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Tennessee Moon
Tall, quiet, and handsome, Matt Ingram falls for his innocent and breathtaking new neighbor, Kaitlan, despite the betrayals that had made him bitter, and vows to protect her from the ruthless seduction of his stepbrother. Original.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 1996
65 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
About the author
Norah Hess
52 books95 followersAlways a daydreamer, and often scolded for it by the grandmother who raised her, Norah Hess always wanted to be a writer. At eighteen, she was sent to Chicago to live with an aunt after her grandmother's death. It was there that she met her husband. After raising three children, Norah decided to write her first novel, and since then has had fifteen published romances. After her husband passed away, she and her two cats moved to Palm Springs, where the desert and mountains inspire her to write her Western romances.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 9, 2014
I've been on a Norah Hess kick lately. I've previously read Hawke's Pride (liked) and Fancy (loved). I like the author's settings and heroes, because they are a departure from mansions, wealthy tycoons and titled Englishmen. Basically, the H's are what I'd call rednecks or good ole boys, and I mean 'redneck' in the most affectionate sense of the term. I was born and raised in the mtns of the Southeast, I have nothing against rednecks. They're just people like anybody else, some are awesome, some suck, and every shade in between.
Tennessee Moon was set in Tennessee (obviously), more specifically the Cumberland Gap area of Eastern TN. I was born about 80 miles from there, closer to the NC line, where I now live. Anyway, the Cumberland Gap Nat'l park is a cool place to visit. There's a spot where you can put one foot in TN, one in KY, and a hand in VA. In my biased opinion there is nothing more beautiful than the mountains of the Southeast, but they aren't generally a popular setting for historical romance. So, I was very excited to listen to this audiobook for nostalgic reasons.
Re: the narrator. She was pretty good. I'm not extremely picky. As long as the H's voice is reasonably masculine and not nasally or real annoying sounding, I'm cool. So far, I've not been as satisfied with the male narrators, who IMHO tend to make the heroines all sound like drag queens. The East TN accent wasn't right though. Many of the locals sounded too 'down east' or 'deep south'. Anyway, it didn't really bother me, the only reason I noticed is because I still have that accent myself, despite all my years of education.
I liked the book mostly because of the setting and Hess tends to draw me in. The h and the H were both likeable and the H (Matt) was much less of a blustering bully than Chance in 'Fancy' (even though I liked that book better). Some of the aspects of the love story were beyond ridiculous, but they amused me in their absurdity.
The H, Matt, owns a successful tobacco farm. He's not fabulously wealthy, but rich by the standards of the area. He's the big catch, but doesn't seem to realize it. Historical Aside: if you're not interested, skip it.
Back to the story, Matt has a no-account step brother, Nate, who basically sponges off of him and does as little work as possible. He mostly gambles, screws around with ANYTHING in a skirt and makes babies he won't claim. Like *really* screws around. Dude has an issue, it's beyond normal, horny male behavior. Anyway, Nate is handsome in the "pretty" way and can be a charmer when he wants something, while Matt is bigger, sterner looking, and quieter.
When the h, Kaitlan, comes to The Gap after inheriting her grandfather's small farm, Nate decides he's going to marry her. She's beautiful and - most importantly - she owns this nice little farm. So, he proceeds to shower her with attention and lay the charm on her.
Matt isn't happy about it. He is attracted to Kaitlan and knows his brother will screw up her life. Kaitlan is a bit blind for a good part of the book. On one level, she realizes that Matt is the one who is always there for her when she needs it (helping with the farm, shooting marauding bands of mountain lions, etc.) While, Nate, for all his pretty words is always MIA when work needs to be done. Yet, she holds on to her illusions about Nate for quite a while (which is partly the H's fault). I forgave her, however, because she was very sheltered and had never had male attention before Nate. She was a great target for someone like him.
Here's where the ridiculous comes in and *warning* it may offend some who are particularly triggered by consent issues. Personally I found it so improbable it was hysterical.
Tennessee Moon was set in Tennessee (obviously), more specifically the Cumberland Gap area of Eastern TN. I was born about 80 miles from there, closer to the NC line, where I now live. Anyway, the Cumberland Gap Nat'l park is a cool place to visit. There's a spot where you can put one foot in TN, one in KY, and a hand in VA. In my biased opinion there is nothing more beautiful than the mountains of the Southeast, but they aren't generally a popular setting for historical romance. So, I was very excited to listen to this audiobook for nostalgic reasons.
Re: the narrator. She was pretty good. I'm not extremely picky. As long as the H's voice is reasonably masculine and not nasally or real annoying sounding, I'm cool. So far, I've not been as satisfied with the male narrators, who IMHO tend to make the heroines all sound like drag queens. The East TN accent wasn't right though. Many of the locals sounded too 'down east' or 'deep south'. Anyway, it didn't really bother me, the only reason I noticed is because I still have that accent myself, despite all my years of education.
I liked the book mostly because of the setting and Hess tends to draw me in. The h and the H were both likeable and the H (Matt) was much less of a blustering bully than Chance in 'Fancy' (even though I liked that book better). Some of the aspects of the love story were beyond ridiculous, but they amused me in their absurdity.
The H, Matt, owns a successful tobacco farm. He's not fabulously wealthy, but rich by the standards of the area. He's the big catch, but doesn't seem to realize it. Historical Aside: if you're not interested, skip it.
Back to the story, Matt has a no-account step brother, Nate, who basically sponges off of him and does as little work as possible. He mostly gambles, screws around with ANYTHING in a skirt and makes babies he won't claim. Like *really* screws around. Dude has an issue, it's beyond normal, horny male behavior. Anyway, Nate is handsome in the "pretty" way and can be a charmer when he wants something, while Matt is bigger, sterner looking, and quieter.
When the h, Kaitlan, comes to The Gap after inheriting her grandfather's small farm, Nate decides he's going to marry her. She's beautiful and - most importantly - she owns this nice little farm. So, he proceeds to shower her with attention and lay the charm on her.
Matt isn't happy about it. He is attracted to Kaitlan and knows his brother will screw up her life. Kaitlan is a bit blind for a good part of the book. On one level, she realizes that Matt is the one who is always there for her when she needs it (helping with the farm, shooting marauding bands of mountain lions, etc.) While, Nate, for all his pretty words is always MIA when work needs to be done. Yet, she holds on to her illusions about Nate for quite a while (which is partly the H's fault). I forgave her, however, because she was very sheltered and had never had male attention before Nate. She was a great target for someone like him.
Here's where the ridiculous comes in and *warning* it may offend some who are particularly triggered by consent issues. Personally I found it so improbable it was hysterical.
October 16, 2017
After reading a few of Ms. Hess's books (Forever the Flame, Winter Love), I've come to expect some themes which unfortunately weren't in this book. But those fade in comparison to how poorly all loose plots were handled. Certain events had no explanation , emotional attachments were discarded for no good reason and abandonment of characters all together .
The heroine was suddenly besotted with a man within 24hrs of arriving at a new location because she was escaping her abusive step-father. Her complete obliviousness towards hero.
Hero was almost a gamma, especially with heroine and expressing his feelings about her.
The heroine was suddenly besotted with a man within 24hrs of arriving at a new location because she was escaping her abusive step-father. Her complete obliviousness towards hero.
Hero was almost a gamma, especially with heroine and expressing his feelings about her.
August 29, 2012
makes me yearn for the simpler ways... *sigh*
December 17, 2017
While I found some things that I liked about this romance (the setting, for one), there were too many things that dragged down the rating for me. The abuse by the step-father was very graphic and seemed a bit unnecessary to the story. The storyline with the step-brother Nate seems to end very abruptly and a bit too neatly, with little explanation for the events. The big thing for me that sealed this was the way the author handled the affair between Matt and Kaitlan. The first time - - seems understandable, but as this drags on it becomes less so. By the time that the inevitable occurs, I'm so frustrated with Matt. Kaitlan also is completely oblivious to the shenanigans that Nate continually pulls. All in all, there was too much that did not ring true.
April 16, 2009
The fact that this is listed as a 'Leisure' romance, just cracks me up. Yeah, it's a cheesy romance novel, but I really did like it. It was an easy read, that passed an afternoon. I recommend it for rainy afternoons when you have nothing better to do.
December 20, 2020
By and1515
Kaitlan could hardly believe her mother as she spoke about marrying a man she hardly knew even when she tried unsuccessfully to get her to change her mind.
But now she wished she'd tried hard because they were both paying the price.
Kaitlin's mother promised there would be a light at the end of all their misery she just needed to heal a little more.
With her mother's death there was nothing keeping her there anymore especially with the letter she'd recently received.
Matt had a difficult time dealing with his spoiled brother who couldn't or wouldn't curtail his tom cat ways and tried to rationalize his lazy ways.
Kaitlin stared at the two men who were her nearest neighbors Nate an Matt and they were stepbrothers.
Okay so she did ask her friend what she honestly thought of Nate and wow that was a long laundry list of flaws.
Matt had been the one to stop by to help them with getting their fields planted.
It had been over a month before Nate dropped back one moment he was wooing her with honey words and the he stuck it to Matt.
Matt wondered if Nate was schmoozing up to their new neighbor.
He was honestly sick and tired of having to clean up after him. Nate was a walking talking polecat who thought he could do know wrong.
Kaitlin had been stunned by his proposal that she didn't know what to say.
Hattie was trying to be the lone voice of reason especially when it came to Nate he might look good and talk good but that was all he was and that wasn't much.
However his brother was a much better man he was the what you see is what you get kinda of man.
Nate was still showing up as usual with his laissez-faire attitude and becoming a little to pushy and to handsy for her.
However in the end Nate the ever charming snake slithered his way into her home and bed.
Matt knew Nate was up to no good and he was right there was another girl he'd been wooing and
Now he dumped the moment he grew board with her.
Kaitlin didn't like the way Nate spoke to her about her friends and when he tried to tell her how things would be after they were married she pointed out that they weren't leaving because they own half the farm.
Matt knew deep down after his talk with Nate was desperate enought that yeah he would have done anything to leave here. Including killing.
She didn't want to believe Nate would have done something like that but it was getting hard to ignore his bad behavior.
Kaitlin wasn't even sure what to do or say and she didn't want to disappoint those she considered her family.
Matt knew he had to fix things with Kaitlin so he offered her the only thing he could and he was hopeful when she excepted.
Kaitlan could hardly believe her mother as she spoke about marrying a man she hardly knew even when she tried unsuccessfully to get her to change her mind.
But now she wished she'd tried hard because they were both paying the price.
Kaitlin's mother promised there would be a light at the end of all their misery she just needed to heal a little more.
With her mother's death there was nothing keeping her there anymore especially with the letter she'd recently received.
Matt had a difficult time dealing with his spoiled brother who couldn't or wouldn't curtail his tom cat ways and tried to rationalize his lazy ways.
Kaitlin stared at the two men who were her nearest neighbors Nate an Matt and they were stepbrothers.
Okay so she did ask her friend what she honestly thought of Nate and wow that was a long laundry list of flaws.
Matt had been the one to stop by to help them with getting their fields planted.
It had been over a month before Nate dropped back one moment he was wooing her with honey words and the he stuck it to Matt.
Matt wondered if Nate was schmoozing up to their new neighbor.
He was honestly sick and tired of having to clean up after him. Nate was a walking talking polecat who thought he could do know wrong.
Kaitlin had been stunned by his proposal that she didn't know what to say.
Hattie was trying to be the lone voice of reason especially when it came to Nate he might look good and talk good but that was all he was and that wasn't much.
However his brother was a much better man he was the what you see is what you get kinda of man.
Nate was still showing up as usual with his laissez-faire attitude and becoming a little to pushy and to handsy for her.
However in the end Nate the ever charming snake slithered his way into her home and bed.
Matt knew Nate was up to no good and he was right there was another girl he'd been wooing and
Now he dumped the moment he grew board with her.
Kaitlin didn't like the way Nate spoke to her about her friends and when he tried to tell her how things would be after they were married she pointed out that they weren't leaving because they own half the farm.
Matt knew deep down after his talk with Nate was desperate enought that yeah he would have done anything to leave here. Including killing.
She didn't want to believe Nate would have done something like that but it was getting hard to ignore his bad behavior.
Kaitlin wasn't even sure what to do or say and she didn't want to disappoint those she considered her family.
Matt knew he had to fix things with Kaitlin so he offered her the only thing he could and he was hopeful when she excepted.
March 23, 2023
Well this was pretty terrible. There was a prologue of sorts that was so detached from the remainder of the book that I cannot quite understand its point. Basically Kaitlan and her sick mother live under the vicious abuse of her stepfather. Her mom dies and fortunately she learns that a grandfather that she has never met is leaving her his land/farm in Tennessee. So she hightails it out of there with two former slaves that basically raised her to start her new life. For how brutal her stepfather was, I was sure that it would come up again in the book. Nope.
Kaitlan immediately meets her neighbor Matt who owns a successful tobacco farm. He offers to help her plant her seeds and give her the lay of the land. Matt has a step-brother, Nate, who "works" for him though he hardly lifts his finger if he can help it. Matt and Nate are total opposites in all ways. Matt is the responsible, hard-working man and Nate is only interested in loose women and gambling. Matt is interested in Kaitlan, but she only has eyes for the more charming Nate. Nate only sees Kaitlan as a meal ticket and someone to domineer. Matt is determined that Nate will not hurt her. Although Nate shows Kaitlan (and everyone else) his character clearly through his words and deeds, apparently she is blinded to the obvious. She fancies herself in love with this degenerate.
Kaitlan is very young but that was really no excuse for her stupidity. Nate was showing her who he was all of the time and she did not seem to believe it. Also, she did not seem to know how to do anything. Instead, she deferred to everyone for everything and then would get annoyed when they would take charge. Ugh. Also, there was a subplot of mistaken identity which was beyond far-fetched on both sides. Disappointing.
Kaitlan immediately meets her neighbor Matt who owns a successful tobacco farm. He offers to help her plant her seeds and give her the lay of the land. Matt has a step-brother, Nate, who "works" for him though he hardly lifts his finger if he can help it. Matt and Nate are total opposites in all ways. Matt is the responsible, hard-working man and Nate is only interested in loose women and gambling. Matt is interested in Kaitlan, but she only has eyes for the more charming Nate. Nate only sees Kaitlan as a meal ticket and someone to domineer. Matt is determined that Nate will not hurt her. Although Nate shows Kaitlan (and everyone else) his character clearly through his words and deeds, apparently she is blinded to the obvious. She fancies herself in love with this degenerate.
Kaitlan is very young but that was really no excuse for her stupidity. Nate was showing her who he was all of the time and she did not seem to believe it. Also, she did not seem to know how to do anything. Instead, she deferred to everyone for everything and then would get annoyed when they would take charge. Ugh. Also, there was a subplot of mistaken identity which was beyond far-fetched on both sides. Disappointing.
January 6, 2025
A young girl with red hair is beaten by her stepfather in Maine. A free black couple care for her and doctor her back to health.
She revived a letter stating she inherited her grandfather’s farm in Tennessee. Kaitlyn leaves with Hattie and Peter Smith for a new beginning.
A handsome dark neighbor named Matthew helps her plant tobacco while his half brother Nate, blonde, lazy but charismatic sets his sights on owning Kaitlyn and her farm
He has a rough way with women and 2 children that he never claimed. The first woman drowned herself in shame when he wouldn’t marry her and the other left town in disgrace. Matthew took responsibility for the young boy and had his friend who worked at the bawdy house raise him.
Kaitlyn is smitten with Nate and his smooth compliments and doesn’t realize his true nature. He proposed but never promised to be faithful. He also impregnated another young girl who was a little slow and followed his every order and met him in the woods or at their cave.
Matthew helped during the planting and harvesting of the tobacco. He went to the town social and kept an eye on Kaitlyn never revealing his true feelings. He threatened his half brother with an ungentlemanly action if he bedded Kaitlyn when he learned that Nate wanted to have relations since they were now engaged.
Interesting turn of events and situations that must be read to be enjoyed.
She revived a letter stating she inherited her grandfather’s farm in Tennessee. Kaitlyn leaves with Hattie and Peter Smith for a new beginning.
A handsome dark neighbor named Matthew helps her plant tobacco while his half brother Nate, blonde, lazy but charismatic sets his sights on owning Kaitlyn and her farm
He has a rough way with women and 2 children that he never claimed. The first woman drowned herself in shame when he wouldn’t marry her and the other left town in disgrace. Matthew took responsibility for the young boy and had his friend who worked at the bawdy house raise him.
Kaitlyn is smitten with Nate and his smooth compliments and doesn’t realize his true nature. He proposed but never promised to be faithful. He also impregnated another young girl who was a little slow and followed his every order and met him in the woods or at their cave.
Matthew helped during the planting and harvesting of the tobacco. He went to the town social and kept an eye on Kaitlyn never revealing his true feelings. He threatened his half brother with an ungentlemanly action if he bedded Kaitlyn when he learned that Nate wanted to have relations since they were now engaged.
Interesting turn of events and situations that must be read to be enjoyed.
July 24, 2024
What an engrossing story this was! I loved Kaitlan and Matt together! I wish they had more page time together but because the story was so gripping I still gave it 5 stars. Nate is a complete scumbag!
May 19, 2020
Tennessee Moon
It has been awhile since I have read the authors books but she
still has the gift of story telling in all her novels. I loved this!
It has been awhile since I have read the authors books but she
still has the gift of story telling in all her novels. I loved this!
June 11, 2022
OMG Norah Hess is my least obsession
January 15, 2025
Corny but I enjoyed reading it
June 8, 2016
3.5 stars. I read this in one night. Enjoyable but nothing new or unexpected. This book ends happily, if not predictably, ever after.
****spoiler below.
***It bothered me a little that Matt slept with Kaitlan deceptively, letting her think it was his ahole stepbrother, even if it was done for "honorable" reasons.
****spoiler below.
***It bothered me a little that Matt slept with Kaitlan deceptively, letting her think it was his ahole stepbrother, even if it was done for "honorable" reasons.
August 15, 2013
A steamy little number perfect for a summer night's reading! A romance told in classic western style (at least in my book) this book will keep you turning pages as there is a little twist at every turn. Also, there is so much sexual tension in this book and that's what makes it even better.
Looking forward to indulging in more of Norah Hess.
Looking forward to indulging in more of Norah Hess.
October 31, 2008
I am totally into reading trashy Norah Hess romance books lately. I am not sure why they are so appealing because the girls are always getting beat up at some point. Maybe I need an analyst.
March 5, 2012
great book
May 21, 2012
Excellent
Read
August 31, 2017I read all of her books many years ago and really enjoyed them. I got rid of my paperback collection of her books, though. This one is in Amazon's lending library.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews