Willow

by Norah Hess

When Willow Ames leaves El Paso to take a job as a housekeeper, she never expects her new employer to be the arrogant, darkly handsome cowboy who propositioned her the night before. By the author of Jade. Original.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Westerns, Western Romance

397 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Always 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.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mean father who is disappointed that his child was born female in New Mexico is abusive to his wife and daughter forcing the daughter to be an unpaid ranch hand at a early age. Threats to the frail mother keep the daughter doing his ranch work with an occasional physical abuse.
The new plan is to marry her to the even meaner neighbor who has water rights on his land.
The frail mother writes a letter to her former boyfriend who runs a large ranch in Texas. She misleads the son into thinking the daughter was jilted at the alter and Ned’s a housekeeping job. A former gunslinger sneaks away and takes the daughter to Coyote,Texas.
Jules Archer is rich and a confirmed bachelor who goes to town and brothels for female company.
Women have very purpose in the book and obviously the times were different but this was a predictable outcome instead of a cowboy romance.

[Readitnweep · Rating 2 out of 5]

2-1/2 stars. I liked how Jules thought she was a hooker in the beginning, which set them up with a rocky start. I thought the author sold Jules short when she had Willow and Jess only believe that Jules had kept Nina around to sleep with him without having it be true. It would have made Jules seem more real if he had just put up with Nina's bad cooking for the sex - and it would have been funny. Given Jules a bit more depth. I thought that, and the guilt he might have had from it - a missed opportunity.

It was a good story but could have had more depth in the characters over all.

[Ldlimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok story

[JennyG · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book too slow paced with not enough conflict.

[Greeneyes Belle28 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Marizan Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books I've read in a long time!!!!