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P**S
Loved this book and have read it many times
Phoebe is on the road with two of her younger siblings, looking for a place for her family to move. She has no money, not much education, but a wealth of love for her family, determination, and ingenuity. Where some see trash, she sees opportunity. She is one of my favorite characters, and one of the most memorable.Readers may want to know ahead of time that the main female character, Phoebe Hawley, has a manner of speaking that is very different from what they are used to hearing. Some may even think it is uneducated. I come from Alabama myself, and my grandmother, born in the 1890's, spoke in a similar manner.I read a lot of romance, and don't remember reading any overly explicit scenes, as some reviews have mentioned. I recommend this book highly, for Phoebe, and how she persevered and never gave up. The romance took a while to develop, and there was a good bit of conflict. Gage was kind of a jerk at first, partly due to his ex-wife, but Phoebe brought him around.I'm including the author's back story for Phoebe and her family's origin. It is fascinating, and I wish I had known this ahead of time. It can also be found below the Editorial Reviews.From the author: "As a rule, major characters in every novel have a back story. Back stories are essential to a character's personality. It defines how they think, move, speak, and interact with other characters before they ever step on page. Back stories seldom find their way into a simple romance novel because they slow the pace of the story. In truth, a back story is only essential for character development. Yet, back stories are the very essence of a character. Here is Phoebe Hawley's back story.Phoebe's ancestors migrated and set up tiny secluded homesteads deep within the Okefenokee Swamp and Suwannee River basin in Georgia and North Florida. Her people came from England--many were runaway indentured servants from the colony General Oglethorpe brought to Georgia. For more than two hundred years, her ancestors existed as a secluded tribe of swamp people. They were the purest Anglo-Saxon stock in America, and their speech, undiluted by contact with modern America for more than two hundred years, was Chaucer's; Elizabethan. The swamp settlers were wild, wary, witty, fiercely independent, and shrewd. They hunted and trapped every wild creature from deer, bear, and wild boar to feed and clothe themselves. They fished, grew their own food and herbs, spun their own cotton, tanned leather for shoes, and carved canoes to navigate the swamp. They didn't hold with government and laws that poached on independence and pride. Excursions to the outside world were few and only to sell alligator hides and trade that cash for sugar, flour, salt, kerosene, and perhaps a bolt of sturdy denim or sewing needles.Isolated deep within the Okefenokee, two-hundred years of progress, wars, and the Great Depression passed them by until 1942, when Roosevelt, gearing up for war and needing wood from the massive swamp forests of cypress and pine, forced the people out.The people didn't go far, only to the saw mills at the edge of the swamp and when the saw mills closed, they went to work in the paper mills; when the paper mills along the coasts of Florida and Georgia 'dragged up', they migrated into mill towns. And here, for the first time, the former swamp women came into their own. They put away their spinning wheels, their quilt-making, their cast-iron soap-making pots and went to work in cotton mills spinning thread and filling bobbins. Years went by. Then cotton mills across the South began to close and the people began to migrate once again. Living as 'outlanders' had acclimated them to 'Ameriky' and most had lost much of the Elizabethan dialect, but the rhythm of the language hummed on, as did their elemental code of independence and moral rightness. If anything, six generations of living as outlanders had sharpened their intelligence, hardened their pride and increased their independent spirit. Yet, one thing never changed--when practical choice allows the privilege, the descendants of those early swamp settlers gravitate to land and water.Which is why Phoebe Hawley, an out-of-work-mill girl, six generations removed from the Okefenokee Swamp, and on a mission to find her family a home, aims her old truck South--toward the coast and finds exactly the right place in the tiny fishing village of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, where a half-dozen great and small rivers and canals flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Phoebe recognizes G.G. Morgan's kissing lips, but is more impressed with the calluses on his hands--a working man's hands. Moreover, she is instantly enamored of G. G. Morgan's land, long before she's enamored of the man himself."
N**E
Finding Home review
Phoebe Hawley is looking for a place for her and her two younger siblings. She finds a place in a tiny fishing village in the Bayou La Batre, Alabama. She meets Gage Morgan after she accidentally backs her truck into his car. Phoebe and Gage are romantically attracted to each other. Gage has a solution to her homeless problem and Phoebe must convince him she is worthy. I really enjoyed this contemporary women's fiction novel.
P**S
Wisdom comes when you sit a spell.
Phoebe has more wisdom from a back hills life than all the professors in all the universities. Quick wit and determination will turn the sourest reader into a laughing jelly.Such a delight to read! She seems so real.Kudos to Jackie Weger!
T**E
IF you want some fun read this, "A rich tapestry of wit, grit, and humor..." I love it!
"A rich tapestry of wit, grit, and humor..."I read the sales pitch for this book and the sub-title caught my attention. I decided I was in need of some humor and "wit and grit" might be fun. The sales pitch says it all. That's what this book is; nothing more, nothing less.I loved Phoebe, Maydean and Willy-Boy. Gage felt sorry for her and was put-off by her pushy behavior. What will happen here? Only a lot of drama, some fun and a lot of humanity that a lot of reviewers seems to miss.Read my first line. Want some. READ IT!
