Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Recorded Books (2003), Edition: Unabridged Audiobook, 12 cassette tapes, 17 hrs 15 mins
Description
Two lost souls find love in this heartfelt historical romance from bestselling author LaVyrle Spencer. In town, they called her "Crazy Widow Dinsmore." But Elly was no stranger to their ridicule-she had been an outsider all her life, growing up in a boarded-up old house under the strict eye of her eccentric grandparents. Now she was all alone, with two little boys to raise, and a third child on the way. Will Parker drifted into Whitney, Georgia, one lazy afternoon in the summer, hoping to put his lonely past behind him. He yearned for the tenderness he had never known, the home he'd never had. All he needed was for someone to give him a chance. Then he saw her classified ad: WANTED-A husband. When he stepped across Elly Dinsmore's cluttered yard, Will knew he had come home at last . . .… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member MsMoonlight
I can't begin to count the number of times I've read this book - its THAT good. It is full of "ooh" and "aahh" moments, out right laughing, tears and a fluttering heart reading about the unbelievable love and bond these two people form. If I could only recommend one romance book to a person who had
The setting is a sleepy Southern town in Georgia during the 1940's just before World War II breaks out. Elly Dinsmore is a recluse with a hurtful past. She is a "child of shame" and her crazy fundamentalist grandparents never let her or her mother forget it. They were locked away inside a home of mental and emotional torture for decades, not allowed outside to see anyone. When the authorities stepped in and forced them to send Elly to school it was yet another source of torment for the young girl. She was the object of laughter and ridicule, so when she came of age and met a man who was decent to her she left and never looked back.
When her husband suddenly dies and leaves her with two young boys barely out of diapers and her five months pregnant with another one on the way Elly is desperate. She needs a husband to help run the farm and care for her and her children. Elly places an ad for a husband in the paper and waits...and waits...and waits. Everyone calls her "Crazy Elly" and none of the towns people answer her ad.
Then one day Will Parker, a drifter fresh out of prison for murder comes to town. He gets a job at a saw mill and is quickly fired when news of his criminal record comes out. Will is a walking skeleton. It's been days since he's eaten. He is near hopeless when he sees Elly's ad. He doesn't expect to actually become any one's husband (who'd want a convicted murderer for a husband?), he figures as soon as the woman finds out he's been in prison he'll be sent on his way fast. But that's not Elly.
Elly sees the bag of bones walking up her property. He isn't much to look at but then again neither is she. She's not yet twenty-five years old yet she's tired and worn out looking from her hard life. While she's sizing Will up, he's sizing up her big belly and the appalling state of the farm she and her children live at. The place is falling down around their ears. Elly figures the place and her big belly will send Will running for the hills. Will thinks his past is going to get him chased off the property. But they are both surprised when the other looks passed first appearances to see more than meets the eye in each other. And their desperation causes them to give it a try and give each other a chance - something others had never really done for either of them.
Will moves into the barn for a trial period and each day he wakes up and works hard on the farm to prove himself to Elly. Each day Elly does what she can to make Will want to stay. Will is finally eating again and the man loves food and sweets. All Elly's good cooking begin to fill Will out and Elly can see what a handsome man Will is.
Will watches Elly like a drowning man looking at a boat. He has never been cared for or loved in his life. He was given away for adoption as a baby and shuffled from one orphanage to foster homes after another. He doesn't even know how old he is because he never knew his birthday. So when Elly is caring for her children, touching their hair, kissing their heads, reading them stories Will can't tear his eyes off the free flowing love Elly shows. He's never seen it or felt it before and it fascinates him and opens a desperate void in his heart to be loved by someone. To know what it feels like to be cared for, loved and wanted. Though he never expects it will happen to him, he still desperately wants it.
The trial period proves good for both of them and they decide to get married with the understanding that it will be a full real marriage after the baby is born. By this point they have both developed feelings for each other but neither has the confidence to say so. There are longing looks and wishful thinking happening but because both of them are carrying baggage from their pasts they don't really believe they will ever have true happiness. It's like the dream of something far out of reach, but they can't stop dreaming and wanting it. So when they do finally fall completely in love and come together it's so wonderful and profound you're celebrating with and for them!
Just as they come together the war breaks about and the draft starts calling men. Will is desperate to get the farm in top shape before he is called to duty so that Elly and the children will be OK if he doesn't ever come home again. When Will does come home, he's different. War and death have changed him and he needs Elly to help heal more than his wounded body as nightmares torment him and he guilt eats at him. But that's not the only trouble Will's got. When a woman is murdered in town, the sheriff goes right for Will Parker and arrests him for murder.
Will and Elly have the fight of their lives to clear Will's name and get their life back. They both have to face their demons, the town, their past and put their trust to the test.
