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Leaving Whiskey Bend
The new novel from the Voice of America's Heartland, Dorothy Garlock.
Two friends, middle-aged Pearl and pretty, young schoolteacher Hallie, have just about decided to leave the rough Western town of Whiskey Bend, where both are disillusioned with the way they have been treated. The final straw comes when they witness their friend Mary being assaulted in the street by her stepbrother Chester and no one steps forward to help her. They decide to leave and take Mary with them. They go out to the shack where Chester and Mary live to get her, but when Chester attacks them, Pearl shoots him in the leg. He screams after the three that he will follow them wherever they go. Desperately they drive away in an open wagon seeking a new life and safety. One night along the way they are caught in a violent storm and Mary nearly drowns in a roiling river. She is saved by a daring young rancher who brings them back to his home to stay until Mary recovers. The rancher has troubles of his own. He is condemned by his mother for having left his father to run the ranch alone years earlier. He is searching for the murderer of his younger brother. And someone now is trying to kill him. Attracted to him and grateful, Hallie vows to help him..
Two friends, middle-aged Pearl and pretty, young schoolteacher Hallie, have just about decided to leave the rough Western town of Whiskey Bend, where both are disillusioned with the way they have been treated. The final straw comes when they witness their friend Mary being assaulted in the street by her stepbrother Chester and no one steps forward to help her. They decide to leave and take Mary with them. They go out to the shack where Chester and Mary live to get her, but when Chester attacks them, Pearl shoots him in the leg. He screams after the three that he will follow them wherever they go. Desperately they drive away in an open wagon seeking a new life and safety. One night along the way they are caught in a violent storm and Mary nearly drowns in a roiling river. She is saved by a daring young rancher who brings them back to his home to stay until Mary recovers. The rancher has troubles of his own. He is condemned by his mother for having left his father to run the ranch alone years earlier. He is searching for the murderer of his younger brother. And someone now is trying to kill him. Attracted to him and grateful, Hallie vows to help him..
368 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2008
35 people are currently reading
197 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Garlock
87 books383 followersDorothy Garlock was a best-selling American author of over 60 historical romance novels, most of them set in the American West. More than 20 million copies of her books are in print, in 18 languages. Her books have been on the New York Times best seller list seven times. She was named one of the 10 most popular writers of women's fiction four years in a row, from 1985-1988. In 1997, she was awarded the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award. Garlock is also a member of the Romance Writers Hall of Fame.
Garlock worked as an editor, agent and publicist for most of her writing career. She was a native of Texas who grew up in Oklahoma then married and moved to Iowa. Garlock donated many of her manuscripts and other unpublished writings to the University of Iowa libraries.
Pen names include:
Johanna Phillips
Dorothy Phillips
Dorothy Glenn
Garlock worked as an editor, agent and publicist for most of her writing career. She was a native of Texas who grew up in Oklahoma then married and moved to Iowa. Garlock donated many of her manuscripts and other unpublished writings to the University of Iowa libraries.
Pen names include:
Johanna Phillips
Dorothy Phillips
Dorothy Glenn
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
July 8, 2025
Leaving Whiskey Bend by Dorothy Garlock is not your run-of-the-mill romance. It breaks away from the predictable plots and cookie-cutter characters we so often see in the genre. This was my first Garlock novel, and it felt like a breath of fresh air. The story moves with purpose—no drawn-out drama or tired clichés. Instead, it grabs your attention and doesn’t let go, making you genuinely care about what happens next. If you think you’ve seen it all in romance novels, this one will surprise you.
January 27, 2011
For me this wasn't bad but it wasn't good either just middle of the road...blah....Story seemed to drag on while telling me nothing while at the same time feeling rushed to get from A - The End. Parts just felt forced and did not flow smoothly..."Kinda like my review". On the plus side I loved the character of Abe =) He cracked me up!
August 26, 2018
BAD- DIDN'T READ
November 24, 2008
Leaving Whiskey Bend,
Written By: Dorothy Garlock
Published By: Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, New York, USA, 2008, First Edition, 356, paperback, ISBN 978-0-446-69534-3
“Leaving Whiskey Bend spirits you back to earlier days; when life was harsher, times were tougher and love, honour and family, were everything!BCM”
Hallie Wolcott and Pearl Parsons take a terrified and abused, young woman named Mary, away from her malevolent step-brother. Hallie and Pearl leave Whiskey bend with a belief that they will find a peaceful and safe future, for all three of them.
Mary’s cruel step brother will stop at nothing to get his violent hands on ‘his’ woman and leaves a tearful and petrified Mary with a promise; he will follow her to the ends of the earth, to get her back and punish her for leaving! As they travel by wagon toward places unknown, a violent storm sends them into the life of Eli Morgan and his family.
Eli Morgan is haunted by his own personal demons and his life becomes imperilled when his brother’s...
**Please follow the link to read the whole review:
http://bookreviewsbybobbie.wordpress....
Written By: Dorothy Garlock
Published By: Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, New York, USA, 2008, First Edition, 356, paperback, ISBN 978-0-446-69534-3
“Leaving Whiskey Bend spirits you back to earlier days; when life was harsher, times were tougher and love, honour and family, were everything!BCM”
Hallie Wolcott and Pearl Parsons take a terrified and abused, young woman named Mary, away from her malevolent step-brother. Hallie and Pearl leave Whiskey bend with a belief that they will find a peaceful and safe future, for all three of them.
Mary’s cruel step brother will stop at nothing to get his violent hands on ‘his’ woman and leaves a tearful and petrified Mary with a promise; he will follow her to the ends of the earth, to get her back and punish her for leaving! As they travel by wagon toward places unknown, a violent storm sends them into the life of Eli Morgan and his family.
Eli Morgan is haunted by his own personal demons and his life becomes imperilled when his brother’s...
**Please follow the link to read the whole review:
http://bookreviewsbybobbie.wordpress....
May 22, 2016
It was alright, with a quick moving (almost too quick moving) plot. But the character depth suffered for it. There were several interesting characters that would have been interesting to dig deeper into. There was also a ridiculously one dimensional character of the mother who was so 1D that I couldn't even enjoy loving to hate her.
Everything from character to plot is about one inch deep. Which makes the romances in it less satisfying that it could have been.
Everything from character to plot is about one inch deep. Which makes the romances in it less satisfying that it could have been.
July 22, 2012
This an old fashioned romance novel, and a western to boot. I am not a fan of them, but someone lent it to me, and I decided to read it. About two thirds of the way through, I almost stopped reading it, but I finished it.
January 9, 2016
This was not my favorite Dorothy Garlock...I love it when she explores each character deeply. I think these characters could have been better served to be in a series with one book on each couple. These characters were interesting, but the whole book felt mashed together.
November 29, 2008
This romance is not a great book. It's quiet and enjoyable enough but never quite catches the reader.
January 23, 2009
Decent. More cussin' than I was expecting.
May 2, 2016
I think it was the narration of this book that ruined it for me. The voices were very cartoonish.
September 19, 2013
Very engaging, quite quirky but do they have to have such foul mouths?
January 6, 2016
It was so so, nothing special, a lot of drawn out pages that could have been left out and not hurt the story. No impressed.
January 18, 2015
Not one of my favorites by Her
October 28, 2020
Three women, Mary, Haley and Pearle run from the brutal way men treated women in Whiskey Bend, Colorado. Mary, believing Chester the man who inherited her world come after them to kill them, jumps into a running river. She survives thanks to Eli Morgan and his uncle Hank. The three women are taken to Eli’s home so Mary can recuperate.
Eli’s mother, Adele Morgan, a bitter, hateful, angry and mean woman who doesn’t have a nice bone in her, falls off a ladder and hurts herself and becomes bedridden having to depend upon Haley’s kindness and generosity to get her back on her feet. With Adele’s husband dead from a heart attack, son Caleb murdered, and son Abe who has not recovered fully from an illness where he woke with a personality change and Eli away with the Army had left her angry and bitter.
Fawn Billings, the banker’s daughter who grew up with Eli and wanting to marry him but who is engaged to Seth McCaddy who is jealous and scared of Eli, stirs up as much trouble as she can for the naïve Haley who is attractive to Eli and who Eli is attractive to.
Author Garlock is great at descriptive language and telling women’s history in her stories. Ken Haruf’s storytelling skills helped make the story believable and enjoyable.
Eli’s mother, Adele Morgan, a bitter, hateful, angry and mean woman who doesn’t have a nice bone in her, falls off a ladder and hurts herself and becomes bedridden having to depend upon Haley’s kindness and generosity to get her back on her feet. With Adele’s husband dead from a heart attack, son Caleb murdered, and son Abe who has not recovered fully from an illness where he woke with a personality change and Eli away with the Army had left her angry and bitter.
Fawn Billings, the banker’s daughter who grew up with Eli and wanting to marry him but who is engaged to Seth McCaddy who is jealous and scared of Eli, stirs up as much trouble as she can for the naïve Haley who is attractive to Eli and who Eli is attractive to.
Author Garlock is great at descriptive language and telling women’s history in her stories. Ken Haruf’s storytelling skills helped make the story believable and enjoyable.
August 25, 2020
The best word to describe this book, with so much promise, is LUKEWARM.
The women ran away from a supposedly horrible existence, that was nothing better than lukewarm because we never found out WHAT was so horrible.
One never truly understood Eli’s aberration for being in the town, or why he would ignore his parents for so many years.
One never truly understood the mother’s true anger or the blame she put on her son.
One never understood what made Mary want to kill herself because the reader never found out what truly happened to her to make life unbearable.
