MY BIG OLD TEXAS HEARTACHE

Author: Geralyn Dawson ISBN: 0743442660 8/2003 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: POCKET BOOKS

Dear Friends and Neighbors, How did life become so complicated? One minute I'm dating the hottest man in Dallas and the next I'm back in Cedar Dell, Texas, surrounded by grannies, gossip and green bean casserole--and helping my dad recuperate from a car accident. Did I happen to mention that I caused a scandal in town when I got pregnant at seventeen? No one has ever forgiven me--not my hard-hearted father, my brother Mr. Perfect, or my pregnant-for-the-first-time-at-forty sister who's gone totally hormonal. As if this weren't enough, who should also be back in town but Max Cooper, the former high school football star, who is my teenage son's father. And now he wants to date me?! Who ever thought that so many new horizons and second chances would open for me during one long, hot Texas summer? Kate Read more about Geralyn Dawson at: http://www.geralyndawson.com/

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I almost made a huge mistake. I debated a long time before picking up Dawson's newest release, as I wasn't sure I would like her contemporary voice. Oh my, I'm just so glad that I did! This is one fabulous book!

The heroine was an unwed mother as a teen and hasn't returned to her hometown until 17 years later, when her father is injured in a car accident. The hero is the father of her son, and although he's been financially responsible for his son, he's really had very little to do with him before now. He's a widower and now has a 5 year-old daughter, too. He's returned to their small Texas hometown to raise his daughter. The couple really never had a relationship -- they had a one night stand and that was it. The nosy old ladies in town are still gossiping about who the father is and all.

I loved how the heroine was able to make a good life for herself and her son after years of hard work and sacrifice. Not everything has been horrible, but neither has it been fantastic. She had a bad marriage, while the hero had a good marriage with his late wife. I liked that they seemed like real people. The story is one that pulled me all over the place emotionally. One minute, I'd be laughing, then crying, etc. I found the characters "real", even down to the 17 year-old son and the 5 year-old daughter.

I'd highly recommend it. I can't wait for the sequel next year!

Kendra Patterson