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never read romance it would be THIS book. They'd be hooked.The setting is a sleepy Southern town in Georgia during the 1940's just before World War II breaks out. Elly Dinsmore is a recluse with a hurtful past. She is a "child of shame" and her crazy fundamentalist grandparents never let her or her mother forget it. They were locked away inside a home of mental and emotional torture for decades, not allowed outside to see anyone. When the authorities stepped in and forced them to send Elly to school it was yet another source of torment for the young girl. She was the object of laughter and ridicule, so when she came of age and met a man who was decent to her she left and never looked back.
When her husband suddenly dies and leaves her with two young boys barely out of diapers and her five months pregnant with another one on the way Elly is desperate. She needs a husband to help run the farm and care for her and her children. Elly places an ad for a husband in the paper and waits...and waits...and waits. Everyone calls her "Crazy Elly" and none of the towns people answer her ad.
Then one day Will Parker, a drifter fresh out of prison for murder comes to town. He gets a job at a saw mill and is quickly fired when news of his criminal record comes out. Will is a walking skeleton. It's been days since he's eaten. He is near hopeless when he sees Elly's ad. He doesn't expect to actually become any one's husband (who'd want a convicted murderer for a husband?), he figures as soon as the woman finds out he's been in prison he'll be sent on his way fast. But that's not Elly.
Elly sees the bag of bones walking up her property. He isn't much to look at but then again neither is she. She's not yet twenty-five years old yet she's tired and worn out looking from her hard life. While she's sizing Will up, he's sizing up her big belly and the appalling state of the farm she and her children live at. The place is falling down around their ears. Elly figures the place and her big belly will send Will running for the hills. Will thinks his past is going to get him chased off the property. But they are both surprised when the other looks passed first appearances to see more than meets the eye in each other. And their desperation causes them to give it a try and give each other a chance - something others had never really done for either of them.
Will moves into the barn for a trial period and each day he wakes up and works hard on the farm to prove himself to Elly. Each day Elly does what she can to make Will want to stay. Will is finally eating again and the man loves food and sweets. All Elly's good cooking begin to fill Will out and Elly can see what a handsome man Will is.
Will watches Elly like a drowning man looking at a boat. He has never been cared for or loved in his life. He was given away for adoption as a baby and shuffled from one orphanage to foster homes after another. He doesn't even know how old he is because he never knew his birthday. So when Elly is caring for her children, touching their hair, kissing their heads, reading them stories Will can't tear his eyes off the free flowing love Elly shows. He's never seen it or felt it before and it fascinates him and opens a desperate void in his heart to be loved by someone. To know what it feels like to be cared for, loved and wanted. Though he never expects it will happen to him, he still desperately wants it.
The trial period proves good for both of them and they decide to get married with the understanding that it will be a full real marriage after the baby is born. By this point they have both developed feelings for each other but neither has the confidence to say so. There are longing looks and wishful thinking happening but because both of them are carrying baggage from their pasts they don't really believe they will ever have true happiness. It's like the dream of something far out of reach, but they can't stop dreaming and wanting it. So when they do finally fall completely in love and come together it's so wonderful and profound you're celebrating with and for them!
Just as they come together the war breaks about and the draft starts calling men. Will is desperate to get the farm in top shape before he is called to duty so that Elly and the children will be OK if he doesn't ever come home again. When Will does come home, he's different. War and death have changed him and he needs Elly to help heal more than his wounded body as nightmares torment him and he guilt eats at him. But that's not the only trouble Will's got. When a woman is murdered in town, the sheriff goes right for Will Parker and arrests him for murder.
Will and Elly have the fight of their lives to clear Will's name and get their life back. They both have to face their demons, the town, their past and put their trust to the test.
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LibraryThing member ktleyed
This was a fantastic book! My first by this author, I couldn't wait to read it every chance I got. An oldie but goodie, I'd heard LaVyrle Spencer's books were great, but I had no idea how great, I'm sorry it took me this long to discover her. A simple yet touching story, set during WWII in Georgia
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of an ex-con, Will Parker who answers a newspaper ad from a young, pregnant widow who needs a husband to help her take care of her farm. This is his chance to start over with a good, decent, hard working life. Such a wonderful story! The characterizations were straight on and well handled, everything was just right, I can't think of a thing wrong with this book! Perfect! I was shocked to see it had been made into a movie back in the 1990's with Christopher Reeve and Deborah Raffin, but apparently it wasn't that great, so I think I'll skip it. I am eager to read more and more by this author and savor each of them. A keeper! Show Less
LibraryThing member reneebooks
MG was an emotional book about two very damaged people and the healing power of love. Both of them were unloved growing up and their story was heart wrenching and uplifting. Eleanor Dinsmore is a pregnant widow with two small boys living on a rundown farm. Will Parker is an ex-convict just fired
The secondary characters were three dimensional and vividly real. I especially loved Miss Beasley, the town librarian, who was crusty on the outside but had a heart of gold. My only quibble on this book was that I found it hard to believe that they could sleep together in the same bed for all those months and not have sex. But Will is such a beta hero that thinking about it further made me realize that this would be realistic for his character. And when they finally consummate their relationship it was rather subtle but nice just the same. I wanted some hot steamy sex! *sigh* Spencer just doesn't write that way. But I'm keeping this book to share with a few of my friends and my sister. They gotta love it. (Grade: A-)
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from his job when he answers Ellie's advertisement for a husband in the local newspaper. The way these two grow to love each other over time was wonderful.The secondary characters were three dimensional and vividly real. I especially loved Miss Beasley, the town librarian, who was crusty on the outside but had a heart of gold. My only quibble on this book was that I found it hard to believe that they could sleep together in the same bed for all those months and not have sex. But Will is such a beta hero that thinking about it further made me realize that this would be realistic for his character. And when they finally consummate their relationship it was rather subtle but nice just the same. I wanted some hot steamy sex! *sigh* Spencer just doesn't write that way. But I'm keeping this book to share with a few of my friends and my sister. They gotta love it. (Grade: A-)
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LibraryThing member Clairsigne
One of my all time favorite's, Elly and Will are two of my favorite characters, and Miss Beasley always makes me smile. I need to buy the hardcover because my poor paperback is worn out from so many re-reads.
