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Returning to Whispering Wind, Wyoming, to attend her grandfather's funeral, Megan O'Rourke, an ambitious entertainment executive from New York City, is stunned to discover that she has inherited her grandfather's beloved ranch, along with his eight-year-old daughter, a child she had never known existed, and her former lover, Jake Sanders.

401 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 25, 1999

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About the author

Sherryl Woods

555 books4,527 followers
With two other careers to her credit before becoming a novelist and four states in which she's lived for extended periods of time, Sherryl Woods has collected friends and memories, along with way too much unnecessary junk.

"The friends are the only things I've brought with me through the years that really matter," she says. "I could probably live without one more chintz teacup, another tin-litho sandpail or another snowglobe, but I need those friends."

The theme of enduring friendships and families is always central to Sherryl's books, including her latest Chesapeake Shores series — THE INN AT EAGLE POINT, FLOWERS ON MAIN and HARBOR LIGHTS.

Author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, Sherryl Woods grew up in Virginia. Over the years she had lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers.

A graduate of Ohio State University School of Journalism, Sherryl spent more than ten years as a journalist, most of them as a television critic for newspapers in Ohio and Florida. For several years she also coordinated a motivational program for the more than 8,000 employees at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Her first book, RESTORING LOVE, was published in 1982 by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy under the pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. Her second book, SAND CASTLES, under the pseudonym of Alexandra Kirk, was published later that same year by Bantam. She began using her own name when she moved to the Second Chance at Love line at Berkley Publishing. In 1986, she began writing full-time and also began her long career at Silhouette Books with the Desire title NOT AT EIGHT, DARLING, set in the world of television which she covered for so many years.

In addition to her more than 75 romances for Silhouette Desire and Special Edition, she has written thirteen mysteries — nine in the Amanda Roberts series and four in the Molly DeWitt series.

When she's not writing or reading, Sherryl loves to garden, though she's not at her best on a riding lawn mower. She also loves tennis, theater, and ballet, even though her top spin has long since vanished, she's never set foot on a stage, and she's way too uncoordinated to dance. She also loves baseball and claims anyone who's ever seen Kevin Costner in "Bull Durham" can understand why.

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5 stars
502 (35%)
4 stars
512 (36%)
3 stars
311 (22%)
2 stars
60 (4%)
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17 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
Profile Image for Sonia VM.
195 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2025
Fijne romcom maar het einde kwam wat snel en abrupt over, kon wat beter uitgewerkt worden. Te snel eind goed al goed eraan geplakt.
Profile Image for Brenda.
602 reviews
July 3, 2013
The story of Megan and Jake - parted fromm the ranch Megan goes to NY City to become a Martha Stewart type of mogul. Her young love of Jake broken by her grandfather. She believes he stole her grandfathers cattle. Her grandfather never told her that didn't really happen that he sent Jake to law school to make up for spllitting the teens up to allow Megan to make something of her life. Her Grandfather dies and leaves the ranch and an eight year old girl Tess whom he had taken in, but of course he had some things that he required of her in order that she could keep the ranch and Tess. She must decide if she can leave her magazine and television show in NYC and run thngs from the ranch so that she could hang on to this eight year old who was dropped off a chid of her grandfathers left for him to raise....she finds out her love of Jake is there just as strong as it was before......they have to fight through figuring out whether the ranch or NYC is where she'll end up and whether she can do everything her Grandfather required to hang on to everything but also can she hang on to what she built and hang on to Jake who isn't leaving to go to the big city........The book was a really good read and I finished it in two days. I really like this author
Profile Image for Cataluna6.
265 reviews24 followers
November 7, 2014
This was fun to listen to, especially after the schmozzle of the last audio I listened to. Megan is fun and sassy, I love when the H/H have that snarky, 'you drive me crazy, but I want to kiss you anyway' relationship. I also think it's great that Megan didn't need Jake to fix her problems. There's nothing worse when the hero comes along and fixes everything so the heroine can just sit down and not worry her pretty little head. I get so frustrated when this happens, especially when the heroine has been so strong up to that point.

I liked Megan and Jake, both together and as characters on their own. Megan is smart, intelligent and knows what's what. If it wasn't for his bad boy reputation, you'd think Jake was Whispering Winds, boy next door, he's always willing to give people a hand, which stems from his back story, he had it pretty tough as a child. Woods really bought Whispering Winds to life, the characters were interesting and varied. Many of the towns people were mentioned.

