Rating: Summary: A really good book! Review: Wonderful, wonderful! I agree! LaVyrle Spencer is one of my favorite authors. Her books are about everyday people- lives that touch you. There are times you cry for the characters and times you laugh at them. I enjoy that they are in different settings and times. This particular book is during the early 1900's when automobiles have just come out. Through this story the reader really gets a glimpse of what women went through in the earlier years before women's rights. Roberta Jewitt has had enough of her "playboy husband" who came around when he needed money or a place to stay. After several years of marriage she has filed for divorce and brought her 3 girls back home to renew her relationship with her family. Divorce was not an accepted thing back then especially when instigated by the woman. The townspeople look at her like she is diseased, her mother and sister are furious at the disgrace she has caused them, men think she is "fair game" for their pre-marital affairs (especially her brother-in-law who won't take no for an answere), etc. But she always had her daughters' love and respect.Gabe Farley is a handy-man around town who is a widow of several years with a teenage daughter. He has made a good life for the 2 of them but he is lonely, still hanging onto the love of his dear deceased wife. Recognizing that fact that Roberta needs his help to get the house she has purchased presentable for her and the girls to live in to- makes a deal to get it in shape. While he is there everyday, he is given a chance to get to know Roberta for who she really is instead of listening to gossip. He comes to appreciate the time they spend together- realizing the void he has had in his life up to now. But what will people say he's seeing a "divorced woman"? It is a story of strong family ties and values, and the sweetest of love stories.
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