LibraryThing member LarsTheLibrarian
Very, very good. Not my usual type of romance novel, but easily one that I would hand to someone who looks down on them. I know next to nothing about Georgia, particularly Georgia in 1941, so I am not the best judge of this, but I found the setting and diction to be spot on and well "illustrated".
I would read again, and definitely recommend to others.
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Writing realistic speech so easily comes off unrealistic, but I found myself mouthing Elly's words. The language FEELS spoken. That is very unusual. This also seems "meatier" than most romance novels. There is some sex, but not much and those are easily the worst written bits of the book, the heft is in more "slice of life" situations and several plot elements. The plot elements could be cheesy, but are not, possibly because they are contrasted with slice of life, baking pie, harvesting honey, washing diapers elements. It runs deep, exploring trust and self esteem along with love, Will needs a mother as well as a wife and lover, and his dynamic with Elly fulfills that. This is a need that comes up often with men, and yet, doesn't it sound creepy if you explain it wrong? I suppose the theme is more "need" than "desire".I would read again, and definitely recommend to others.
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LibraryThing member Luli81
Morning Glory is my first novel by Spencer and I can say it gave me what I was seeking.
I'm not an assiduous reader of contemporary romance, I prefer classic tittles or drama. But from time to time I enjoy taking an uncomplicated book, usually between some "heavy" readings, to have a break and to
Well, well, Mrs. Spencer is one of the best I've read so far!
It's not only the romance but the exploration of each of the characters, you learn of their weak sides first and what I most enjoyed is how they accept their faults in each other, finding an unbinding love on the way and creating one of the most dear fictional couples I can remember. Although the story is hardly realistic (where could you find a man like that?), it has some witty and romantic dialogues. I also loved being able to read Elly and Will's thoughts regarding each other from now and then.
The setting also helps, re-second World War depression in the States, a widowed mother and a lost soul fighting for redemption. As difficulties arise their bond grow stronger and they overcome their past fears together, as a real couple should do. I liked the message.
All in all, a satisfying reading for those who search for a bit of romance, lovely characters and happy endings.
So, not a keeper but I'll sure be reading more by this author!
I'm not an assiduous reader of contemporary romance, I prefer classic tittles or drama. But from time to time I enjoy taking an uncomplicated book, usually between some "heavy" readings, to have a break and to
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enjoy soapy stories. I've read several books by Deborah Smith, Nicholas Sparks, Judith McNaught and Nora Roberts.Well, well, Mrs. Spencer is one of the best I've read so far!
It's not only the romance but the exploration of each of the characters, you learn of their weak sides first and what I most enjoyed is how they accept their faults in each other, finding an unbinding love on the way and creating one of the most dear fictional couples I can remember. Although the story is hardly realistic (where could you find a man like that?), it has some witty and romantic dialogues. I also loved being able to read Elly and Will's thoughts regarding each other from now and then.
The setting also helps, re-second World War depression in the States, a widowed mother and a lost soul fighting for redemption. As difficulties arise their bond grow stronger and they overcome their past fears together, as a real couple should do. I liked the message.
All in all, a satisfying reading for those who search for a bit of romance, lovely characters and happy endings.
So, not a keeper but I'll sure be reading more by this author!
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LibraryThing member MrsJoseph
It's been years and years since I've read this. But I remember how touched I was by this story. I think I should go buy a copy.
LibraryThing member Ridley_
Orphan. Bastard. Convict. Woman-killer. Boy.
Will Parker has been called every name in the book, none of them inaccurate and all of them unflattering. Drifting into Whitney, Georgia in the summer of 1941, he's just been fired from the local sawmill on account of his stint in prison for killing a
The man walking up her drive looks as beat down as a man can get, but with two young boys and a third child due in a few months, Eleanor Dinsmore's willing to take any man willing to do a man's work around her house. Widowed when her dreamer husband falls from a tree he was cutting - onto the beehives he kept - she's left with a ramshackle house set amid the piles of junk, scrap and salvage her husband collected aimlessly. Much as she loved him anyways, the realities of running her home with three small children demands she find a helper, and fast.
What an amazing, well-written story this was. Spencer created such lush imagery, it felt like I was seeing the story, rather than reading it. I could all but smell the northwestern Georgia woods Eleanor's house lounged in and hear their bees buzzing about the junk heaps that dotted the yard. A passage early on in the book stood out for me in how it took something as mundane as carrying firewood and managed to make it visual and sensual:He knelt and loaded his arm with wood - good, sharp, biting edges that creased his skin where his sleeve was rolled back; grainy flat pieces that clacked together and echoed across the clearing.Much of the book is written like this, drawing a full picture that's a feast for the senses. When I can hear each bootstep and see the motes dancing in the sunbeams, it heightens my sense of immersion and turns the volume up on the emotions.
And emotion this book has. Both Elly and Will are drenched in feelings, both for each other and about themselves. They've come from dreadful, unloving childhoods - Will growing up in indifferent orphanages and foster homes and Elly living in a windowless house with her pious grandparents castigating her for being born out of wedlock - and are both learning to value themselves. They surprise each other a bit, I think, with how they seem to balance each other out. Will gets in Elly a rare friend and lover, but also a bit of the mother he never had. Elly gets from Will a friend and lover as well, sure, but she also gets needed confidence and a challenge to overcome her fears.
They work through their insecurities, weathering childbirth, WWII and a murder trial along the way, to come out stronger, healthier people in the end. It's a slow-moving, slow-burning sort of romance. They're continually growing together as the story progresses, rather than feeling an immediate passion which they then actively resist. It's an organic story of two people weathering the challenges life can throw at people and coming out stronger because of it.
It was a delight to read from start to finish. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves a story of two broken souls healing each other and a story that doesn't end with the "I love you" or the "I do."
Will Parker has been called every name in the book, none of them inaccurate and all of them unflattering. Drifting into Whitney, Georgia in the summer of 1941, he's just been fired from the local sawmill on account of his stint in prison for killing a
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woman in a Texas brothel. Bone-thin from hunger and wearing clothes stolen from a local's drying line, he decides to answer a woman's newspaper ad looking for a husband. The yard may be full of junk, the house a jumble of additions and the prospective wife a very pregnant mother of two who's known to the townspeople as "Crazy Elly," but he sees only an opportunity for redemption.The man walking up her drive looks as beat down as a man can get, but with two young boys and a third child due in a few months, Eleanor Dinsmore's willing to take any man willing to do a man's work around her house. Widowed when her dreamer husband falls from a tree he was cutting - onto the beehives he kept - she's left with a ramshackle house set amid the piles of junk, scrap and salvage her husband collected aimlessly. Much as she loved him anyways, the realities of running her home with three small children demands she find a helper, and fast.
What an amazing, well-written story this was. Spencer created such lush imagery, it felt like I was seeing the story, rather than reading it. I could all but smell the northwestern Georgia woods Eleanor's house lounged in and hear their bees buzzing about the junk heaps that dotted the yard. A passage early on in the book stood out for me in how it took something as mundane as carrying firewood and managed to make it visual and sensual:He knelt and loaded his arm with wood - good, sharp, biting edges that creased his skin where his sleeve was rolled back; grainy flat pieces that clacked together and echoed across the clearing.Much of the book is written like this, drawing a full picture that's a feast for the senses. When I can hear each bootstep and see the motes dancing in the sunbeams, it heightens my sense of immersion and turns the volume up on the emotions.
And emotion this book has. Both Elly and Will are drenched in feelings, both for each other and about themselves. They've come from dreadful, unloving childhoods - Will growing up in indifferent orphanages and foster homes and Elly living in a windowless house with her pious grandparents castigating her for being born out of wedlock - and are both learning to value themselves. They surprise each other a bit, I think, with how they seem to balance each other out. Will gets in Elly a rare friend and lover, but also a bit of the mother he never had. Elly gets from Will a friend and lover as well, sure, but she also gets needed confidence and a challenge to overcome her fears.
They work through their insecurities, weathering childbirth, WWII and a murder trial along the way, to come out stronger, healthier people in the end. It's a slow-moving, slow-burning sort of romance. They're continually growing together as the story progresses, rather than feeling an immediate passion which they then actively resist. It's an organic story of two people weathering the challenges life can throw at people and coming out stronger because of it.
It was a delight to read from start to finish. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves a story of two broken souls healing each other and a story that doesn't end with the "I love you" or the "I do."
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LibraryThing member nolak
Will Parker is a released convict and Eleanor (Ely) Dinsmore was an illegitimate child hidden away in shame by her grandparents. The two with shameful pasts come together and make something beautiful of their lives. The book is strong on characters and relationships with a slow moving pace that
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fits the Georgia setting. Show Less
LibraryThing member MrsJoseph
It's been years and years since I've read this. But I remember how touched I was by this story. I think I should go buy a copy.
