Jace Mongomery was a stranger in Chandler. Tall, proud, and ruggedly handsome, he would make any woman's heart beat faster...Even shy, sweet Nellie Grayson -- Nellie, who thought only of her beautiful younger sister's happiness. With Nellie's tireless aid, Terel Grayson easily became the belle of Chandler, Colorado.
Yet Jace, homesick for his closeknit family in Maine, took immediately to Nellie. For the first time, Nellie was the center of attention. It was a heady, delightful feeling...almost as wonderful as the moment when Jace gave her her very first kiss.
Nellie was sure her romantic idyll would end -- how long could Jace resist the lovely Terel's charms? But with the help of an enchanting new friend, Nellie would discover that her flirtatious sister might not be the woman to win the gallant Jace Montgomery....
Another one of my library sale purchases, I was somewhat surprised to realize that I'd read this before. It must have been in highschool though because I only felt the slightest bit of deja vu during the story - just enough to convince me it wasn't the new book I was expecting. Reading over some of the reviews on Amazon it looked like a few people took offense to the 'fat' woman falling in love with the 'hot' man plot line and felt like Nellie's eating issues were exaggerated and unrealistic. When I read this book I see a fantasy- almost a fairytale. The fact that it is pretty much physically impossible for a person to eat things in the quantities that she does in this book is mostly immaterial. The point of the story was to expose Nellie's emotional turmoil in terms of what it did to her body - and the fact that Jace loved her regardless of her size. That was consistent through the book: the people who had good hearts were drawn to Nellie for her spirit and thought her beautiful because of who she was.
Yes it is ridiculous that the people in the book consider 160 some pounds 'fat' - but this is a historical romance people! It's not supposed to be all that realistic (especially as a romance). And the only people who found Nellie more attractive after she lost weight were the people who were of no consequence and were unpleasant to begin with; in fact, Jace thought she looked kind of off skinnier and loved her body more the way it was before. What all this means is that I'd suggest people take some of the specifics of this love story with a grain of salt - the emotion is still true and I think the message still positive.
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. I think it's a sweet romance, portraying a tale of two people who find themselves after years of heartbreak.
Series - Montgomery Series (it has a billion titles, just out the full list here)
