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Hometown Memories #2
Don't Forget to Smile
Sometimes, a dream must be shattered before it can come true
A long, brightly lit runway, an audience hushed in anticipation as a tuxedoed announcer is about to read a single name, the name of a radiant young woman, who will be crowned the most beautiful in America. Tory Duncan, a stunning coed from South Carolina holds her breath. All her life, she has worked for this moment, prayed for its glory. But the name that is read is not hers.
A long, dimly lit bar in the heart of the Oregon's timber country, the clinking of glasses. Behind the smoky bar stands the proprietor, Tory Duncan, still stunning, still searching for happiness. And Joe Brigham, a forthright and handsome man from a logging family, stares at her with a love deep and pure. But Tory wonders -- is it ever possible to let go of a fragile past to find the joy of an uncertain future...?
A long, brightly lit runway, an audience hushed in anticipation as a tuxedoed announcer is about to read a single name, the name of a radiant young woman, who will be crowned the most beautiful in America. Tory Duncan, a stunning coed from South Carolina holds her breath. All her life, she has worked for this moment, prayed for its glory. But the name that is read is not hers.
A long, dimly lit bar in the heart of the Oregon's timber country, the clinking of glasses. Behind the smoky bar stands the proprietor, Tory Duncan, still stunning, still searching for happiness. And Joe Brigham, a forthright and handsome man from a logging family, stares at her with a love deep and pure. But Tory wonders -- is it ever possible to let go of a fragile past to find the joy of an uncertain future...?
397 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 1986
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November 22, 2022
Very grateful to Jess for putting this on my radar, as I don't try much romance published more than 10-15 years ago without a strong recommendation. You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to something that came out in 1986 but in this instance, the good outweighs the elements that did not age well.
I’ll get to Tory and Joe in a bit but the highlight for me was the way this examines class and small town economics. There are so many interesting layers, like Joe’s sister secretly wanting to go to college, how he thinks about what his son's options will be when he grows up, and the townspeople wanting power tools as a way of feeling powerful. More importantly, the union for the sawmill is front and center. Joe’s work as the union financial secretary exposes him to other ideas and opportunities, in addition to making more money. This is further highlighted by Tory’s knowledge as a former beauty queen and how her upbringing in that world gave her a leg up, even though she no longer wants anything to do with it. No one in the town is vilified or shamed for being content with their work or where they live. Tory herself is grateful to have moved there and open the bar and have a different way of life. It is deftly handled. I seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The world we encounter in Sullivan City, OR is different from small town romance, which often resemble some kind of Hallmark utopia compared to the reality reflected here. There’s such a strong sense of place and community. I would categorize it as a rural romance, similar to Hoosier Daddy, another fantastic romance. I would read so many romances along these lines!
Tory and Joe were both interesting characters in their own life. Both are divorced and figuring out what their respective new futures should look like. Tory has moved across the country for her fresh start, while Joe is figuring out how to be an involved father when his ex-wife married his cousin, who now helps to raise Max. Joe wants Tory but Tory doesn’t believe this will be a long-term relationship so she tries to keep things casual, even though it clearly isn’t. She meets Max. Everyone in town knows where Joe parks his truck at night. Joe and Max surprise her with cupcakes for her 30th birthday, which is basically the first birthday party she’s had since she was a little kid. It was so moving!
However, the romance is largely an afterthought. The way it was written probably fit right in with other romances published in the 1980s but were it written today, Joe and Tory’s relationship and emotional arc would be much more front and center. Some of the casualness is a reflection of Joe’s laidback nature (e.g. ), as well as Tory’s uncertainty that Joe could really care about her. More development would have gone a long way, particularly because this is closed door and so we don’t get to see much growing intimacy between them. On page sex scenes are not the only way to communicate that, of course. But we didn’t even get a kiss when I wanted to see more of the connection between just the two of them, instead of inferring it from their interactions with everyone else.
