Love, Julie
by Christine Bush
Edition: Hardcover, 2006
Synopsis: According to her wealthy father, Julietta Brightingham was raised to be a lady in New York society during 1890. She was not supposed to slide down drainpipes, play baseball in Central Park, or, worst of all, want to teach. Teaching was for impoverished young relatives, not for the heiress of the Brightingham fortune.
When her father suddenly dies, leaving her wicked Uncle Edward as her trustee, she must resist his attempt to force her into a marriage that would bring her misery, no matter what the cost. She decides to leave the world behind.
Julietta trades her fashionable dresses and dainty dancing shoes for serviceable travel clothes and sturdy boots. Dying her blond hair brown and donning her glasses, she travels incognito across the country to Grey Eagle, Montana, as Julie Bright, planning to take the position of school teacher, to begin a new life.
But the handsome and dedicated young Sheriff, Jack White, takes one look at her and wants to send her packing. She is not what he expected as a teacher for his fledgling town. He knows trouble when he sees it. But for some reason, no matter what his instincts, he cannot make her leave.
When the past finally catches up with her, he knows he'd move heaven and earth to keep her safe, and make her stay.
I specifically picked this one up from a book sale because I saw who published it: Avalon Books. This was a publishing company that only dealt in clean books. There were four genres: Romance, Western, Historical Romance, and Mystery. I loved most of the books that came from this company, waited eagerly for each new book, and dreamed of becoming one of their writers. Sadly, this company was bought by Amazon and is no longer publishing books.
This particular book I found rather sweet, mainly because of the hero Jack. He was expecting a mature woman to fill the role of school teacher for the town, someone who would help him with a particular secret he has: he cannot read. Instead he gets a pretty young woman who has a mind of her own and her own way of approaching things.
A great read for a lazy, rainy afternoon.
