liddy responds with a venomous, disgusting, unkind prayer that causes her adult niece Ruth Ann who acts like a Greek chorus in this book to giggle. It is hard to like any of these characters.
Fortunately, Nick, Matilda’s son, and Amelia, Ruth Ann’s daughter, slowly overcome family hurdles to form a relationship. By the time you get to this point in the story, you will be so tired of how the feud plays out through vegan versus Southern cooking featuring lemon meringue and lemon chess pies, along with who controls the local funeral dinners, that you will be glad for romance in any form. There is actually some motivation revealed for why Matilda is the way she is, but the explanation is too little and too late. The townspeople are closed to outsiders and small-minded. Nick and Amelia develop into nice people, but my favorite of the bunch is Uncle Harry, Matilda’s much older brother; he is the only character I would like to know. If a romance’s plot is character driven, it shouldn’t be replete with bitter characters.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Montlake for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Romance
Notes: 1. Includes recipes.
2. Contains profanity, even in church where the characters immediately, but rather insincerely, ask God’s forgiveness.
3. Several older and presumably wiser characters suggest to Nick and Amelia that the only way to know a person (with the goal of having a good marriage) is to live together first. That is advice that may be popular in some circles, but is one with which I take issue.
4. Perhaps a minor detail to some, but the flowers on the cover are not bluebonnets.
Publication: March 8, 2022—Mountlake
Memorable Lines:
When I heard Matilda was coming back to town, I figured we’d have to weather some storms. I just didn’t think we would have a class-five tornado two days after she arrived.
Compared to this thing between her aunt and Nick’s mother, the Hatfield and McCoy feud looked like a kindergarten playground fight.
Matilda’s whisper went right along with the look in her eyes—so toxic that a hazmat team wouldn’t have come near her.
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch–fathering a teenager
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch
by Carolyn Brown
Jesse Ryan returns to Honey Grove, Texas, after twenty years of touring the world following his dreams as a medic in the Air Force. His father’s MS diagnosis hastens his homecoming as his father Sonny now clearly needs help in running the Sunflower Ranch, especially since his father’s longtime friend and foreman is retiring.
Jesse grew up on the ranch after he and two other foster children were adopted by Sonny and Pearl, so he has no trouble with the cowboy aspects of his new life. What he didn’t expect was to be working closely with Addy, his best friend from childhood who stopped communicating with him shortly after he left for his first tour of duty. Addy and her nineteen year old daughter Mia are living and working at the ranch as Addy, a nurse, manages Sonny’s healthcare. Jesse finally does the math and figures out his relationship with Mia while he and Addy are determining what their own adult relationship will be.
Addy is a strong, smart woman. Mia goes through a rebellious period. Jesse takes on responsibilities wherever he is needed. Sonny and Pearl face the MS diagnosis with the love that has held them together through the years. This is a character driven plot that moves quickly with some surprises along the way. There are some gossipy women, a mean local family, and a jealous, confused doctor who complicate the plot, but the Ryan family is one you would want to know, maybe even be a part of. The author of Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch introduces Cody Ryan, a doctor, and Stevie O’Dell, a veterinarian, at the end of this book; they will be the focus of Texas Homecoming, the next book in the series.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in The Ryan Family Series. I started reading this series with the second book in the series which could be read as a standalone, but reading Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch actually enhanced my enjoyment of Texas Homecoming (read review here) after the fact. My recommendation: read this series in order.
2. Clean romance, but does use “d—n” frequently as a slang expression.
3. At this point in the series, the theme of the series is “second chance” romance, but there are many other common themes as well regarding family relationships, work ethics, values, etc.
Publication: 2021—Forever
Memorable Lines:
“If I’m honest, I’ve always loved him for more than a friend. That’s probably why I can’t seem to last in a relationship with anyone else. I can’t give them my heart when he’s got it in his pocket.”
…her mouth was set in a firm line. Her light brown ponytail swung back and forth like a frayed flag in a hard Texas wind, and her hands were knotted into fists.
“Change is good for folks. It keeps us on our toes so we don’t get to taking life for granted…”
Lineage Most Lethal–secrets from the past
Lineage Most Lethal
by S.C. Perkins
Having read a very positive review of the debut novel in S.C. Perkins’ Ancestry Detective Mystery Series, I decided, when the opportunity arose, to give Lineage Most Lethal, the second book in the series, a try. I am fairly neutral on the interest continuum when it comes to genealogies, but this cozy mystery afforded a different perspective for me on family trees. I also learned a little about the intricacies of researching lineages.
Lucy Lancaster is an outgoing young woman who shares office space with two friends in downtown Austin, Texas. Currently she is spending a week at the high-end Sutton hotel working for Pippa Sutton to investigate her family’s history and compile the information into a video to be presented at a family gathering. As the plot progresses, we learn about Lucy’s own beloved grandfather’s involvement in World War II and a little about her former boyfriend, Ben, an FBI agent who has ghosted her.
Lucy’s research turns dark when a stranger dies before her eyes, Pippa’s mother Roselyn begins acting strangely, and Chef Rocky is found dead. Lucy’s grandfather shares secrets from the past, and suddenly it seems many in the present are in a dangerous state. As Lucy tries to juggle all the balls, she is pushing against a murderer’s timetable as well as her professional and personal commitments.
Although I suspected the identity of the murderer, I did not grasp the intricate connections of the victims, potential victims, a nutcase who appeared sane, and their descendants. The tale includes a few red herrings dealing with cipher codes and given names as well. The solution is definitely complicated. Well played, S. C. Perkins!
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Ancestry Detective Mystery Series, but worked well for me as a standalone.
Publication: July 21, 2020—St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur
Memorable Lines:
“The point is, do yourself a favor and halve your problem by sharing it with someone.”
I would do my part to protect these people, even if I would never meet them and got branded by the APD as a genealogist who was a taco short of a combination plate.
Ben took my hand and led me out the French doors into the winter wonderland, the white fairy lights making the falling snow glitter like diamonds.
Fearless–stalkers in the land of bluebonnets
Fearless
by Fern Michaels
Anna Campbell, who pieced her life together after the unexpected death of her husband, is a busy and successful blogger able to support herself and her teenage daughter. Rich, famous, and kindheartedly generous, she is also a target for stalkers and scammers. Her business manager and best friend Mandy convinces her to go on a singles cruise. What should have been a fun adventure rapidly leads her down paths she will regret.
The main characters in Fern Michaels’ Fearless are well-developed, and the plot is interesting. I liked the Lubbock, Texas, setting and touring Anna’s large suite on the cruise ship and her expansive gated home with vlogging studio.I enjoyed the mix of romance with mystery. When I had to put the book away, I was always eager to return. Fearless includes criminal activities that require the characters and the reader to puzzle out events, identities, and motivations. The resolution of this story is disappointing. It is too rushed without enough explanation of the characters’ motivations many of which reach way back in time and others that are current. For example, there are two instances of the use of a date-rape drug. The usage is clear, but the motivation of the second attempt is unclear. This hurried ending resulted in less enjoyment for me. I will try another book by this prolific author in the future for comparative analysis.
I would like to extend my thanks to Netgalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. Includes a recipe for Anna’s Rib Rub.
2. Has a sprinkling of mild swearing
Publication: March 31, 2020—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
She looked out through the gates at the sweeping fields of bluebonnets that surrounded her house. Nothing made her feel more at home than those bluish purple flowers stretching out for miles. A uniquely Texan sight.
As she was standing eye to eye with him, she saw someone else. A man who was quick to anger, quick to judge. Not the man she thought she knew. Ryan had a temper, she realized. He’d shown it on multiple occasions, so why she was just now realizing it was beyond her comprehension…
“…he seemed cold to me, like his eyes were empty. Does that sound crazy or what?”
education pathways 