The only other issue I had was the treatment of toxic family dynamics. There is a lot of parental estrangement and the very real reasons various characters had for cutting family members off is mostly brushed aside or misunderstood “because they’re your family.” This is a personal pet peeve but I did not care for the reconciliation efforts and did not find them to be at all earned. There was a lot of revisionist history happening with Tory’s mom in particular.
All that aside, I’m so glad I read this. I absolutely LOVED the characters and the setting. The way Gilles Seidel wrote about class and economics was just top notch. I plan on reading more from her in the future.
Note: this is largely white cishet world. Heads up for a lot of casual fatphobia, diet culture, and gender essentialism.
Characters: Tory is a 29 year old white bar owner and former beauty queen. She adopts a golden retriever puppy named Wags. Joe is a 29 year old white union financial secretary and former logger. He has a 6 year old son named Max. This is set in Sullivan City, OR.
Content notes: armed robbery (no one is hurt), death of estranged grandfather (stroke), toxic mother/estrangement (reconcile), fatphobia, diet culture, body commentary (beauty pageant), past divorce (both MCs), infidelity , MMC’s wife left him for his cousin, FMC’s husband was emotionally abusive, ableism, deceased grandfather was a hoarder, secondary character with a speech impediment, formerly incarcerated secondary character with past substance abuse (sober now), Romani slur, FMC’s mother was cut off and slut-shamed for being pregnant by her father, FMC’s parents were never married, past death of FMC’s father (car accident, likely drove while drunk), pregnancy announcement (secondary character), FMC owns a bar, alcohol, off-page sex/closed door, gender essentialism, ableist language, hyperbolic language around suicide, mention of past weight gain (FMC), mention of townspeople killed in Vietnam War
I’ll get to Tory and Joe in a bit but the highlight for me was the way this examines class and small town economics. There are so many interesting layers, like Joe’s sister secretly wanting to go to college, how he thinks about what his son's options will be when he grows up, and the townspeople wanting power tools as a way of feeling powerful. More importantly, the union for the sawmill is front and center. Joe’s work as the union financial secretary exposes him to other ideas and opportunities, in addition to making more money. This is further highlighted by Tory’s knowledge as a former beauty queen and how her upbringing in that world gave her a leg up, even though she no longer wants anything to do with it. No one in the town is vilified or shamed for being content with their work or where they live. Tory herself is grateful to have moved there and open the bar and have a different way of life. It is deftly handled. I seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The world we encounter in Sullivan City, OR is different from small town romance, which often resemble some kind of Hallmark utopia compared to the reality reflected here. There’s such a strong sense of place and community. I would categorize it as a rural romance, similar to Hoosier Daddy, another fantastic romance. I would read so many romances along these lines!
Tory and Joe were both interesting characters in their own life. Both are divorced and figuring out what their respective new futures should look like. Tory has moved across the country for her fresh start, while Joe is figuring out how to be an involved father when his ex-wife married his cousin, who now helps to raise Max. Joe wants Tory but Tory doesn’t believe this will be a long-term relationship so she tries to keep things casual, even though it clearly isn’t. She meets Max. Everyone in town knows where Joe parks his truck at night. Joe and Max surprise her with cupcakes for her 30th birthday, which is basically the first birthday party she’s had since she was a little kid. It was so moving!
However, the romance is largely an afterthought. The way it was written probably fit right in with other romances published in the 1980s but were it written today, Joe and Tory’s relationship and emotional arc would be much more front and center. Some of the casualness is a reflection of Joe’s laidback nature (e.g. ), as well as Tory’s uncertainty that Joe could really care about her. More development would have gone a long way, particularly because this is closed door and so we don’t get to see much growing intimacy between them. On page sex scenes are not the only way to communicate that, of course. But we didn’t even get a kiss when I wanted to see more of the connection between just the two of them, instead of inferring it from their interactions with everyone else.
The only other issue I had was the treatment of toxic family dynamics. There is a lot of parental estrangement and the very real reasons various characters had for cutting family members off is mostly brushed aside or misunderstood “because they’re your family.” This is a personal pet peeve but I did not care for the reconciliation efforts and did not find them to be at all earned. There was a lot of revisionist history happening with Tory’s mom in particular.