There were multiple story lines going on in the book, and while I did enjoy all of them to a certain extent, I think there were some that were only there as devices to move the story along. For example, Barbara Sue and her abusive husband Lyle - I felt like it was there so the book would have a 'big bad', when there was enough going on with other main characters to not have be so prominent a story in the book.

Tess, through no fault of her own, was a character that I didn't love. I understand she was a scared girl, alone again and very unsure of those around her, especially Megan. But I got annoyed with some of the stunts she pulled, that said, she was a well written, believable character. I'm getting so crotchety in my old age - pipe down kids - granny needs to sleep!!

There are two other things that I got frustrated while listening. First the ranch, who was running it? I know it's supposed to be fully functioning ranch and Megan had hands to run things, but beyond a couple of quick mention there was nothing. I think it would've been good to have some sort of interaction between her and the foreman, even just to illustrate how much she had on her plate and because it was Tex's wish that she be more involved. And for me, Megan setting her married friend, Peggy, up for a little flirtation was distasteful.

I enjoyed the narration, Christina Traister has a great voice, it wasn't monotonous, which can ruin even a fantastic story. There weren't accents as such, but each voice was easily recognisable and fit the character. Overall, this was an enjoyable listen, and I'm looking forward to delving back into the town of Whispering Winds with Angel Mine.
Profile Image for Julie Barrett.
9,207 reviews205 followers
May 9, 2013
After Tex by Sherryl Woods
She is a media genius-runs TV shows, puts together magazines. She had grown up, Tex O'Rourke was her dad. She had left WY.
Her larger than life grandfather Tex had passed away and she had to go back to WY. She had escaped to NY and in her mind she wonders if she was there to maybe find her mother who had left.
Jake Landers has been taking care of her fathers affairs and he is there to pick up the pieces and he is a lawyer. He had recently returned to town also.
Tex was like a father figure to Jake and put him through college. Megan would be surprised when she read it.
She had once wanted Jake so bad but he ended up in jail for stealing cattle.
Tess is there, just a child and she has custody of her-what had happened to just seeing to the funeral, estate and heading back to NY?
Megan's best friend when they were growing up is Peggy and she stops in to catch up on their lives. She learns the truth about the stolen cattle...
Trouble arises when the child's mother shows up on the scene. Megan has choices to make about her business and family life now... She gets to see Jake in action when he takes on a few town problems...
Like this book because of it's location in WY and NY. Sex scenes and the tragedies of gun killings follow...
Angel mine is the next in the series.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Profile Image for Kari.
4,024 reviews95 followers
July 11, 2013
After Tex is a throwback by Sherryl Woods that was recently reissued by Harlequin this year. While it was a bit longer than it needed to be, I did enjoy the book. The story was your typical one about a successful woman who find herself after she returns home to face her demons. While I enjoyed the story line, it was the characters that made the book for me. After Tex is filled with great characters that give life to the town of Whispering Wind. I loved Jake the most. He is just such a great guy who is willing to help anyone. He has never forgotten or stopped loving "Meggie". They were cute together.

There are a few side stories included in the book. I liked them because it gave the story more of a real life feel. Infidelity, domestic abuse, and corporate intrigue are just a few of them. The ending of the story left a few of these stories unresolved, so I hope they are wrapped up in the next book, Angel Mine. I listened to the audio book. It was done by one of my favorite narrators, Christina Traister. As always, she made it a very enjoyable listen. If you missed this one, definitely check it out!
Profile Image for Marcia  Haskell.
632 reviews11 followers
October 29, 2018
New York vs Western Ranch Country

