Description
Beautiful Eliza Beaudry is determined to escape her parents' life of poverty as sharecroppers in the cotton fields of Texas. When her father insists that she marry a neighboring bachelor who she doesn't love, Eliza is forced to take a desperate step: she gives her virtue to traveling gambler Cole Wallace in hopes that he will rescue her from an impoverished life. But Cole has no plans to marry Eliza, and he leaves without even a goodbye. Two months later, Eliza finds herself alone and pregnant, with a father that insists on tracking down Cole to arrange a shotgun wedding. Cole turns to his younger brother Aaron to save him from the marriage, and Aaron, who feels indebted to Cole, reluctantly agrees. When faced with only one option, Eliza agrees to the union with Aaron, only to discover that he is the husband of her dreams--shy Aaron loves her deeply and passionately. Author Megan Chance has once again created characters with a depth of emotion that will move readers and remind them of all the wonderful reasons for reading romance novels. From Library Journal Desperate to escape an arranged marriage to a sharecropper and a life of servitude, poor, naive Eliza Beaudry falls for Cole Wallace, a charming, ambitious gambler who steals her virginity, leaves her pregnant, and then pawns her off on his shy brother, Aaron. But when Cole returns, rejected, he discovers a changed and very desirable Eliza, and suddenly Eliza has some difficult choices to make. A poignant, emotionally satisfying story with definite shades of My Fair Lady. Chance (Fall from Grace, Harper, 1997) lives on Bainbridge Island, Wash.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Eliza Beaudry lives in Texas in 1876, the daughter of poor farmers. She dreams of so much more for herself. One way she has found to give herself the pretty things they can't afford is to "sell" her kisses to men in town for small presents. Then she sees Cole Wallace and it is love at first sight...for her. Cole Wallace is a traveling gambler. He is in town to win money so that he can settle down with the woman he loves. He is superficially attracted to Eliza when they meet, enough to sleep with her anyway. When Eliza realizes she is pregnant her father forces Cole to marry her. Cole decides that his brother would be a much better husband for Eliza, especially since it would leave him free for the woman he loves. His brother and father pressure Aaron Wallace into a marriage with a woman he has never met. He is a gentle, shy poet who is awed by his predicament and by Eliza when they meet and marry in rapid succession.I found that I couldn't enjoy the story because I didn't like nor sympathize with any of the characters. Eliza was a very unappealing character to me.Michelle Sawyer -- Copyright © 1994-97 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved -- From Literary Times A former Seattle television news photographer, Megan Chance left broadcasting to pursue a lifelong obsession with writing. The recipient of the Romance Writers of America's Rita Award, Megan is a resident of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband, a criminal defense attorney, and her two daughters. Read more
Features & Highlights
- When Eliza Beaudry entrusts herself to the care of notorious gambler Cole Wallace, who promises to show her the world for a small price, she ends up pregnant and alone and befriends Cole's timid brother Aaron, who falls in love with her
