A Dry Creek Courtship

This excellent book is the first book on my 2009 Top 10 list. I read it a week ago and I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about it. The author's compassion shines through the pages. I've always liked her humor, and here she uses it to full advantage as Edith and Charley start to spread their arms in this, their freedom years. Actually, my hubby decided he didn't want to read it before he even started and just skimmed through it, reading, `here and there'. And why didn't he like it? Because he said it's about `old people'. I looked at him and said they were just a couple years older than us and we still have love and have passion for each other - at least if last night was any indication...er...never mind that...what I wanted to say was - what does age have to do with love? It's all in the storytelling and this author writes with just as much feeling, tension and conflict as any other LI book on the market. The year before last, I read an LI book with the H/h in their late 40's and I was bored out of my mind. Thank goodness I wasn't doing reviews then! In this book, the author weaved a sweet love story and pulled me along by my heartstrings. I ached when the normally assertive Edith realizes that she loves her best friend, Charley but how can she tell him? You just don't look across the table at a man who's been your platonic friend for over 30 yrs and in between sips of tea announce you'd like to up the level of affection in your relationship because if you do and he doesn't feel the same, sure as rain he won't be coming to sip tea in your kitchen any longer. Men get kind of weird when they get emotionally uncomfortable, you know? But lately Charley hasn't been coming around for meals anyway. And Edith has the feeling he was trying to get up the nerve to tell her something important. It's traditional for Charley to pick a bucket of chokecherries and bring it to her to turn into jelly but when he doesn't show up and the season's almost over, she begins to think that maybe his mind is occupied with some other woman and he's already fading from her life. And what about Charley? He's a widower and when Edith's husband died, it was a natural progression to become her handyman and do the jobs around the house that a husband would do. That's what friends do. Charley has a secret, however. He doesn't just want to take care of her house, he wants to live with her inside it. But, Edith is a very determined woman who knows her own mind. She doesn't take guff from anyone. If he confesses that he wants to up their relationship level, she just might break off their friendship. It wouldn't be hard to find some other willing man to help her. And actually, Edith went and got her hair cut. First time since he's known her, she doesn't wear it in a bun any longer. It kind of frames her face now in a soft feminine way. Why would she get a new hairstyle unless...she was sprucing up for a man? Charley doesn't mind change. After all, he's been trying to

Edith Hargrove's wants to get a new hair do, cutting off the bun she's worn at the nape of her neck all her life and she wants a new, more sophisticated gray suit. She's just gotten a letter from the exotically beautiful woman her now deceased husband had an extra-marital affair with 40 years ago. If you've ever been betrayed or loved someone who was betrayed, the first chapter of A Dry Creek Courtship by Janet Tronstad (Steeple Hill) will capture your heart, yet not leave you adrift. The pain is real, the situation is not pretty, but there is a loving God. Widower Charlie Nelson also wants a change in his life. He wants more than just the deep friendship he's shared with Edith since his wife died. Edith's gotten under his skin and he wants romance. His problem is the practical minded widow keeps misunderstanding his awkward attempts to change the nature of their relationship. And he misunderstands that keeping the old car her disloyal husband once would not allow her to drive is a statement of her independence, not a sign that she's still carrying a passionate torch for the guy. When the other woman arrives in Dry Creek, she turns out to be the illegitimate daughter of the femme fatale and to Charlie's surprise Edith takes the woman into her family, while the entire town's buzzing with gossip. This is the second book I've read in this series and I agree with the blurb on the back of the book. Dry Creek is a small Montana town with a heart as big as heaven. Janet Tronstad has created a literary community of characters who while having all kinds of human frailties, foibles, and quirks care for each other in a truly Christian way.