I seem to love every story Sherryl Wood’s writes. Her characters are fun and interesting. Most of them are people I would enjoy as friends. Her places seem like cities and towns that are populated by businesses and people who I would expect to meet if I lived in the town and I can understand the issues and problems they confront. Most of all I expect her characters to do the right thing, even if that means going against their own interests. In other words, Sherryl creates a world where you know people want to do the right thing, my world may not be like that, but I often wish it were.
Profile Image for Joni.
305 reviews2 followers
May 15, 2017
Megan raised by her grandfather in Wyoming, returns home from New York for his funeral to discover that she has inherited the ranch (which she expected) and her 8 year old aunt (totally did not expect). Throw in an ex-boyfriend that is now her Grandfather's lawyer, a stipulation her grandfather put into the will (that makes her life difficult) and the little girl's gold digging mother and there was never a dull moment. Interesting read.
Profile Image for Ida Lukasik.
249 reviews2 followers
February 9, 2020
I loved this book.
Old loves and friends coming together.
It was a strange request of Tex but Megan did as requested in his will. Tess was taken care of. Megan's life turned upside down. But finding her old flame, priceless.
Profile Image for Debbie Sue.
240 reviews1 follower
May 11, 2020
parts of this was good but the Barbara sue Lyle tragedy was just drama for the sake of drama really did not add anything to the story. And having Peggy go back to the man who cheated on her with half the women in town instead of a rich caring man from New York was very annoying.
Profile Image for Gail.
479 reviews19 followers
May 30, 2020
I can always depend on Sherryl Woods to entertain me.

A charming, funny, heartwarming story.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Midgley .
315 reviews6 followers
April 22, 2023
Cute romance about a New York City professional woman going back to her roots in Wyoming.
413 reviews3 followers
December 2, 2018
This is the first in the Whispering Winds series. Unfortunately, I read it after reading several that followed it, so I already knew what was coming. But, it's a romance novel so I could have guessed the plot anyway. The premise is a bit ridiculous as is the resolution to the 'problem'. I also had a problem with never getting a full physical description of the hero or heroine. There were mentions of hair color, height, and weight but they were scattered and hard to piece together. I like to be able to 'see' who I'm reading about. Two of the secondary characters were well described. I did take offense that a slightly overweight character could only attract an unattractive man. If you want to delve into a pretty complete series start here and discover Whispering Wind, Wyoming.
Profile Image for Natasha Hagen.
106 reviews7 followers
April 19, 2023
Megan's life in New York was something she really worked hard on. With the help and guidance of her grandfather she has achieved great success. She was happy and enjoyed her career. Her grandfather Tex had other ideas and came up with a plan that would bring her back to the family farm for good. With a blast from Megan's past she has lots of decisions to make. A great easy read. Cannot wait to read more of the Whispering Wind novels.
676 reviews1 follower
September 19, 2017
Returning to Whispering Wind, Wyoming, to attend her grandfather's funeral, Megan O'Rourke, an ambitious entertainment executive from New York City, is stunned to discover that she has inherited her grandfather's beloved ranch, along with his eight-year-old daughter, a child she had never known existed, and her former lover, Jake Sanders.
Profile Image for Dorry Lou.
867 reviews
March 20, 2018
When Megans grandfather dies she leaves a BIG job in New York to attend the funeral in Wyoming. The grandfathers will makes it "impossible" for her to return to N.Y. She tries to take care of things in Wyoming and N.Y at the same time. She finally discovers what is really important in life. I would have given it at least 3 stars except I did not like some of the things near the end.
1,517 reviews2 followers
June 12, 2019
Megan has made a name for herself. In New York, she has a multi-mega media empire. She has a Martha Stewart type TV show and magazine. When her grandfather dies unexpectedly and she has to return to their home in Wyoming. This changes her perspective on her career and her life. Also, of course, there's the boy she left behind those many years ago. I like a good romance story. And this is one.
Profile Image for Kristen Anderson.
561 reviews6 followers
November 2, 2020
This was an awful book. I just got so angry at how everyone was manipulating Megan and making her feel guilty for wanting to maintain her multi-million dollar enterprise- I mean, how DARE she, she should listen to this man she hasn't seen in 20 years! Ms. Woods has wonderful books, but this ain't one of 'em.
944 reviews
May 6, 2020
I think I read this book a long time ago but it was still enjoyable.
Profile Image for Dasha.
1,571 reviews21 followers
abandonados
July 27, 2020
Abandono cuando he leído casi el 70% del libro. He perdido el interés.
457 reviews
February 17, 2022
Well written

Basic chic lit but very well done. Interesting characters and a plot full of action and interest. I really enjoy Cheryl Woods.
Profile Image for Jen.
1,349 reviews7 followers
January 9, 2023
A quick read with romance and drama between the pages.
Profile Image for DeeAnn.
793 reviews26 followers
June 17, 2023
Really good! Can’t wait to read the next book in this series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews

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