LibraryThing member sweetcoco
I loved how the the author made the characters progress emotionally as well as physically (attractiveness wise) and also some personal conflict in between... I think this is a very good book and have read it twice!
LibraryThing member BookaholicCat
I loved every single thing about this book.
If you want a sweet, romantic and all around feel good book, don't look further, this is the one you want to read.
If you want a sweet, romantic and all around feel good book, don't look further, this is the one you want to read.
LibraryThing member Sarah_Gruwell
Holy carp, what an emotional journey! This author really knows how to make two broken and heart sick individuals burrow into the reader’s hearts and just set up blissful, HEA housekeeping there. I think I cried more reading this book than I have in a long time. The emotions are extremely crisp
This romance novel turns into something else entirely, in my humble opinion. The author starts out with two very damaged people whose pasts alone will make the reader’s heart cringe for them. Their coming together and overcoming of their pasts to move into the future would be a fantastic romantic plot by itself. Yet, the author really does something special when she incorporates WWII and the final hurdle at the end. All the elements together elevate this book to an actual piece of historical fiction and not just a romance novel.
I really enjoyed the WWII elements, since that’s my kick this year. A family man knowing he’s going to be called away from his young family, the heart searing letters between husband and wife, the intense respect the people back home have for their veterans, and the details we get of the intense battles in the Guadalcanal region kept me on the edge of my seat and my heart twinging for these two leads.
And our two leads…. Just wow. I can’t think of two more damaged people than these two. Their pasts are so bleak that the love they find in each other seems even more elevated due to them. I guess at times their pasts might have edged into melodramatic territory versus reality. But you know what? The reader is carried away on the emotional ride so much that at least I didn’t even notice! I loved these two from page one and was sucked into their story from the very start.
Beautiful romantic connection between the two leads, great historical details, and emotions intense enough to make you viscerally experience the story in your gut make this a romantic novel to remember. Even if the lead’s backgrounds might slide into melodrama at times, it in no way takes away from the story. The reader is swept away no matter what. I might have to check out these older romantic novels now, if this book is anything to judge by. What a beautiful story!!!
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and vibrant, making the reader live and experience every slight and fearful moment as well as every breeze of romance and love.This romance novel turns into something else entirely, in my humble opinion. The author starts out with two very damaged people whose pasts alone will make the reader’s heart cringe for them. Their coming together and overcoming of their pasts to move into the future would be a fantastic romantic plot by itself. Yet, the author really does something special when she incorporates WWII and the final hurdle at the end. All the elements together elevate this book to an actual piece of historical fiction and not just a romance novel.
I really enjoyed the WWII elements, since that’s my kick this year. A family man knowing he’s going to be called away from his young family, the heart searing letters between husband and wife, the intense respect the people back home have for their veterans, and the details we get of the intense battles in the Guadalcanal region kept me on the edge of my seat and my heart twinging for these two leads.
And our two leads…. Just wow. I can’t think of two more damaged people than these two. Their pasts are so bleak that the love they find in each other seems even more elevated due to them. I guess at times their pasts might have edged into melodramatic territory versus reality. But you know what? The reader is carried away on the emotional ride so much that at least I didn’t even notice! I loved these two from page one and was sucked into their story from the very start.
Beautiful romantic connection between the two leads, great historical details, and emotions intense enough to make you viscerally experience the story in your gut make this a romantic novel to remember. Even if the lead’s backgrounds might slide into melodrama at times, it in no way takes away from the story. The reader is swept away no matter what. I might have to check out these older romantic novels now, if this book is anything to judge by. What a beautiful story!!!
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LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
Morning Glory takes place in Whitney, Georgia just before the United States' entry into World War II. Ellie Dinsmore is a widow, pregnant, with two small boys, living on a ramshackle farm. Will Parker is an ex-convict who has just been fired from the first job he's had since since he left prison.
There are a number of delightful secondary characters, from spinster librarian Miss Beasley, to Robert Collins, Lydia Marsh, and all the way down to Nathaniel and Norris MacReady, who comprise Whitney’s Civilian Guard during the war years. Lula Peak, the town slut, and Harley Overmire, superintendent at the local sawmill who cuts off his trigger finger rather than be drafted, are two other key secondary characters that are very unlikable. Throughout the book, the dialogue is so good you can virtually hear the different accents and see each character’s background and education just from hearing them talk. I though it was a slow-burning romantic tale of two broken people that learn to heal together.
