MORNING GLORY

by LaVyrle Spencer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 1988

He was a vagrant ex-con; she poor, pregnant and unpretty. Who was the bigger loser?"" There you have the gist of this debut hard-cover romance by the author of such paperback heart palpitators as The Gamble and The Hellion. How do these made-for-each-other losers meet? Simple. The author has her hero, Will Parket, recently released from the pen after serving a sentence for killing a floozy in Texas, answer an ad while passing through the backwater town of Whitney, Georgia. It seems that crazy Elly Dinsmore, five months pregnant, mother of two, and a new widow, needs a man around her place. The pair get along fine right from the start, too--with Will soon proving he has a soft spot in his heart for Elly's kids, making friends with the town librarian, Miss Beasley, while reading up on beekeeping and childbirth, and fending off the advances of the town's fastest lady, Lula Peak. Finally, Elly and Will tie the knot, with a dime-store ring and visit to the movie house to celebrate; the baby comes; and Will marches off to fight with the Marines at Guadalcanal. When he comes home, with a limp and a Purple Heart, he finds Elly far less reclusive than before, and his happy family intact--which would have made a nice finis were it not for the fact that Lulu Peak gets murdered and Will arrested, leaving Elly to fight to clear her jailbird's good name. Spencer's tone is as sweet and cheerful as a robin's egg, and, certainly, there's chemistry between her main characters. So this will please romance readers, especially those who believe that ex-cons and poor, rural housewives have such sterling souls.

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1988

ISBN: 0425229289

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION