Here Comes the Bride

"There comes a time in every woman's life when she must get herself a man or give up on the idea entirely. Augusta Mudd had reached that moment." Augusta Mudd, spinster businesswoman of Cottonwood, Texas, had waited long enough. For three years she's waited for Amos Dewey to propose to her, but the reluctant beau just couldn't take a hint. It was time for a shove. So Augusta decides to enlist the help of a friend, the ruggedly handsome Rome Akers. Rome wasn't a man ready to settle down, but he was a man ready to take charge of his destiny. In return for helping Augusta with her unusual plan to get Amos to the altar, Rome has his chance to become her business partner. Pretending a personal interest in Augusta was a small price to pay. But the more time he spends with Augusta, the stronger his feelings for the smart, sweet woman grow. There will be a bride by the fourth of July. But who will be the groom? Ms. Morsi weaves a wonderful tale with characters that are easy to champion. The secondary characters and their interwoven plot line is a story in itself, yet it enriches the main thread without over shadowing. Americana in its splendor, HERE COMES THE BRIDE is a story you won't want to put down!

After three years of "walking out" with her beau, Amos Dewey, Augusta Mudd is more than ready for marriage. But it seems Amos, with his successful business, his house being well cared for, and Augusta for friendly companionship, has no need of a wife. As a successful businesswoman herself, Gussie realizes that Amos needs to be shaken out of his complacency by some good old-fashioned competition. With that in mind, she offers a business proposition to the manager of her ice factory, Rome Akers. The plan is to pretend to be sweethearts until Independence Day while, in the interim, provoking Amos into proposing to her. In exchange, Rome gets the equal partnership that he has always longed for. Initially, Rome isn't too keen on the plan. He's fond of his employer and cares about her but he is also ambitious. If he hadn't thought Amos truly was the right man for Gussie, he would never have agreed to such a clinically outlandish plan. But as they plot together, laugh together, converse together, and deepen their relationship beyond business, Rome and Gussie find themselves falling in love with each other. Eventually, Rome finds himself desperate to be the groom Gussie wants to complete her ideal wedding. Pamela Morsi has captured small town life in this Americana story. The town of Cottonwood is rife with gossip both malevolent and benign and each of the characters that make up the town is developed in such a way as to bring the town to life without superimposing themselves over Gussie and Rome. Gussie is a woman who is different from most heroines I've read about. Instead of being a romantic dreamer, she is businesslike and practical. Though she dreams of the ideal wedding and the ensuing marriage, she has not had the right kind of experience with men to make those dreams romantic ones. Instead, her wedding is painted in her mind as picturesque and traditional just as her dreams of marriage are planned for the benefit of both individuals. She has not picked Mr. Dewey for the passion he instills in her but rather for their compatibility of temperament and status. She believes in a marriage that will benefit both parties in a practical fashion. It isn't until her friendship with Rome deepens and he introduces her to passion that she realizes that she cannot be content with such a marriage. Rome starts out content with his bachelor status and is ambitious when it comes to his financial and social status in Cottonwood. He has a good and discreet relationship with the town widow but when he falls in love with Gussie, he realizes that everything, even a partnership in her ice factory, pales in comparison to having her in his life. He is certainly a Romeo like no other I've read before and is endearing with his gentleness, consideration, and love for Gussie.

Pamela Morsi hasn't let us down. This is another good story about less than perfect people. The heroine is a spinster, the hero an almost confimed bachelor and the town floozy saves the sanitation project. I love the fact that her characters are so natural and somewhat flawed. Most of us can relate and this one is no exception. I can't wait for her next one. This made me laugh at the humor and sigh with the romance. A great romp.

Here Comes The Bride by Pamela Morsi, shows once again that Ms. Morsi can make you feel the emotions of her characters, the happiness, the disappointments, the hopefulness. All the things you feel during courtship. Set in Texas, in a small town called Cottonwood, the main characters, Miss Gussie Mudd, owner of Mudd Manufactured Ice, in the days when ice was delivered, and her employee, Rome Akers, manager of the ice plant, begin a deception to get Mr. Amos Dewey to propose marriage to Gussie using "the green eyed monster" as the impetus. What unfolds is a courtship that was poigant and emotionally charged, you could feel what the players were feeling. The secondary storyline was the same. I have never been disappointed by one of Pamela Morsi's Novels (and I've read them all). She ranks right up there with LaVyrle Spencer and Jayne Ann Krentz.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE met my high expectations of another great Pamela Morsi book. The relationship between the heroine, Gussie Mudd and her her beau, Amos, along with her dream of the perfect wedding takes center stage. The fact that Amos didn't share her dream of marriage made for an interesting dilemma. Rome Akers, an employee of Gussie's and a friend, plots with Gussie to bring Amos around, and then loses his heart to Gussie in the process. However, Rome has an alliance that makes their newly found love seem impossible. I thought the story and the characters were well developed and I was touched by the feelings that characters developed for each other and the journey of understanding and self-discovery the they each embarked on in the process.