All that aside, I’m so glad I read this. I absolutely LOVED the characters and the setting. The way Gilles Seidel wrote about class and economics was just top notch. I plan on reading more from her in the future.
Note: this is largely white cishet world. Heads up for a lot of casual fatphobia, diet culture, and gender essentialism.
Characters: Tory is a 29 year old white bar owner and former beauty queen. She adopts a golden retriever puppy named Wags. Joe is a 29 year old white union financial secretary and former logger. He has a 6 year old son named Max. This is set in Sullivan City, OR.
Content notes: armed robbery (no one is hurt), death of estranged grandfather (stroke), toxic mother/estrangement (reconcile), fatphobia, diet culture, body commentary (beauty pageant), past divorce (both MCs), infidelity , MMC’s wife left him for his cousin, FMC’s husband was emotionally abusive, ableism, deceased grandfather was a hoarder, secondary character with a speech impediment, formerly incarcerated secondary character with past substance abuse (sober now), Romani slur, FMC’s mother was cut off and slut-shamed for being pregnant by her father, FMC’s parents were never married, past death of FMC’s father (car accident, likely drove while drunk), pregnancy announcement (secondary character), FMC owns a bar, alcohol, off-page sex/closed door, gender essentialism, ableist language, hyperbolic language around suicide, mention of past weight gain (FMC), mention of townspeople killed in Vietnam War
November 6, 2022
I can only remember reading one other romance that was as solidly about union organizing and class as this and this was a FASCINATING read. It's such a specific story of time and place and I kind of want to put it in the hands of all contemporary authors today and tell them to study it.
November 25, 2009
Victoria Duncan is a ex-beauty queen. She started out in the child pageants and made it all the way up to second runner up in the Miss America Pageant.
But people in the small blue collar town of Sullivan City,OR don't know about that. A hard worker with monumental organizational skills and the knowledge that research is the key to everything, Victoria opens up a bar that welcomes the regular Joe loggers and their families. She becomes plain old Tory, a bartender with a sympathetic ear and an easy smile.
And speaking of regular Joe's -- Joe Brigham is a regular in Tory's bar who makes an impression on her when he helps out during a robbery attempt (he gives the would-be robbers helpful and practical advice so nobody gets hurt). He's one of the Brighams, a large family that have been part of the town for years, many of whom work on the line and out on the camps.
Unlike his family, Joe isn't content with just being a worker on the line. He has been tapped to be a union rep and the responsibilities and rewards of the job awaken something in him that he didn't even know existed.
The two of them, Joe and Tory, strike up a friendship and then a romance while navigating through their own family issues. Joe is divorced with a son and his ex-wife has remarried his cousin. Tory has some lingering resentments against her mother over her life in the pageant industry.
I have been in the mood for simple contemporary romances for awhile. I wanted something that had no whiff of paranormal at all and no navy SEALS, FBI or women in jeopardy. I came across Seidel and her stuff seemed to fit the bill.
She reminds me a little of Barbara Delinsky before BD went completely over into women's fiction/Jodi Picoult territory. It is romance with a little more grit than some of the stuff that is being put out today.
For one, not many romances take place in blue collar, industrial, working towns that look at the issues of unions and people being out of work. And while many heroes in romance come from such places, romance makes it very clear that they aren't staying there. They usually go off and make tons of money and become super rich and successful. I like the tenor of this story because it allows Joe to still be a good hero without giving him the trappings to wealth and power.
In the context of his family and the people in his town Joe is very successful. And he does very useful work in working with people and the unions. However his ambition is looked at with some puzzlement by members of his family. His wife divorced him because he was doing something she considered different and dangerous. He wasn't content to just be a worker and that made him alien to her. Thankfully, Seidel doe not make Joe's ex-wife evil or villainous, just a woman who has very definite ideas of wife-husband-family-work in the context of their town.