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He is literally starving to death. When Will sees Ellie's advertisement for a husband in the town newspaper, he walks out to her farm. When he meets Crazy Ellie Dinsmore, will is not sure what to expect. She’s several months pregnant, has two young children, and looks tired and haggard. Her place is falling apart and she looks like she could do the same. It is obvious that she is desperate, but then so is he, and both are looking for a change in their fortunes. They both agree to a trial period where they will see how they get along. Will is determined to prove his worth and Ellie is hoping to prove she’s not crazy.There are a number of delightful secondary characters, from spinster librarian Miss Beasley, to Robert Collins, Lydia Marsh, and all the way down to Nathaniel and Norris MacReady, who comprise Whitney’s Civilian Guard during the war years. Lula Peak, the town slut, and Harley Overmire, superintendent at the local sawmill who cuts off his trigger finger rather than be drafted, are two other key secondary characters that are very unlikable. Throughout the book, the dialogue is so good you can virtually hear the different accents and see each character’s background and education just from hearing them talk. I though it was a slow-burning romantic tale of two broken people that learn to heal together.
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LibraryThing member SylviaC
This is the first book I've read by the author. A lovely romance between two social outcasts, set during World War II. At first I thought it was going to be a serious, depressing book, but it turned out to be full of joy and wonder, with plenty of unexpected humour. Yes, there were some dark,
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unpleasant characters and events that I didn't enjoy reading about at all, but the good stuff was so good! I was surprised at how much I liked it, because many of Spencer's books don't look the least bit appealing to me. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
(CC has this in LP and regular)
LibraryThing member N.W.Moors
Morning Glory is a historical romance that takes place in Georgia just as WWII breaks out. Will Parker is an ex-con looking for a job and home in Georgia when he sees an advertisement from a woman looking for a husband. Eleanor Dinsmore is a pregnant widow with two toddlers and a farm full of junk.
This is a wonderful story of a country coming off the Depression into the throes of war. Ms. Spencer does a terrific job of getting all the details right. I'm not quite old enough to validate them myself, but I heard plenty of stories from my parents about listening to radios and working on a farm. It's a joy to read a story where the setting is so well done.
Will is just a sweetheart with a backstory that could make you weep. And Ellie's life has been just as hard, illegitimate in a strict religious family. Her children are adorable, and Miss Beasley, the town librarian and friend to the Parker family, is perfect in her role as a curmudgeonly friend. It's a wonderful story about overcoming fears and doing what's necessary for country, for family, and for love.
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The two immediately recognize that the other is exactly what they need, but it takes a few months before they fall in love and marry. This is a wonderful story of a country coming off the Depression into the throes of war. Ms. Spencer does a terrific job of getting all the details right. I'm not quite old enough to validate them myself, but I heard plenty of stories from my parents about listening to radios and working on a farm. It's a joy to read a story where the setting is so well done.
Will is just a sweetheart with a backstory that could make you weep. And Ellie's life has been just as hard, illegitimate in a strict religious family. Her children are adorable, and Miss Beasley, the town librarian and friend to the Parker family, is perfect in her role as a curmudgeonly friend. It's a wonderful story about overcoming fears and doing what's necessary for country, for family, and for love.
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LibraryThing member KristinaMiranda
Loved this book! LaVyrle Spencer did such a good job creating characters that you love and care about from page one. This is one of my favorites from her!
LibraryThing member WhiskeyintheJar
3.5 stars
*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.
WANTED—A HUSBAND. Need Healthy man of any age willing to work spread and share the place. See E. Dinsmore, top of Rock Creek Road
April's
Will Parker's eyes were drawn to her stomach as she rested a hand on it. He thought about how maybe there was more than one kind of prison.
Will starving and having no money, decides that he will check out the widower at the edge town “Crazy Elly” and her newspaper ad asking for a husband. When I tell you, the pain of these two, gah. Will's constantly thinking, please let me stay, knowing he looks like a half-starved vagabond, who Elly knows, because he told her, that he served jail time for killing a woman but drawn to something warm in Elly's aura. The house and property are run down but Elly and her two small boys seem happy and for someone who was abandoned as a baby and on his own his whole life, Will can't help but want to be welcomed into that magic, even if Elly is pregnant with a third child. Elly for her part knows she needs help and is constantly thinking, please stay, even though she knows she's not pretty, has children and pregnant, run down farm, and is called “Crazy Elly” because of her past. They're both yearning for what the other can give and I honestly felt like a voyeur reading their relationship this first half as they slowly grew to trust one another.
She was a good mother, a fine woman who'd been locked in a house and called crazy, and if he didn't tell her she wasn't, who would?
The first half also gives a pov from a woman in town called Lula, who is said to run “hot” and wants Will but he rebuffs her because he knows those kind of women can lead to trouble because of his past. Readers do learn about the murder he went to jail for and it's, probably of course, nothing that makes him nonredeemable. Lula is that classic “other woman” villain that makes you uncomfortable reading because she's backed by a whole lot of slut-shaming, but it's, pretty obvious, why she's included and while she disappears for the majority of the middle of the story, her set-up comes into play for the last half. There's also a Miss Beasley, librarian, that was a great character (Mentally, I've given her a novella HEA with the lawyer) but, geez, yeah for women with facial hair being talked about but did the hair on her upper lip have to be mentioned, SO MANY times? Like, damn, give the gal a break. Anyway, by midpoint, Will and Elly have decided to marry and they have grown to the I love yous. I can say, even if it didn't feel over-the-top passionate (which can be considered better by some romance readers) I did believe they loved each other. Elly growing up locked up in her home, constantly being told she's a sin, until the law forced her grandparents (side question: I thought it was going to be directly said but am I the only one who thought her grandfather raped her mother and that was what was with the “drawn shades” business?) to let her go to school, but she was considered “crazy” because of her lack of socialization, and only getting befriended by her first husband (he died a'la Bridgerton, bee stings) had never really had a man care for her the way Will did, or turn her on. Will was never cared for either and had no one to care for, so when they meet, it's a pretty simple scenario of two people deserving love and finding the person that connects with them to give it. It felt real their feelings and why I said it gave a voyeuristic feeling for me.
