Publisher's Weekly
When the manager of a late-19th-century traveling theater troupe runs off with the box office receipts--leaving his employees high and dry in Steadman, Neb.--singer Juliet Drake takes a job as cook/housekeeper for farmer Amos Morgan, Amos's terminally ill sister Frances and his 16-year-old son, Ethan. Juliet hopes to earn enough to travel back east before her employers notice she can't cook, but the ex-singer shows her hand with her very first (almost inedible) breakfast. The Morgans endure stoically (Amos can be so grumpy that no local woman wants the job), and Juliet persists until frustration and fatigue nearly drive her to give in, but encouragement comes when she learns that Frances likes her and wants her to stay. What Frances sees is that Juliet could make a good, affectionate wife for Amos by breaking down the protective wall he built around himself after a disastrous relationship years ago--a relationship that comes back to trouble Amos, Juliet and Ethan. Camp's ( Rosewood ) tale makes for a very sweet romance with likable characters who deserve to live happily ever after.