Tory is at first a little enigmatic but she starts to open up and you see why the beautiful ex-beauty queen would settle in a place like Sullivan City. I also loved the inside information Seidel gives about Pageants. Joe's younger sister wants more that Sullivan City can offer, she wants to go to College and finds out that pageants can be a way to get money. Tory is reluctantly pulled in to helping as Joe discovers her glittery secret.
All in all this was a fine read. It isn't flashy, it has a bit of melancholy and is very grounded in realism. I am a sucker for family drama so I lap stories like this up. It won't appeal at all to people who like wealthy characters and urbane settings but I think people who like rich characters and a good story will enjoy it.
But people in the small blue collar town of Sullivan City,OR don't know about that. A hard worker with monumental organizational skills and the knowledge that research is the key to everything, Victoria opens up a bar that welcomes the regular Joe loggers and their families. She becomes plain old Tory, a bartender with a sympathetic ear and an easy smile.
And speaking of regular Joe's -- Joe Brigham is a regular in Tory's bar who makes an impression on her when he helps out during a robbery attempt (he gives the would-be robbers helpful and practical advice so nobody gets hurt). He's one of the Brighams, a large family that have been part of the town for years, many of whom work on the line and out on the camps.
Unlike his family, Joe isn't content with just being a worker on the line. He has been tapped to be a union rep and the responsibilities and rewards of the job awaken something in him that he didn't even know existed.
The two of them, Joe and Tory, strike up a friendship and then a romance while navigating through their own family issues. Joe is divorced with a son and his ex-wife has remarried his cousin. Tory has some lingering resentments against her mother over her life in the pageant industry.
I have been in the mood for simple contemporary romances for awhile. I wanted something that had no whiff of paranormal at all and no navy SEALS, FBI or women in jeopardy. I came across Seidel and her stuff seemed to fit the bill.
She reminds me a little of Barbara Delinsky before BD went completely over into women's fiction/Jodi Picoult territory. It is romance with a little more grit than some of the stuff that is being put out today.
For one, not many romances take place in blue collar, industrial, working towns that look at the issues of unions and people being out of work. And while many heroes in romance come from such places, romance makes it very clear that they aren't staying there. They usually go off and make tons of money and become super rich and successful. I like the tenor of this story because it allows Joe to still be a good hero without giving him the trappings to wealth and power.
In the context of his family and the people in his town Joe is very successful. And he does very useful work in working with people and the unions. However his ambition is looked at with some puzzlement by members of his family. His wife divorced him because he was doing something she considered different and dangerous. He wasn't content to just be a worker and that made him alien to her. Thankfully, Seidel doe not make Joe's ex-wife evil or villainous, just a woman who has very definite ideas of wife-husband-family-work in the context of their town.
Tory is at first a little enigmatic but she starts to open up and you see why the beautiful ex-beauty queen would settle in a place like Sullivan City. I also loved the inside information Seidel gives about Pageants. Joe's younger sister wants more that Sullivan City can offer, she wants to go to College and finds out that pageants can be a way to get money. Tory is reluctantly pulled in to helping as Joe discovers her glittery secret.
All in all this was a fine read. It isn't flashy, it has a bit of melancholy and is very grounded in realism. I am a sucker for family drama so I lap stories like this up. It won't appeal at all to people who like wealthy characters and urbane settings but I think people who like rich characters and a good story will enjoy it.
May 17, 2022
Bumping this up a star on a re-read - it's just such a good, engrossing, layered novel. Tory Duncan, an ex-beauty queen with a chip on her shoulder, opens a bar in an Oregon logging town in the 1980s and uses her difference from the blue-collar townsfolk to keep everyone in her life at arm's length; when she's robbed, however, she meets Joe Brigham - scion of the contented, wholesome, good-guy Brigham family which dominates the town - a divorced father of one who has left his mill job to work for the union, and is coming to terms with the fact that he's ambitious and smart - despite the fact that everyone in his life, and his own upbringing, tell him that he should stop striving for anything different. As the two of them slowly become a couple, Joe has to learn how to continue being ambitious - and where he needs to draw the boundaries; while Tory needs to learn how to be comfortable with interpersonal relationships.
