Dear Lori

I must be feeling nostalgic because I've acquired a couple of books written by authors from my past and eyed a third, but decided to pass. Even worse, I'm not even sure they're romances, lol.

The first is The Mulberry Tree by Jude Deveraux. This one is definitely a romance and probably a book that was shot down by feminists in its day. But I loved it, always have and never hesitated about getting the ebook.

Lillian was married at seventeen to billionaire James Manville. It wasn't even love at first sight; I'm not sure what it was. They had a strange marriage. For example, Lillian was fat and James wanted to keep her that way. He refused to let her change anything about herself. Stranger still, when he died, he left her nothing but a rundown farm. James' lawyer Phillip, well aware of the furor about to erupt, hides her away.

The stress of the press coverage, the accusations of the talking heads, the grief and guilt Lillian is feeling plus the fact that her husband can no longer sabotoge her, all lead to weight loss. To disguise her further, she gets a nose job and her name is changed to Baily. (I prefer Lillian)

The book is a combination of a woman finding herself while falling love, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure. Sort of a Cinderella story.

She enjoys cooking - does that entice you? Lol. She wants to start a business selling her gourmet stuff. Anyway, I just reread it and finished with a satisfied sigh.

The second book is a Maeve Binchy that I've never read - Heart and Soul, only five bucks for the ebook. I ♥ Maeve Binchy, I'll read anything she writes. I thought she'd retired though, guess she's just a born storyteller and couldn't stop writing. Lucky for us. *grin* Anyway, her newest is just a tad pricy for the ebook edition, so I'll have to wait on that one. Still - a new to me Binchy! I am happy.

The third book is the last book in the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel. I didn't know she was still putting these out. I enjoyed the first, Clan of the Cave Bear but lost interest in subsequent offerings. I wanted to bitch slap Ayla - no woman is that good! Or lucky. Or smart. Or whatever the hell she was.

I didn't get this one and probably won't. Too pricy even if it is almost 800 pages. There's so much repetition it should probably be 400 pages. Still, it did bring back memories (harder and harder to do these days; they don't call me an Old Fart frivolously) and I might reread Clan of the Cave Bear. Might - I have it in hardback and if I'm remembering correctly, that's a damn heavy book! Oh, btw, this new one is called The Land of the Painted Caves. Nice title, I do like a good title.

Anyway, I see I've almost written a book here myself, so I'll close now. I've just started reading Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O'Connor - bronzed male with cutting cheek bones. Yum. I'll surface sometime this weekend. Hope to see you then, lol.

Carolyn