A**G
Fun accent writting
Loved having characters with accents in the mix. It made the dialogue and writing more fun.I received this book download for free which is a plus.Romance Level: opened door sex scenes with general details. Could be skipped over by reader without loss of context and dialogue in those times is light.Wish Gage had more friends to rely on. The pride that leads to sleeping in a car with children verses reaching out for support was a bit frustrating.
B**Y
Review o book funding hone
This was a very good book It was very innocent Entertaining Kept me wondering what was going to happen Especially when Phoebe had not told Gage Gage what her plan was enjoyed it very much
M**N
A story to remember
Honest writing. Characters that are someone in our lives. Her gift of speaking ,what I call 'Hill dialogue ' is spot on. The humor will make you laugh outloud.Highly recommend this book. There will be no hot sex scenes or offensive words. You see,a 5 star book can be clean!
S**N
Engaging and well written, in spite of the religious content.
In this romance, we follow the progress of Phoebe as she attempts to find a new home for herself, her siblings, and her parents following their loss of employment. Set in America, it has the usual tendency to reference aspects of life that are familiar only to those who live there. In this case, however, that was less annoying than is usual with US novels.Part way through the reading, I began to wonder how I’d stumbled across this story, which gradually wormed its way into my empathetic side. I finally recalled I’d come across the author via Twitter and had found one of those limited offers, making the book available for free for a short time. As the author was unknown to me, but I like to explore new work, and this was shown as contemporary and humorous romance, I took advantage of the offer.For parts of this engaging story I was irritated by the Christian aspect with its references to guilt, a woman’s place in society, and old-fashioned dogma that has no place in the modern world. I’m still unsure whether this was supposed to be the ‘humorous’ aspect of the novel. If it was, it failed to engage my laughter muscles and merely served to increase my antipathy to religion and its unfailing hypocrisy and narrow-minded cant.But I was intrigued by Phoebe as a character, and when Gage appeared as the male love interest, I could see there would be fireworks as well as stormy weather. In this aspect I wasn’t disappointed. That the sex scenes concentrated on the emotional rather than the erotic aspects fitted well with the nature of the story and suited me fine.Interestingly, had this book declared its Christian aspect, I would almost certainly not have bothered with it. My previous experience of such work has invariably raised my hackles as the authors preach their individual mantras on the evils of those who refuse to join their particular tribe. But I’m glad this aspect was excluded from the description, as I enjoyed the story and was engaged by the characters throughout.
B**E
Disappointing
I usually like a book where family dedication trumps all, but this story is different from anything that I have ever read.It starts with lies and deceit. Granted Phoebe's situation is desperate, but as soon as she discovers that Gage's land could accommodate her family, she starts scheming. She manipulates the whole situation to have a chance at staying there. With her family! Without even knowing his background.Her intentions are good, and she is hardworking. She goes to great lengths to prolong her stay and make it permanent. Considering, she is responsible for the welfare of her siblings, she doesn't portray a good example. Gage has known heartbreak. He is very guarded. He doesn't show any romantic tendencies towards her, but she is set on hanging on to him.There is hardly any romance between them. Their banters can be funny at times. It all works out in the end.
P**S
A sensitively written Tae, beautifully told
Phoebe Hawley is on a mission to find a home for herself and her 9 year old sister and 5year old brother. She will take any job and work hard to find a safe place for herself and her family but things get tricky when she backs her truck out of a parking space into G.G. Morgan's truck and rips off her bumper.Pheobe is a fantastic person, I just wanted to hug her and help her. There is nothing she won't do to protect her own. I loved all the characters in this book, except the mean Velma, but I wasn't ready for the sudden ending. I felt there is so much more to Phoebe's story. I hope she makes good on her promise to Dorie and I think she will. That will be an interesting development, I wouldn't want to miss. Phoebe is. real innocent in a harsh world. A sensitively written terrific story
Y**D
A good read
This is well written and very engaging, it's slightly unusual in that the main characters don't follow the normal formula for a romance and Phoebe is about as down on her luck as you can get in the opening chapters. Her drive to make a success of herself was touching but I never understood why her first crab delivery wasn't accepted- why was it shut that day with no warning? I cant help feeling something got cut out in the editing process and while jumping ahead stops the story getting bogged down, it hasn't done any favours here.The only thing I didn't like was the religious turn it took midway through the book; although it's completly accurate in this setting its definitely not to my taste but will look out for more titles by this author in future
B**E
It Had Its Moments
I did not know quite what to make of this book. I didn't really take to Phoebe she was too pushy for me but I suppose desperate times make for desperate measures. Phoebe, with her younger brother and sister were looking for a new home and work for the rest of her family. When she bumps into Gage, she sees an opportunity and before he can turn round she has moved in and set her cap at him. Was she really in love or just looking for a home? It did have its funny moments and her little brother was lovely. To give her credit she was a hard worker and turned round the life of Gage's little daughter. If you want an easy read for an hour or two then maybe this one is for you.
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