A home for the drifter
Cordell Winterman is haunted by his mistakes -- and the years spent paying for them. Broke and hungry, he takes a job as a hired man on Eleanor Malloy's farm.
Eleanor needs help. Desperately. Her kids are running wild and the place is held up by spit and rust. But as Cord helps her set her home to rights, Eleanor realizes she doesn't just need this enigmatic drifter with hunger in his eyes…she wants him, too!
Good book. Cord is on his way to California to restart his life, but in the meantime, he is broke and hungry. Spotting a newspaper ad for a hired man, he heads to Eleanor Malloy's farm to apply for the job. The sight of her apple trees in bloom appeals to something within him and the state of the farm to his desire to be needed.
Ellie is desperate for help. She is recovering from pneumonia and can't keep up with the work. Her nine-year-old son and five-year-old daughter need more attention than she can give them right now. Cord's arrival is just what she needs to keep going.
I liked both Cord and Ellie and the development of their relationship. Cord is haunted by his past, both the things he did during the war and what happened after. He hopes that the new start in California will help him feel normal again. In the meantime, working for Ellie will keep body and soul together. I liked the way that Cord immediately felt protective of Ellie and her family. It was really sweet to see him care for her as she recovered from her illness. I also loved how he became a role model for Danny and taught him the things a boy needed to know. He was also great with little Molly. There were sweet and funny scenes throughout the book as Cord dealt with various issues with the kids. I also liked Ellie. She has worked hard to keep the farm and family going since her husband left for the war and never returned. I liked that she was smart enough to have the property put in her own name when Tom didn't come back. She is protective of her children which causes a few conflicts between herself and Cord when their views don't match up. She is also stubborn and determined, frequently to the point of collapse.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Cord and Ellie. It progressed past employer and employee to friends very quickly. There was also an attraction that simmered below the surface, but both tried to ignore it. Cord is only there temporarily until he can move on to California, and Ellie isn't sure what her marital status is. She doesn't know if she is a wife or a widow, so she won't give in to whatever she might feel. I loved Cord's protectiveness toward Ellie, from the way he took care of her to how he watched the men who came to visit her. I also enjoyed seeing him try to cope with his jealousy regarding those same men. Though Ellie was wary of Cord at the beginning, she quickly came to depend on him. The way he made her feel was very different than what she had experienced with her husband. I liked seeing them grow closer and how they began feeling like a family. Cord found himself dreaming of staying, but his past mistakes kept him from believing it was possible. Then an unexpected and unwelcome visitor arrived. Cord's protective instincts really came to the forefront then. Ellie was also cautious and came to depend even more on Cord. There were definitely signs that the visitor was bad news. I liked the way that Cord suspected the truth and the steps he took to protect Ellie and the children. The ending was intense and kept me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how it was going to work out. I loved the epilogue and Cord's comment right before they got married.
No comments:
Post a Comment