Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* June is getting married, or so her grandmother, Ellen, thinks. Ellen cares for her husband, Ben, who suffers from dementia. In her free time, she sits on the porch and sews pieces of old wedding dresses into a quilt for her granddaughter. When June shows up with the news that she is calling off the wedding, Ellen tells her the story of her friend, Nell, who lived in New Mexico in the late 1800s. Being of the age to marry, Nell sets out to find herself a husband. After having her heart broken, she turns down several marriage proposals, choosing instead to wait for the right man. Nell learns several things about herself along her journey, as does June as she listens to the tale her grandmother weaves. Dallas (Hardscrabble, 2018) has done it again, telling three different stories with her trademark homespun style. Strong female characters and intriguing storytelling draw the reader into this two-hanky read full of love and loss. Readers of gentle romances will thrill to read Dallas' latest novel, which should appeal to fans of Fannie Flagg and Jennifer Chiaverini.--Milone Hill, Nanci Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When June balks a month before her wedding to a soldier headed off to the Korean War, her grandmother Ellen tries to help her figure out what to do by telling her stories about an old friend's adventures in love.Ellen is working on her youngest granddaughter's wedding quilt when June has second thoughts and flies from Chicago to her grandparents' Colorado ranch. There, when she explains her anxietiesabout her fiance's going to war, being married to a soldier, and even losing herself in marriageEllen reminds her that plenty of women have doubts, then begins to tell the story of Nell, a woman who ran away three times, from three different men. Beginning with Buddy, whom Nell met on a ranch in New Mexico, Ellen explains Nell's roller-coaster romance with the cowboy, then the charmer in Denver and the older banker who courted her in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Ellen is struggling with her husband's encroaching dementia, her own weak heart, and the threat of having to abandon the ranch due to their failing health. Dallas spins a slow-moving tale of Nell's romances and June's uncertainty and, in the end, winds up sharing some long-heldthough not terribly surprisingfamily secrets. Skilled writing and pacing propel the story, which is warm and heartfelt, if a little sprawling. However, a number of elements that seem to be set up as big surprises really aren't, and the way the characters narrate various elements of the story comes across as oddly manipulative in the end.A gently entertaining yet oddly flat effort from Dallas. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
