Sealed with a Kiss

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Reading Experience
Review: As a child, from the first moment Prudence Belmont laid eyes on Gidry Chavis, she fell hopelessly in love. Gidry was her neighbor, and the son of Peer Chavis, Chavistown Texas' most wealthy and prominent citizen. Once Prudence turned nineteen, Gidry gave her a ring and asked her to become his wife. But Gidry was wild and wanted to experience more out of life than his father, the small town, and ultimately Prudence could give him. Against his father's wishes, he boarded a train and left it all behind, including a note of apology to the girl he was to marry. Prudence, who had been publicly open regarding her tender feelings for Gidry, was devastated and humiliated in front of the whole town. Building a wall of pride to hide behind became her method of survival.

Now it's eight years later, and Gidry who has been working as a cowboy, has returned to step into his dying father's shoes. The town easily welcomes him back into their fold, except for Prudence who has remained unmarried. Gidry is now remorseful and much wiser regarding what he gave up, and whom he hurt in the process. He comes to realize he still has feelings for Prudence, and wants to win her back. But Prudence won't open herself to the chance of being hurt once again, even though in her heart of hearts, she's still in love with him.

After finishing this novel and giving it much thought, I've decided this has been one of the most difficult books for me to rate. This was the first book I've read by Ms. Morsi, and I don't know if this is typical of her work or not, but it was a unique reading experience from the romance genre. First of all, let me say this book is extremely well written, with an interesting enough story that captures the essence of small town Americana built upon well-developed, three-dimensional characters. Having said that, let me explain why I've awarded it three stars (I would actually award it 3 ½ stars if that were possible), instead of four or five.

This book could almost pass for a work of general fiction with a romance emphasis, because the other elements of the story such as: the relationship between Prudence's Aunt Hen and Peer, flower gardening, the secondary character of the kid, Sharpy, and the controversy over electric street lighting, together offset the romance between Gidry and Prudence from being center stage. Since I read this wanting and expecting the romance to be the primary focus, I felt I couldn't give it a higher rating. The only other comment I would like to make is Prudence did seem to hold fast to her pride for a little too long, and I was beginning to get tired of hearing her recite how they had the perfect love, and he ruined it. Anytime she began to think about him again, she would recite some rendition of this thought.

As for a recommendation, if you want to read a well written, pleasant work of fiction, with the romance as secondary, this would be a good choice. But if you're expecting the story to focus primarily on an intense, sensual romance between the main couple, this would not be the pick for you.

Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: I thought this book was funny and romantic. I enjoyed it so much that the next day I went out in search of another of her books. I found WILD OATS and enjoyed it as much.

Rating:
Summary: Eight years ago, he took everything for granted
Review: When the message finally reaches him that his father is near death, Gidry Chavis heads home to Chavistown filled with hope and dread. Eight years ago he had left town with his father's judgment ringing in his ears and he had abandoned the girl he had promised to marry. Now, he doesn't know what to expect when he reenters the town. Gidry loves his father, never more so than now when the old man hangs on by a thread. He vows to take up where his father left off and all of the people in Chavistown turn to him for reassurance and for progress, well almost all. Prudence Belmont belongs to the faith that a leopard cannot change its spots. This, she believes, also applies to Gidry Chavis, the childhood sweetheart who abandoned her, broke her heart, and left her to face the humiliation of gossip and speculation. Though it seems he has come home to Chavistown and wants to resume their childhood friendship, Prudence is mortified by the fact that he never loved her. As adults, she believes they can never share the purity of friendship that they had as children. When Gidry claims to love her, Prudence is unable to believe it or to accept it because it could never compare to the "perfect love" she thought they had shared years ago.

Pamela Morsi has written a dynamic Americana romance. She succeeds in capturing the life and animation of a small town and enriches it with the history of the Chavises who were behind the making of it. Through Gidry, Morsi illustrates the benefits and the disadvantages of inheriting such a legacy. Gidry's internal battle when it comes to his father is heart wrenching. On the one hand, he has always admired and loved his father deeply and he has always been loved and cared for in turn. On the other hand, Peer Chavis is a great man and full of high expectations for his only son. Clearly it was difficult for Gidry to live up to those expectations much less his father's own sterling reputation. Whereas Gidry learned to be a man, Prudence learned to be a proper woman. After consistently wearing her heart on her sleeve for all to see, Pru tucks in her emotions and keeps them to herself. Though she once claimed that pride could never compare to love, she now holds on to her pride and dignity with all her might. With Gidry's return to town, Pru finds herself confronting him on more than an emotional level as he seeks to keep his town safe from criminals with the advent of electrical street lighting and she seeks to preserve their old and unchanging ways. What enhances and emphasizes the love story between Gidry and Prudence is the one between her aunt and his father, which is powerful in its poignancy and nearly threatens the reader's focus on the reunion of the two main characters.

Rating:
Summary: Eight years ago, he took everything for granted
Review: When the message finally reaches him that his father is near death, Gidry Chavis heads home to Chavistown filled with hope and dread. Eight years ago he had left town with his father's judgment ringing in his ears and he had abandoned the girl he had promised to marry. Now, he doesn't know what to expect when he reenters the town. Gidry loves his father, never more so than now when the old man hangs on by a thread. He vows to take up where his father left off and all of the people in Chavistown turn to him for reassurance and for progress, well almost all. Prudence Belmont belongs to the faith that a leopard cannot change its spots. This, she believes, also applies to Gidry Chavis, the childhood sweetheart who abandoned her, broke her heart, and left her to face the humiliation of gossip and speculation. Though it seems he has come home to Chavistown and wants to resume their childhood friendship, Prudence is mortified by the fact that he never loved her. As adults, she believes they can never share the purity of friendship that they had as children. When Gidry claims to love her, Prudence is unable to believe it or to accept it because it could never compare to the "perfect love" she thought they had shared years ago.

Pamela Morsi has written a dynamic Americana romance. She succeeds in capturing the life and animation of a small town and enriches it with the history of the Chavises who were behind the making of it. Through Gidry, Morsi illustrates the benefits and the disadvantages of inheriting such a legacy. Gidry's internal battle when it comes to his father is heart wrenching. On the one hand, he has always admired and loved his father deeply and he has always been loved and cared for in turn. On the other hand, Peer Chavis is a great man and full of high expectations for his only son. Clearly it was difficult for Gidry to live up to those expectations much less his father's own sterling reputation. Whereas Gidry learned to be a man, Prudence learned to be a proper woman. After consistently wearing her heart on her sleeve for all to see, Pru tucks in her emotions and keeps them to herself. Though she once claimed that pride could never compare to love, she now holds on to her pride and dignity with all her might. With Gidry's return to town, Pru finds herself confronting him on more than an emotional level as he seeks to keep his town safe from criminals with the advent of electrical street lighting and she seeks to preserve their old and unchanging ways. What enhances and emphasizes the love story between Gidry and Prudence is the one between her aunt and his father, which is powerful in its poignancy and nearly threatens the reader's focus on the reunion of the two main characters.

Rating:
Summary: Really cute....
Review: Who would have thought the introduction of electric lighting would have wrought such controversy and, in this case, assisted true love. An enjoyable and fun reading experience.