"Don't forget to smile" was advice given constantly to Tory in her beauty pageant days, but over the course of the novel she's not the only one who has to remember - it's Joe, trying to pretend he's okay with losing custody of his son; it's Joe's teenage sister, Lisa, competing in the town beauty pageant in an effort to win the scholarship money that will get her to college and out of their small mill town; it's even Joe's ex-wife, trying to cope with life under the town's eagle eye as "the first Mrs. Brigham to get divorced." The characters and the milieu are all so well-drawn, and the romance between Joe and Tory is heartbreakingly realistic. Really just a classic.
"Don't forget to smile" was advice given constantly to Tory in her beauty pageant days, but over the course of the novel she's not the only one who has to remember - it's Joe, trying to pretend he's okay with losing custody of his son; it's Joe's teenage sister, Lisa, competing in the town beauty pageant in an effort to win the scholarship money that will get her to college and out of their small mill town; it's even Joe's ex-wife, trying to cope with life under the town's eagle eye as "the first Mrs. Brigham to get divorced." The characters and the milieu are all so well-drawn, and the romance between Joe and Tory is heartbreakingly realistic. Really just a classic.
January 23, 2008
Kathleen is one of my three favorite living authors. I have never lent one to anyone who didn't like Kathleen, men and women alike. Some of her books are date because she wrote them years ago, but all are still very worth reading - even the Harlequins!
This is the first one I read, so it is my favorite.
This is the first one I read, so it is my favorite.
November 29, 2024
Don't Forget to Smile is so different to other American novels I've read, which have mainly been romance/women's fiction. It's a lot more substantial than most romances, with its exploration of working class life in Sullivan City, Oregon, a town which owes its existence to the logging industry. Few romances take place in blue-collar towns, let alone have a hero who is a union official. Small towns in romances are usually middle class & white.
Joe Brigham & Tory Duncan come from very different backgrounds but neither feels that they belong. Joe has lived all his life in Sullivan City, a member of a very large extended family. He loves his job but it's cost him his marriage. His leadership skills, ambition & receptive mind set him apart. He's torn because his ex-wife (who he still loves when the book begins) is now married to Joe's cousin, who is a good stepfather to their son. Tory was on the beauty pageant circuit from babyhood. Her only known relative is her single mother, from whom she is estranged. She's abandoned her former lifestyle & moved across the country, where she now runs a bar for loggers. Tory, also divorced, is a capable business owner but much more screwed up than Joe. She believes she's not loveable or capable of loving.
This is a fascinating, multi-layered insight into blue-collar, small town life & union politics & also the beauty pageant industry. The characters are fully fleshed. Joe's sister Lisa's story makes an absorbing sub-plot. The relationship between Tory & Joe is slow burn & not centre stage for much of the book. Unfortunately, as in so many romances, the ending is abrupt & unconvincing.
Joe Brigham & Tory Duncan come from very different backgrounds but neither feels that they belong. Joe has lived all his life in Sullivan City, a member of a very large extended family. He loves his job but it's cost him his marriage. His leadership skills, ambition & receptive mind set him apart. He's torn because his ex-wife (who he still loves when the book begins) is now married to Joe's cousin, who is a good stepfather to their son. Tory was on the beauty pageant circuit from babyhood. Her only known relative is her single mother, from whom she is estranged. She's abandoned her former lifestyle & moved across the country, where she now runs a bar for loggers. Tory, also divorced, is a capable business owner but much more screwed up than Joe. She believes she's not loveable or capable of loving.
This is a fascinating, multi-layered insight into blue-collar, small town life & union politics & also the beauty pageant industry. The characters are fully fleshed. Joe's sister Lisa's story makes an absorbing sub-plot. The relationship between Tory & Joe is slow burn & not centre stage for much of the book. Unfortunately, as in so many romances, the ending is abrupt & unconvincing.
July 11, 2023
This is one of my favorite books by this author, and every so often, I'll read it over again. Tory is a former beauty queen, second runner up in the Miss America Pageant, who, after a failed marriage, now runs a bar in a small Oregon logging town. Joe worked in the logging mill, but now he's become involved with the union, a job he loves. It's cost him his own marriage though, and since he has a little boy he idolizes, it's rough.
The first time Tory notices Joe is when her bar is being robbed, a hilarious sequence of one idiocy on the robbers' part after another. Joe takes charge, and keeps the phone lines from being cut and the cars in the parking lot having their tires slashes. Seeing all the bar's patrons trapse up to Tory's apartment above the bar so the "baddies" can keep an eye on them while they proceed to empty Tory's safe is just another LOL moment. And of course "Sweatshirt" and Saturday Night" are caught by local law enforcement.
Joe begins using Tory's bar as a comfortable place to meet with union members who need his help, and the more he and Tory see of each other, the more they like what they see
The more I liked it. It's another fun read, and I highly recommend it. (and if you ever have the opportunity, I also recommend her other book, After All These Years.
The first time Tory notices Joe is when her bar is being robbed, a hilarious sequence of one idiocy on the robbers' part after another. Joe takes charge, and keeps the phone lines from being cut and the cars in the parking lot having their tires slashes. Seeing all the bar's patrons trapse up to Tory's apartment above the bar so the "baddies" can keep an eye on them while they proceed to empty Tory's safe is just another LOL moment. And of course "Sweatshirt" and Saturday Night" are caught by local law enforcement.
Joe begins using Tory's bar as a comfortable place to meet with union members who need his help, and the more he and Tory see of each other, the more they like what they see
The more I liked it. It's another fun read, and I highly recommend it. (and if you ever have the opportunity, I also recommend her other book, After All These Years.
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September 4, 2024This mini-review is part of a list about Union organizers that can be read in full at The Smut Report
Joe recently took a job as an officer at his local union after working in the mill for a dozen years…and he’s found that he loves it. He likes talking to people and helping them solve their problems. He likes traveling and learning new things. And, though he would never admit it, he likes the power. When he starts dating Tory, who owns the local bar, he starts dreaming bigger dreams and thinking about his future—and his new career will help him get there. Yes, that’s right. We have a full-on journey of self-discovery precipitated by organized labor.
Note: this book was published in 1986, so there’s some diet and gender role stuff that has not aged well, but this is still a strong story about economics and class and power and the desire to escape small towns.
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Joe recently took a job as an officer at his local union after working in the mill for a dozen years…and he’s found that he loves it. He likes talking to people and helping them solve their problems. He likes traveling and learning new things. And, though he would never admit it, he likes the power. When he starts dating Tory, who owns the local bar, he starts dreaming bigger dreams and thinking about his future—and his new career will help him get there. Yes, that’s right. We have a full-on journey of self-discovery precipitated by organized labor.
Note: this book was published in 1986, so there’s some diet and gender role stuff that has not aged well, but this is still a strong story about economics and class and power and the desire to escape small towns.
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October 3, 2022
This was the most emotional read...as the main characters are so trying to figure out who and what they are and how to make themselves whole and better. They are characters who start off feeling like they are numb and just making it through life...but together each works through a path to a better them and find a future that is worth living. Of course puppy dogs and the cutest Max make the story sooo much better. The audiobook is well done too.
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October 26, 2025Don't Forget to Smile by Kathleen Gilles Seidel
I had to dnf at page 68/400 because this book was super slow but primarily because the hero wasn't over his ex. In fact he still referred to her as his wife. His wife who had asked him to leave and married his cousin. I'm just not into a indecisive hero who pines for someone else. Pass.
No rating due to DNF
I had to dnf at page 68/400 because this book was super slow but primarily because the hero wasn't over his ex. In fact he still referred to her as his wife. His wife who had asked him to leave and married his cousin. I'm just not into a indecisive hero who pines for someone else. Pass.