She smiled into the bluebird's painted eye, her own shining with delight. "A bluebird...imagine that." She pressed it to her heart and beamed at Will. "How did you know I like birds?"
He knew. He knew.
The second half is where things really slowed down for me. Pearl Harbor gets bombed and Will gets drafted. There's a couple chapters of letter writing between Will, Elly, and Miss Beasley and then a really great scene where Elly has to rush to see Will before he gets shipped to the Pacific. She's had the baby by now (the birth scene was something else with Will playing doctor) and while they managed to have sex once before he left for boot camp, these two are ramped up. I love how the author described their attraction, from how Will was sitting in the chair and Elly eyeing him up and Elly breastfeeding with Will seeing her exposed boob, could definitely feel the tension in the air. Will gets injured and he's eventually sent home after being medically discharged because of shrapnel in his leg. The townspeople view him differently and he gets the respect he's craved but he's also suffering from PTSD and that delivers some strain between him and Elly until he eventually opens up to her. We're at around 80% when Lula comes back into the picture and Will's suddenly arrested for her murder. The ending was the court case and Elly trying to help prove him innocent until the last 5% gives us the HEA.
He wanted to take her close, cradle her head and rub her shoulder and say. "Tell me...tell me what it is that hurts so bad, then we'll work at getting you over it."
The first half, a slower moving but pulling you in with these two and their hurts and pains, learning to come together but the second half was a slower moving left me kind of disinterested ending. I read this in almost one shot and kind of glad I did, because even though slower moving usually calls for savoring, pacing out, I feel like this would be one that would be hard to pick up again, so my two cents of advice. These two will linger with me because of how real they felt but I'm not sure I could recommended, maybe just the first half and that meet-up in Augusta. Hope springs eternal for a Donald Wade, Thomas, and Lizzy P. spin-off series! (Elly's kids)
Guess what I'm watching tonight? (Hint: check out what's on Tubi)
*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.
WANTED—A HUSBAND. Need Healthy man of any age willing to work spread and share the place. See E. Dinsmore, top of Rock Creek Road
April's
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TBRChallenge theme was No Place Like Home, so I chose Morning Glory, a book on my tbr for decades. A drifter who's never had a home but works hard to make one with a widow, sounded like a perfect fit to the theme. The first half of this, I raced through. There's a prologue of a young mother bringing her baby home and her parents locking her up in the house because they're ashamed of her “sin”, it's 1917 and unwed mother's are not looked upon kindly. The story then quickly jumps to 1941 and to a drifter named Will about to be fired from a sawmill because it's found out that he served five years in prison for murdering a woman. I had to pause to imagine one of those graphics with arrows pointing at the book listing tropes, “Murderer!” “Shut-in recluse!”.Will Parker's eyes were drawn to her stomach as she rested a hand on it. He thought about how maybe there was more than one kind of prison.
Will starving and having no money, decides that he will check out the widower at the edge town “Crazy Elly” and her newspaper ad asking for a husband. When I tell you, the pain of these two, gah. Will's constantly thinking, please let me stay, knowing he looks like a half-starved vagabond, who Elly knows, because he told her, that he served jail time for killing a woman but drawn to something warm in Elly's aura. The house and property are run down but Elly and her two small boys seem happy and for someone who was abandoned as a baby and on his own his whole life, Will can't help but want to be welcomed into that magic, even if Elly is pregnant with a third child. Elly for her part knows she needs help and is constantly thinking, please stay, even though she knows she's not pretty, has children and pregnant, run down farm, and is called “Crazy Elly” because of her past. They're both yearning for what the other can give and I honestly felt like a voyeur reading their relationship this first half as they slowly grew to trust one another.
She was a good mother, a fine woman who'd been locked in a house and called crazy, and if he didn't tell her she wasn't, who would?
The first half also gives a pov from a woman in town called Lula, who is said to run “hot” and wants Will but he rebuffs her because he knows those kind of women can lead to trouble because of his past. Readers do learn about the murder he went to jail for and it's, probably of course, nothing that makes him nonredeemable. Lula is that classic “other woman” villain that makes you uncomfortable reading because she's backed by a whole lot of slut-shaming, but it's, pretty obvious, why she's included and while she disappears for the majority of the middle of the story, her set-up comes into play for the last half. There's also a Miss Beasley, librarian, that was a great character (Mentally, I've given her a novella HEA with the lawyer) but, geez, yeah for women with facial hair being talked about but did the hair on her upper lip have to be mentioned, SO MANY times? Like, damn, give the gal a break. Anyway, by midpoint, Will and Elly have decided to marry and they have grown to the I love yous. I can say, even if it didn't feel over-the-top passionate (which can be considered better by some romance readers) I did believe they loved each other. Elly growing up locked up in her home, constantly being told she's a sin, until the law forced her grandparents (side question: I thought it was going to be directly said but am I the only one who thought her grandfather raped her mother and that was what was with the “drawn shades” business?) to let her go to school, but she was considered “crazy” because of her lack of socialization, and only getting befriended by her first husband (he died a'la Bridgerton, bee stings) had never really had a man care for her the way Will did, or turn her on. Will was never cared for either and had no one to care for, so when they meet, it's a pretty simple scenario of two people deserving love and finding the person that connects with them to give it. It felt real their feelings and why I said it gave a voyeuristic feeling for me.
She smiled into the bluebird's painted eye, her own shining with delight. "A bluebird...imagine that." She pressed it to her heart and beamed at Will. "How did you know I like birds?"
He knew. He knew.
The second half is where things really slowed down for me. Pearl Harbor gets bombed and Will gets drafted. There's a couple chapters of letter writing between Will, Elly, and Miss Beasley and then a really great scene where Elly has to rush to see Will before he gets shipped to the Pacific. She's had the baby by now (the birth scene was something else with Will playing doctor) and while they managed to have sex once before he left for boot camp, these two are ramped up. I love how the author described their attraction, from how Will was sitting in the chair and Elly eyeing him up and Elly breastfeeding with Will seeing her exposed boob, could definitely feel the tension in the air. Will gets injured and he's eventually sent home after being medically discharged because of shrapnel in his leg. The townspeople view him differently and he gets the respect he's craved but he's also suffering from PTSD and that delivers some strain between him and Elly until he eventually opens up to her. We're at around 80% when Lula comes back into the picture and Will's suddenly arrested for her murder. The ending was the court case and Elly trying to help prove him innocent until the last 5% gives us the HEA.
He wanted to take her close, cradle her head and rub her shoulder and say. "Tell me...tell me what it is that hurts so bad, then we'll work at getting you over it."
The first half, a slower moving but pulling you in with these two and their hurts and pains, learning to come together but the second half was a slower moving left me kind of disinterested ending. I read this in almost one shot and kind of glad I did, because even though slower moving usually calls for savoring, pacing out, I feel like this would be one that would be hard to pick up again, so my two cents of advice. These two will linger with me because of how real they felt but I'm not sure I could recommended, maybe just the first half and that meet-up in Augusta. Hope springs eternal for a Donald Wade, Thomas, and Lizzy P. spin-off series! (Elly's kids)
Guess what I'm watching tonight? (Hint: check out what's on Tubi)
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Awards
RITA Award (Finalist — 1990)
Minnesota Book Awards (Finalist — 1989)
AAR Top 100 Romances (81 — [Previously 1998-56 / 2004-13] Most Recent Rank - 2007)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1989-02
ISBN
1402522525 / 9781402522529
Local notes
Publishers Weekly:
Tall, dark and handsome Will Parker has served time for the killing of a Texas prostitute, but keeps losing jobs as his reputation becomes known. In the small town of Whitney, Ga., at the beginning of WW II, he answers the advertisement of a pregnant widow and mother of two, the abused and reclusive Eleanor Dinsmore, who is looking for a husband. Soon in love with ostensibly plain, bedraggled Ellie, Parker dotes on her two boys, and works to support the family. Fittingly for this sort of bucolic idyll, Will and Ellie, despite their rudimentary educations, love books and develop a special friendship with wise old Miss Beasley, the local librarian. Alas, brazen and rapacious Lula Peak, the town floozie, sets her sights on Will, waylaying him in the library; meantime, Lula is blackmailing her lover, the cowardly Harley Overmire, who is no friend of Will.
Tall, dark and handsome Will Parker has served time for the killing of a Texas prostitute, but keeps losing jobs as his reputation becomes known. In the small town of Whitney, Ga., at the beginning of WW II, he answers the advertisement of a pregnant widow and mother of two, the abused and reclusive Eleanor Dinsmore, who is looking for a husband. Soon in love with ostensibly plain, bedraggled Ellie, Parker dotes on her two boys, and works to support the family. Fittingly for this sort of bucolic idyll, Will and Ellie, despite their rudimentary educations, love books and develop a special friendship with wise old Miss Beasley, the local librarian. Alas, brazen and rapacious Lula Peak, the town floozie, sets her sights on Will, waylaying him in the library; meantime, Lula is blackmailing her lover, the cowardly Harley Overmire, who is no friend of Will.