Sealed with a Kiss

Texas, 1895. Gidry Chavis returns to his town Chavis for the first time in almost a decade. He had no idea what he had left behind. His father, Peer Chavis, a powerful and beloved man in the small town, had wanted Gidry to marry Miss Prudence Belmont, his neighbor and friend. At the age of twenty-one, Gidry was selfish and immature. He felt pressured by his father to do things that he was not ready for, and so, he left town to live the life of a cowboy, jilting Prudence in the process. He comes back to a father who is now bed-bound, having suffered a stroke, a town in need of a new leader, and a former sweetheart who still holds a grudge against him. Prudence has not forgotten the pain and humiliation that Gidry's departure has caused her throughout the year. Now at the age of twenty-seven she, like her aunt Hen, is a spinster. Or is she? Who is the man she visits every night in her milk shed? Gidry is curious and -- is it possible? -- jealous of the mysterious visitor. He wants to make things right for Pru, but she isn't ready to forgive and forget. To her estimation, Gidry left more than just a disappointed father and a brokenhearted woman behind. His faithlessness during his courtship had left consequences, and she isn't willing to forget it all... I didn't know about Pamela Morsi. A fellow reviewer recommended her, and I decided to give this book a whirl. I am so glad I did! She writes with such beautiful language, and brings late nineteenth-century Texas vividly to life. She puts historical details -- such as electrical lighting -- into the story and everything is quite insightful. Prudence and Gidry are wonderful protagonists. There is a lot of chemistry between them. However, they got on my nerves a lot. Gidry seemed awfully stupid at times. What made him think that Pru was having an illicit affair with a married man? Why hadn't he put two and two together and figured out who she had been looking after? Yes, the misunderstandings infuriated me because he had no reason to think such things about Pru, especially after the way he had run off and jilted her. Gidry and Pru are great, but the ones that touched me the most were Aunt Hen and Peer. Their story is so sad and beautiful that it almost brought tears to my eyes. Sealed with a Kiss is a beautiful Americana about star-crossed romance and a small town with an inkling to gossip. I absolutely loved it. The one thing I did not like was the constant typos. Where were the copy editors when this was written? Other than that, this is great. I will definitely give Morsi a whirl again.

Having read this book twice before I thought I would be safe. It was not to be. I cried this time too. Another reviewer has indicated that the roles of Henrietta Pauling and Peer Chavis almost overshadowed the story concerning Prudence Belmont and Gidry Chavis and could become a distraction. My opinion is just the opposite. The resolution of the relationship between Prudence and Gidry was made possible by Aunt Hen revealing her past. She had wanted to hurt Peer Chavis as much as he hurt her and lost the opportunity to marry him and have a life of love and happiness. It was important for Prudence to see that being stubborn and prideful could have lifelong consequences. Yes, the interaction between Aunt Hen and Peer Chavis did take up a lot of time and action but it was, however, there to serve a purpose. I read a novel by Pamela Morsi knowing that I will be given full insight into the entire environment of the characters. I am very pleased to say that her books are not just about the physical aspect of romance. If your preference runs to many and varied sexual experiences between the hero and heroine, there are authors out there who will gladly give you that (and usually only that). A Morsi book gives much, much more. After reading "Sealed With A Kiss" you will feel you know more than just what happened, but also why. I highly recommend all the Morsi historical books with the exception of "The Love Charm". For me, that was a total disaster from the first page. Luckily, I can pick up any of her other historicals and get as much enjoyment from the third or fourth reading as I got with the first. Please, Ms. Morsi, go back to writing historicals.

When the message finally reaches him that his father is near death, Gidry Chavis heads home to Chavistown filled with hope and dread. Eight years ago he had left town with his father's judgment ringing in his ears and he had abandoned the girl he had promised to marry. Now, he doesn't know what to expect when he reenters the town. Gidry loves his father, never more so than now when the old man hangs on by a thread. He vows to take up where his father left off and all of the people in Chavistown turn to him for reassurance and for progress, well almost all. Prudence Belmont belongs to the faith that a leopard cannot change its spots. This, she believes, also applies to Gidry Chavis, the childhood sweetheart who abandoned her, broke her heart, and left her to face the humiliation of gossip and speculation. Though it seems he has come home to Chavistown and wants to resume their childhood friendship, Prudence is mortified by the fact that he never loved her. As adults, she believes they can never share the purity of friendship that they had as children. When Gidry claims to love her, Prudence is unable to believe it or to accept it because it could never compare to the "perfect love" she thought they had shared years ago. Pamela Morsi has written a dynamic Americana romance. She succeeds in capturing the life and animation of a small town and enriches it with the history of the Chavises who were behind the making of it. Through Gidry, Morsi illustrates the benefits and the disadvantages of inheriting such a legacy. Gidry's internal battle when it comes to his father is heart wrenching. On the one hand, he has always admired and loved his father deeply and he has always been loved and cared for in turn. On the other hand, Peer Chavis is a great man and full of high expectations for his only son. Clearly it was difficult for Gidry to live up to those expectations much less his father's own sterling reputation. Whereas Gidry learned to be a man, Prudence learned to be a proper woman. After consistently wearing her heart on her sleeve for all to see, Pru tucks in her emotions and keeps them to herself. Though she once claimed that pride could never compare to love, she now holds on to her pride and dignity with all her might. With Gidry's return to town, Pru finds herself confronting him on more than an emotional level as he seeks to keep his town safe from criminals with the advent of electrical street lighting and she seeks to preserve their old and unchanging ways. What enhances and emphasizes the love story between Gidry and Prudence is the one between her aunt and his father, which is powerful in its poignancy and nearly threatens the reader's focus on the reunion of the two main characters.

Who would have thought the introduction of electric lighting would have wrought such controversy and, in this case, assisted true love. An enjoyable and fun reading experience.

I thought this book was funny and romantic. I enjoyed it so much that the next day I went out in search of another of her books. I found WILD OATS and enjoyed it as much.