No rating due to DNF
December 11, 2022
This took me forever to read because despite being published 36 years ago and it's being a different kind of union than the one I'm president of . . . TOO REAL, haha.
Some of the beauty queen stuff is hard to read with 2022 eyes (in a different way than the above, lol), but overall a solid read.
Some of the beauty queen stuff is hard to read with 2022 eyes (in a different way than the above, lol), but overall a solid read.
January 7, 2020
Well written
April 25, 2020
Good five star!
Another excellent well written book from the pen of Kathleen Gilles Seidel. I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to you.
Another excellent well written book from the pen of Kathleen Gilles Seidel. I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to you.
December 21, 2020
I really enjoy Kathleen's story telling.
It's a nice feel good book with lovely characters and great storyline.
It's a nice feel good book with lovely characters and great storyline.
February 19, 2021
Loved it!
March 15, 2021
Wonderful characters, Great story
It started a bit slow, but by the end I was loving all the characters and couldn't put it down!
It started a bit slow, but by the end I was loving all the characters and couldn't put it down!
December 25, 2021
Very charming, delightful, and enjoyable.
May 13, 2023
Loved it. Though I wouldn’t call it a strictly romance book..
October 14, 2024
It is interesting. More of a self discovery and relationship thing than a romance without too much drama..
March 6, 2017
The union rep walks into a bar
Owned by a beautiful woman!
He was small town, very large extended family, sawmill, union rep, divorced and a father. She was polished, had participated in "scholarship" contests, owned the bar and had a very little family.
He likes her, his son likes her, her puppy likes her, and his family likes her even more when she helps his sister with her run in a "scholarship" contest.
A great read if a little dated - written a while ago.
Owned by a beautiful woman!
He was small town, very large extended family, sawmill, union rep, divorced and a father. She was polished, had participated in "scholarship" contests, owned the bar and had a very little family.
He likes her, his son likes her, her puppy likes her, and his family likes her even more when she helps his sister with her run in a "scholarship" contest.
A great read if a little dated - written a while ago.
February 24, 2017
Joe was a bit too good to be true. And I started off really liking Tory. Until the picnic scene at the end where she wanders around thinking how much better she is than Joe's family. Actually, there was quite a bit of hate for poor people in general. Nice.
May 5, 2014
This book was recommended as having a good beta hero and it definitely delivered on that front. Joe doesn't pursue Tory at all, he thinks she is completely out of his league, and is happy just to have her to talk to, until she makes the first move. That said, Joe is clearly a leader, but he has subtlety. He listens to people and makes suggestions. An important part of the plot involves Tory pushing him to see that he doesn't have to try to fit in with everyone else, that it's OK to be ambitious and to stand out. It was refreshing to read a hero that is just so competent at everything, without being a bossy, domineering alpha male. He is just the complete definition of the good guy, and a great father. He's not perfect though. I mean, his house sounds really ugly, and there's all the shit with his ex-wife.
Both protagonists have complicated divorce backstories, which was interesting given the era this was set/written. Reading this book felt like time-travelling to the 1970s, but in the best way. It was kind of amazing. Union politics and beauty pageant politics? You would never find this combination in a contemporary romance today and I liked reading something so completely different/dated. I would probably have hated a lot of it if the book had been set in the present of today (esp the pathetic ex-wife, the creepy Stepford stage mother), but it is so much a product of its era that instead it was fascinating.
My biggest pet peeve was the abrupt ending that is typical of romance novels. I want an epilogue!!!
Both protagonists have complicated divorce backstories, which was interesting given the era this was set/written. Reading this book felt like time-travelling to the 1970s, but in the best way. It was kind of amazing. Union politics and beauty pageant politics? You would never find this combination in a contemporary romance today and I liked reading something so completely different/dated. I would probably have hated a lot of it if the book had been set in the present of today (esp the pathetic ex-wife, the creepy Stepford stage mother), but it is so much a product of its era that instead it was fascinating.
My biggest pet peeve was the abrupt ending that is typical of romance novels. I want an epilogue!!!
December 31, 2015
Sometimes good stories come in unexpected packages. I almost gave up on this book after a chapter. Small town romance, clunky, pedestrian language, schmaltzy family ties. So glad I pushed through because it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable contemporary romances I’ve read in a while (even though it’s a re-release of an older book).
Our heroine Tory ran away from her old life as a beauty queen in South Carolina to open a bar in a logging town in Oregon. She’s estranged from her mother and never knew her father. Our hero Joe, worked in the mill but recently became a union steward. He’s divorced with a small child and isn’t quite over his wife leaving him to marry his cousin.
I’m not sure where to begin in describing, because in this seemingly simple tale, every action, every subplot, every character, weave together to create a multifaceted story about growth, change, and recognizing how you can learn from the past without being held back, how you can push forward on your goals without abandoning what’s important to you.
The characters were likeable and well drawn. The dialogue was simplistic but fit well with the characters. I was impressed at how the author weaved the ins and outs of labor-management politics into the story. A really wonderful read.
4/5 on the romance scale.
December 4, 2015
Published in 1986, the book shows it age, capturing a snapshot of American rural life that feels dated, if it ever was exactly as described. Joe, our up and coming union organizer, is an excellent hero, sharp and ambitious, but constantly self-critiquing his own dissatisfaction with the life laid out for him. His decency is so vast as to be ridiculous. Tory is a bit much to take in her beauty queen origins and resulting trauma, although in her own way believable as well. I would have loved this more if there had not been a whiff of a patronizing tone in Tory (and the author's) observations of working class life. It captured Tory and her mother's own self-loathing, but it was not a pretty thing.
April 24, 2019
Kathleen Geillis Seidel has been a favorite author since I first started reading romance novels years ago. I love her writing style, wry humor and strong character development. They are the ultimate comfort reads based on realistic working class characters without much angst, nothing very bad happens and you always get a HEA.
This book has long been a favorite that I have reread many times. But until recently it has not been available on audible. I was delighted to find it. Perhaps unfairly I have downgraded the performance part of my review because the readers voice is so far from the voices of the characters that had become established in my head.
This book has long been a favorite that I have reread many times. But until recently it has not been available on audible. I was delighted to find it. Perhaps unfairly I have downgraded the performance part of my review because the readers voice is so far from the voices of the characters that had become established in my head.
April 17, 2016
This was the first book by Kathleen Gilles Seidel that I read, and it's still one of my favorites (with Again and Summer's End). It's a lovely, heart-tugging story of two intriguing and very different people with emotional baggage who have overcome obstacles, and will have to overcome more to find their happily ever after. It's also a wonderful story of love and families.
August 30, 2015
My admiration for this author is boundless. How I came to miss this one back when is a mystery to me. The characters are fully fleshed, the conflicts are intrinsic to every-day life, important in a way that contrived ones in other stories aren't. I loved Joe in all his beta wonderfulness. The only reason I didn't give this one a 5 star rating was because I felt the ending was too abrupt.
September 15, 2024
Actually writing this review as of my 2024 reread. I love this book. I’ve read it numerous times. Yes, the book is a bit dated as it will be turning 40 next year. Question, just in general, are contemporaries written in the 70s & 80s & even 90s now historicals? But the themes of this novel still resonate. And Kathy wrote great growmances before growmance was a thing.
July 9, 2016
Could have been so much better. Near the end the story separates from the two main characters, they stop communicating and I got bored really quickly. I found myself skimming through the rest.
I think it would have been a much stronger book if they worked through their issues together and communicated better.
I think it would have been a much stronger book if they worked through their issues together and communicated better.
February 26, 2016
I am not even sure what made me pick this book up but I am so glad that I did. I became completely immersed in the world on the pages and enjoyed every minute of it. The ending was rather abrupt but that is a small complaint.
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