One never truly understood Abe’s illness and how Mary’s love could possibly overturn it.
One never understood how these strong women could just stand by and watch their loved ones be attacked and not grab at least a chair to try to stop the bad guy with in some manner.
One never understood Fawn’s obsession.
Tbh, even the love scene was completely uninteresting since there was no build up and it was, you got it, lukewarm.
I will not be looking to read other titles by this author.
The women ran away from a supposedly horrible existence, that was nothing better than lukewarm because we never found out WHAT was so horrible.
One never truly understood Eli’s aberration for being in the town, or why he would ignore his parents for so many years.
One never truly understood the mother’s true anger or the blame she put on her son.
One never understood what made Mary want to kill herself because the reader never found out what truly happened to her to make life unbearable.
One never truly understood Abe’s illness and how Mary’s love could possibly overturn it.
One never understood how these strong women could just stand by and watch their loved ones be attacked and not grab at least a chair to try to stop the bad guy with in some manner.
One never understood Fawn’s obsession.
Tbh, even the love scene was completely uninteresting since there was no build up and it was, you got it, lukewarm.
I will not be looking to read other titles by this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2020
DNF at p. 90. The writing here is baaaaaad. None of the characters have any more depth than a mud puddle; for the ladies we have The Female Lead, The One Who Needs Rescued, and The One Who Cusses. For the guys, we have The Male Lead and The Villain. Those are literally all the defining personality traits we get. Also basically every guy in this world other than the love interest is a violent, abusive alcoholic from whom women must flee -- that's the entire backstory for all three women. I'm sorry, but that's a serious lack of imagination on the author's part. No one has any clear motivation apart from getting to the next plot point; instead of having realistic concerns and expectations, characters inexplicably "just know" things they have no way of knowing, solely because the author needs them to behave in a certain (idiotic) way. And this is supposed to be a romance, but I'm over a quarter of the way through and the romantic leads haven't even met yet. I'm done.
December 13, 2021
I give this book 2.5 stars. A good beach read. Light and predictable story. Hallie and Pearl rescue Mary from an abusive man, Chester, and leave Whiskey Bend. As they travel a storm comes up and Mary tries to end her life in the swollen river. Hank and Eli are out looking for lost cattle and Eli saves Mary and takes them all to his home to recover. There is an instant attraction between Hallie and Eli. The women keep there true reason for being in the storm a secret. Eli also has his own secrets. Someone is out to kill Eli and the ladies are in fear that Chester will come after them.
March 16, 2020
This was an interesting book about three women running from a man who was terrorizing them. The setting was around President Licoln’s time. That became a factor. There were parts of the book that were very realistic and a whole lot that was simply unbelievable. I felt like the ending was overkill. Too much happening all at one time and it looked like the author was sick of the project and just wanted it done!
March 2, 2025
2.5 but bumped it up because it was fast and reasonably engaging. The plot is a little contrived and the characters are tropes (except for maybe Abe?) The romantic arcs are relatively dull and baseless. But honestly, worse than all of that is Garlock's obsession with similes and her use of the word "scorcher" to describe the weather of almost every single day that passes. Take a breath, Dorothy!
January 30, 2018
This book was a good story. Turned into a page-turner at the end as there was lots of action happening. I felt there was not a lot of depth to the characters though. They came across as either purely evil or purely good. Did not spoil the book though.
April 14, 2018
Usually love Garlock's writing; this one is okay but not one of her best. Historical information seems accurate but plotting a little on the weak side and characters were rather one-dimensional. Twist at the end was definitely a surprise.
August 18, 2019
I was disappointed in this book, I really like this author. I really didn't like how slow the story went and how weak she had the lead female character. I will continue reading this author but maybe with more caution than previous.
May 12, 2022
I did not like this one..couldn’t wait till the end. So much hate and violence was not necessary. I read to relax and enjoy a good story. The real Wild West was not as wild as this story was. Very disappointed!
February 16, 2023
Another good one.
Although what you would expect, the combination of family conflict, mystery and of course romance a good winter's day read. Dorothy Garlock has been one of my go to authors. Some of books are great others just good. This was a good one.
Although what you would expect, the combination of family conflict, mystery and of course romance a good winter's day read. Dorothy Garlock has been one of my go to authors. Some of books are great others just good. This was a good one.
February 20, 2018
Very good story. She kept my interest in reading the book.
February 25, 2019
This book was read for a book discussion group. It is a Western.
February 6, 2020
Very good book.
May 27, 2020
I enjoyed this book
September 11, 2021
A great read, three women set out for parts unknown and find them selves a place that cares for them. A sad story with happy ending for these three women
Read
August 9, 2023Loved the storyline.
Dorothy Garlock, my newfound author. Amazing
Dorothy Garlock, my newfound author. Amazing
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews