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 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."
Will Parker had hit rock bottom. He was finally free after spending five years in prison. Thin to the point of appearing emaciated, cautious and scared of the future, he agreed to marry the 'Crazy Widow Dinsmore' in exchange for assisting her with her home. A littered yard, squeaky door hinges, a musty barn and a broken ladder were just a few of the things that needed attending.Five months pregnant and with two little ones, Elly Dinsmore needed a man around the house. She had put an ad in the local newspaper along with placing some bulletins around town inviting men to apply. Her offer? Marriage, with a place to live, in exchange for some help. No one had answered her offer until Will appeared in the yard. A little impatient and somewhat bossy, she sensed but couldn't fully comprehend what Will's past had been like. She had loved her husband even though he was a dreamer with little common sense. He died doing something foolish and left her to fend for herself and their children. She desperately needed someone to help her. "In the hayloft, Will sank his head into a pillow made of real feathers and stretched out on the soft handmade quilt. His belly was full, his teeth were clean, his skin smelled of soap. And somewhere out there was a mule, and beehives and chickens and a house with possibilities.She was going to keep him!"This homespun romance traveled back to 1941 with World War Two on the immediate horizon. If you have never read a historical romance by LaVyrle Spencer, I suggest you try this story first. It contains a plucky, common-sense heroine, a man that will melt your heart, earthy children, a cow named Herbert, an unusual friendship and so much more. You will smile and, like me, you will probably cry. The only thing I had minor issues with was the southern twang the author used. It might be hard to follow for those readers not familiar with the idiosyncrasies Ms. Spencer uses. And no, most of us living in the southern U.S. do not talk like that! There, I said it. :-)Lastly, if you enjoy this time period and want to read another historical romance with a different picture of World War Two, try Ann Howard Creel's THE MAGIC Of ORDINARY DAYS. I originally watched the Hallmark movie, loved it and then read the book. The movie is a slightly different version of the story that has been cleansed. I also gave that romance five stars.
What do You think about Morning Glory (1991)?
This book is hundred percent different from any other love story ever written. Eleanor is not a young virginal miss. Will is not a CEO of a fortune 500 company. Instead we have a woman with two little ones and carrying the third. Will is an ex-convict, guilty of murdering a prostitute. When they meet in the fall of 1941, it's more of two lonely, wounded souls finding each other. And in finding each other, they find the greatest love. Outside forces are determined to part them. It's more than just small town gossip or enemy bombs dropping on an obscure harbor. They also have to find it in each other the strength to fight for them.Of all the romances I've read, this one remains my favorite. Instead of the fairytale romance, we get a gritty, real-life romance. One that resonates and it's not forgotten at the end of the book. Spencer has created truly unique characters and place them at a crossroads of America's history. Just one book that I will eagerly recommend, though I've learned not to loan it out. It rarely returns.
—Larilee
Wonderful, beautiful book!! My gosh, Will Parker... wow! To me, this book was really about him. You just want to see his life become something he deserves. Love, happiness, somewhere to belong. I loved Elly but she seemed somehow stronger than Will, she had the kids and yes she had a tough life too, but Will, he is the one you really pulled for. The one your heart broke for. This story was just So good! So, so good. I want to keep this story close to my heart to review when I am idle, just to remember the sweetness of it.
—Denise
* 5 STARS *First of all thank you to my GR friends who recommended this gem. (Thanks Jill)It was beautiful from beginning to end.The characters, the history, the writing. Everything flows as it should, not overly done, not overly dramatic.Morning Glory tells a story of an "unconventional broken" couple. Elly and Will. Elly is a windowed with two kids and pregnant looking for a husband. Will is just fresh out of jail. She is looking for a husband/worker. He is looking for a place to stay. Two characters who perceived their selves as broken and slowly come to deeply love each other.Slowly we see the romance built in. The love scenes are beautiful even though they are few. The second characters are as intriguing as the main ones. And the plot: let's just say that this was it for me.After so long reading contemporary romance books, Morning Glory teaches us that our good old romances are much much better than the new crap we see out there.
—Evyt
