Rating: 
Summary: Excellent... as always!
Review: Ms. Garlock does it again with another wonderful story, and excellent cast of characters. The chemistry between Nelda and Lute is electric... as are the fights they are almost guaranteed to get into with every meeting.Nelda, a stubborn woman forced to grow up too early when her strict father tears her away from the man she so desperately loves, when she becomse pregnant as a teenager. Obviously the relationship Nelda had with her parents has left her with a low self esteem, that when Lute tries to court her, she picks up and twists every word he's ever said to her disadvantage... too scared to again feel the pain of the first time she lost him. She quickly decides she would be inadequate as a farmer's wife, and Lute will quickly tire of her anyways... so she is determined to make a clean break, only after she's already too far gone and with a broken heart. Will Lute come after here? Of course! But the twists and turns of this story, and the emotional chemistry between the two are sure to start a fire at every meeting. Lute, a charming farmer... terrified to feel the pain of a broken heart, and knowing the sophisticated career city girl that returns to her grandparents farm will surely bring to surface the unbearable pain that has been quietly lingering since the day he first lost Nelda. He's drawn to her, and cannot help but get close to her again... but each time he crosses the line, he reminds himself that Nelda is a city girl, and would never be satisfied as a farmers wife. Too scared to get hurt again, he lashes out at her with words that play like a tape recorder in her head, after every encounter. Everyone of the friends they make see how much the couple are in love, but their own pride and misunderstandings keep getting in the way. It will take one thing to break the vicious cycle, and maybe a little intervention from a good friend. This is an excellent story, and I was surprised to read the other reviews on this site. Towards the end, I do think it dragged a little too much, however, it still supplied great memories that added to the final result of the story. I would have given this five stars, however, I've read other Dorothy Garlock books and seen how talented she truly is... this is an excellent story... not her best, but still one of the best I ever read. If you are a first time Dorothy Garlock reader, grab the With Song series. It's my favorite series. This is not a series, as many of her books are... but very good! Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent... as always!
Review: Ms. Garlock does it again with another wonderful story, and excellent cast of characters. The chemistry between Nelda and Lute is electric... as are the fights they are almost guaranteed to get into with every meeting. Nelda, a stubborn woman forced to grow up too early when her strict father tears her away from the man she so desperately loves, when she becomse pregnant as a teenager. Obviously the relationship Nelda had with her parents has left her with a low self esteem, that when Lute tries to court her, she picks up and twists every word he's ever said to her disadvantage... too scared to again feel the pain of the first time she lost him. She quickly decides she would be inadequate as a farmer's wife, and Lute will quickly tire of her anyways... so she is determined to make a clean break, only after she's already too far gone and with a broken heart. Will Lute come after here? Of course! But the twists and turns of this story, and the emotional chemistry between the two are sure to start a fire at every meeting. Lute, a charming farmer... terrified to feel the pain of a broken heart, and knowing the sophisticated career city girl that returns to her grandparents farm will surely bring to surface the unbearable pain that has been quietly lingering since the day he first lost Nelda. He's drawn to her, and cannot help but get close to her again... but each time he crosses the line, he reminds himself that Nelda is a city girl, and would never be satisfied as a farmers wife. Too scared to get hurt again, he lashes out at her with words that play like a tape recorder in her head, after every encounter. Everyone of the friends they make see how much the couple are in love, but their own pride and misunderstandings keep getting in the way. It will take one thing to break the vicious cycle, and maybe a little intervention from a good friend. This is an excellent story, and I was surprised to read the other reviews on this site. Towards the end, I do think it dragged a little too much, however, it still supplied great memories that added to the final result of the story. I would have given this five stars, however, I've read other Dorothy Garlock books and seen how talented she truly is... this is an excellent story... not her best, but still one of the best I ever read. If you are a first time Dorothy Garlock reader, grab the With Song series. It's my favorite series. This is not a series, as many of her books are... but very good! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: totally disappointed
Review: Nelda Hanson left her heart in Iowa eight years ago. She's built a life and a career for herself in Chicago, but it's time to go home. Time to face the memories that await her there. Lute Hanson sees the girl he once loved all grown up, a business woman. He knows there's no place for her in his life, but his heart won't listen. Two people who share some tender and some bitter memories...but maybe they share something else as well...maybe it's love? Dorothy Garlock never fails to deliver a fantastic story!
Rating: 
Summary: Garlock Shines!
Review: Nelda Hanson left her heart in Iowa eight years ago. She's built a life and a career for herself in Chicago, but it's time to go home. Time to face the memories that await her there. Lute Hanson sees the girl he once loved all grown up, a business woman. He knows there's no place for her in his life, but his heart won't listen. Two people who share some tender and some bitter memories...but maybe they share something else as well...maybe it's love? Dorothy Garlock never fails to deliver a fantastic story!
Rating:
Summary: Hard to like this woman!
Review: This book was well-written and was hard to put down. The characteristics of the male main character were endearing. Those of the female main character, however, were cold-hearted witch on a broom. Because of her AWFUL personality, the reader is tempted to say, //run like the wind, Lute, you deserve better than that.// The storyline was great, the era was well recreated, and the suspense perfect... though a little long.
Rating:
Summary: Oh my,
Review: this was a terrible book!! This title could have been an interesting read if written better, but was only so much twaddle! A used single ply tissue has more strength than featured characters Lute and Nelda! The few dramatic scenes thrown in certainly would have enhanced the book if they had been played out instead of stopping at a safe point. It seems the whole book was written because the author wanted to mention the fact that musicians Holly, Valens, and Richardson were killed in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Ia. This is the first book by Garlock I have read, and most likely the last!!
Rating:
Summary: Dorothy Garlock at her Best!
Review: When high-school senior Nelda Hansen becomes pregnant, she is forced to wed Lute Hanson by her domineering father who orders Lute out of Nelda's life as soon as the vows are exchanged. Soon after the birth of a daughter, Nelda returns to the Iowa home of the grandparents where she had lived for the last several years where she hears Lute has joined the Navy. Sadly, the baby contracts an infection and dies when she is six month old, her father never having laid eyes on her. With the help of her grandparents, Nelda then moves to Chicago where she goes to school and becomes a commercial interior designer of some renown. When she needs a break, she returns to Clear Lake, Iowa, to the farm her grandfather left her in his will. Both grandparents are gone now but Nelda feels a sense of security in the place where she'd known such happiness all those years ago. She hopes for a bit of R&R and to re-evaluate her life. What she doesn't figure on is running into Lute. Unbeknownst to Nelda, Lute has been renting the land which is now hers (an attorney has managed her affairs in Iowa while she was in Chicago). Lute keeps finding excuses to help her out and eventually Nelda discovers that the ring he wears on the third finger of his left hand is not because he's married -- it's the one he had bought when they were married. When a night of passion leads to complications neither one of them expected, Nelda is determined to withdraw from Lute and plans to move from Clear Lake as soon as possible. MORE THAN MEMORY is a real page-turner, full of the grit and reality which readers have come to expect of a Dorothy Garlock novel. Since she is writing about the town she has lived in since the 1950s, the descriptions of the town and the surrounding area are richly detailed. She includes some of the most tragic events of the 1950s in her story including the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper who were killed in a plane crash outside of Clear Lake after a 1959 concert and even sets a scene at that last concert. Lute, whose dedication and caring for Nelda have lasted more than a decade, makes a wonderful hero. A particularly poignant scene has them meeting for the first time in over eight years at their daughter's gravesite. Nelda is sometimes too stubborn for her own good, but given her circumstances, her actions are understandable. What seems to be stubbornness is more of a defense mechanism because she doesn't want to get hurt again. I enjoyed reading a book set in 1958-59 - years of my childhood and can remember time spent at my grandparents' farm during that same time which really helped this story come alive. I hope more authors will take the chance of writing less than traditional time-periods for their books as Garlock has. It was, for this reviewer, like a trip down memory lane. According to the notes on the copyright page, MORE THAN MEMORY is evidently a rewrite of one of Dorothy Garlock's early books written as Johanna Phillips in 1982 for the Second Chance at Love line, PASSION'S SONG. At over 380 pages, it's more than just a simple rewrite, it's a complete re-working of the shorter novel.
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