Rating: 
Summary: Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence
Review: The new big city bank manger in Ferguson, Colorado has a reputation for a tough attitude, no longer simply granting loans on a man's word and a handshake. Few townspeople have see the vulnerable side of Bailey Chancellor, a woman who would over extend her generosity because a man's family faces a crisis or take in strays. Even fewer would suspect her soft heart stems from her own years spent feeling like a stray as she was shuttled through foster care as a child. Such experience has instilled a strong desire for a home filled with children - something her neighbor Trent Murdock makes clear he does not want. Indeed, the only thing Bailey and Trent have in common is a fear of risking devastating loss again. When his seven-year-old daughter Sarah died two years ago, the pain isolated Trent from everyone. His wife had been unable to cope with their daughter's cancer, leaving a few weeks before Sarah's death. Trent still feels empty, filled with only grief. When he sees the stranger at his daughter's grave sympathetically admiring ornaments, he resents her presence. He planted a Christmas tree at his Sarah's grave, adding ornaments periodically as the mood suits him. Trent resents Bailey's intrusion into his life even as he finds himself wildly attracted to her. Conversely, Bailey's had enough of shallow men who don't believe in love and romance. Despite Trent's obvious resistance, she feels drawn to him, and wants to release some of the pain haunting his eyes. Trent and Bailey find themselves at cross-purposes that eventually lead to healing in SARAH'S LEGACY. Trent wants to isolate; Bailey draws him from his reclusive shell. Trent had a family and lost it; Bailey has never had a family and wants to create it. Such complexity of characterization lends the novel realism and believability as the characters move toward healing and self-forgiveness. With a charming menagerie of pets, from a half blind horse to a dog that jumps six foot fences, SARAH'S LEGACY becomes a delightful blend of the poignant and the amusing, resulting in an incredibly touching tale. Do be certain to have a tissue handy, as the tears come from the touching and from the joyful. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A heartwarming story!
Review: This is the tale of two people each missing something in their lives until they find one another. Bailey Chancellor, raised in a series of foster homes, has always longed for a family of her own. Trent Murdock, grieving from the loss of his little girl who died a year ago from cancer, is a tough cowboy who only wants to be left alone. But he begins to change his mind once he meets Bailey. This book won an award for the best first series novel of the year from Romantic Times magazine.
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