April Ashbury has just moved to Fertile, Missouri to start her job as nurse and assistant to the local doctor. Unfortunately though, its raining hard and her car gets stuck in the mud. She sludges her way through the mud and ends up on the doorstep of Joe Jones, a handsome local farmer. Joe takes an instant liking to her and sets about pursuing her, but he has a lot of competition. Several of the men are charmed by this new nurse and make special trips to the doctors with "ailments" to be treated.
There are other worse things going on the town than friendly competition however. Malicious gossips, heated rivalries, and a flood threatens the normally peaceful town of Fertile. April and Joe are in the thick of it and it could cause them to question the feelings they have for each other. Not to mention April has a stalker to contend with as well, even if she doesn't know it.
The characters in this are mostly charming. There are of course some evil terrible people as well, but Garlock includes some "grey" characters as well which is nice compared to some of her earlier stories. April was likable and there was good chemistry with her and Joe. Some of the other characters could use some more detail, but it wasn't anything so glaring as to take away from the story.
Garlock's writing is always colorful and interesting. She doesn't leave any of the squeamish bits out. There is sex, violence, rape, etc. and caution should be used if you are offended by these things and read Garlock. Her dialogue is always witty and while I can never picture real people saying some of the things her character's say but its extremely entertaining.
It was a good book and a nice continuation of the story. There were some crazy hard to believe aspects of the plot, but overall it was a a great story. I'm definitely going to go check if there's a fifth book in the series.
River Rising
Copyright 2005
388 pages
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