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Curtiss Ann Matlock

Author of Cold Tea On A Hot Day

42+ Works 913 Members 23 Reviews 3 Favorited

About the Author

Series

Works by Curtiss Ann Matlock

Cold Tea On A Hot Day (2001) 85 copies, 5 reviews
Lost Highways (1999) 85 copies, 2 reviews
Recipes For Easy Living (2003) 76 copies, 1 review
Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel (2004) 67 copies, 2 reviews
At The Corner Of Love And Heartache (2002) 63 copies, 1 review
Miracle On I-40 (1992) 51 copies, 3 reviews
Driving Lessons (Mira) (2000) 41 copies, 2 reviews
A Time to Keep (1987) 34 copies
Heaven in Texas (1991) 33 copies
Annie in the Morning (1991) 29 copies
A Time and a Season (1985) 25 copies
Love in a Small Town (1997) 24 copies
If Wishes Were Horses (1998) 23 copies, 1 review
Chin Up, Honey (2009) 22 copies, 1 review
The Forever Rose (1989) 20 copies, 1 review
White Gold (1994) 20 copies
Wellspring (1647) 19 copies, 1 review
Last Chance Cafe (1987) 18 copies
Little Town, Great Big Life (2010) 18 copies
The Loves of Ruby Dee (1996) 16 copies
Love Finds Yancey Cordell (1990) 10 copies
Summertime (1993) 10 copies
Last of the Good Guys (1992) 9 copies
True Blue Hearts (1993) 7 copies
Lindsey's Rainbow (1986) 6 copies
Intimate Circle (1990) 5 copies
Once Upon A Christmas (2013) 3 copies
Na Esquina Da Ilusao (2003) 1 copy
Miracle On I 40 1 copy, 1 review

Associated Works

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1951
Gender
female
Places of residence
Oklahoma, USA
Associated Place (for map)
Oklahoma, USA

Members

Reviews

24 reviews
[DNF at page 28.]

I won a signed copy of this at least 15 years ago. It sat on my shelves because it's a Western romance, and those generally aren't my thing.

I initially thought this was contemporary-set, but some of the attitudes about race had me doing a bit of googling, and it looks like it might be set in the 1950s. The heroine is 6 months pregnant and has recently learned her husband died suddenly in another woman's bed. I just put up with 28 pages of her grieving, remembering his blond show more hair, green eyes, and sheepish smile every time he came home to beg her not to be mad at him because he screwed yet another woman.
"It had all been so complicated between them, something she could never put into words and something most people could never begin to understand. Roy had loved her, and knowing this had held Etta to him. His attentions to other women had had nothing to do with his love of her. She had made a vow to be his wife, until death do them part, and she hadn't been able to step over that vow. She had not been able to turn her back on him, because she had come to understand him so well, and to know his need of her went as deep and thorough as blood, and that he most assuredly would have gone crazy and died had she left him." (21)

Well, he made a vow too, and repeatedly broke it.

Roy's not the book's hero, obviously - I'm pretty sure the funeral procession just passed the actual hero - and the hero might be the sort of guy who makes the heroine realize how much time and emotional labor she wasted putting up with Roy's crap for years. But I don't have the patience to wait for Etta to come to this epiphany, if she even does.
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2.5**
I feel a little like Scrooge giving this a lower rating, but ... This is a short, (too) sweet story of love found unexpectedly – or at least unexpected by the characters; the reader sees it coming a mile off.

Lacey is a single mom with two children, scraping by on her wages as a waitress at a truck stop in Santa Fe, NM. She likes her work and has a 1000-watt smile for her customers, which has resulted in enough tips to get her children the gifts they really want this year. More show more importantly, after years of estrangement from her family back in North Carolina, she has made arrangements to ride with one of her regular customers to surprise her father, and perhaps arrive at a truce if not full forgiveness. But her plans are thwarted when her friend falls and breaks his leg; he can’t take her now, but he arranges for another trucker to give her a ride. She knows Cooper; she’s waited on him for years. But he’s a loner, not very friendly or forthcoming, and he doesn’t seem too happy about the prospect of giving her a ride – especially when he realizes that he’ll also have to tote her two children and their luggage. The “Bah Humbug” lighted sign on his truck doesn’t begin to cover his apparent disdain for the holiday.

This is a fast, easy read specifically targeted at the holiday market. It’s not great literature, but it isn’t meant to be. The writing is straightforward, the plot is simple, and the characters are not very complicated. I thought it was okay, but wouldn’t go out of my way to read it again or to recommend it to anyone.
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½
When her husband of ten years announced he was leaving, Willa had held her head high and kept quiet about her pregnancy. Digging into her soul for strength, digging wells to earn a living, she'd made it on her own. Now Jack was back, claiming she "needed" him...
This one was just wonderful and left me feeling so positive and ready to read others by this author. I loved it that there was no animosity between her and her husband at the beginning. They part happily with hope of a good future---but we're left to wonder, throughout the whole book, whether that future will be together. By the last few chapters, I knew who I wanted Claire to pick, but then someone unexpected showed up... I found myself overwhelmed to the point of tears at the line on pg. show more 383 that starts, "The architect in the silver car headed one way out of the station, and Larkin in his pickup truck headed the other..." I don't know...guess I just really got into this one! show less

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Statistics

Works
42
Also by
1
Members
913
Popularity
#28,083
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
23
ISBNs
96
Languages
2
Favorited
3

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