The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

Drummond, a blogger and best-selling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, turns her popular blog chronicling her improbable city-girl-meets-rugged-cowboy saga into an affecting new memoir. Drummond deftly describes what happens when life takes a U-turn, taking readers from her chaste but steamy courtship with "Marlboro Man," to their subsequent wedding and Australian honeymoon, and into the first year of their marriage where the two decamped to Marlboro Man's isolated ranch (Drummond had been en route to a new life in Chicago when she met him). What emerges is a charming and romantic yet realistic tale of the forces that can test a new relationship%E2%80%94no matter how good it is. She presents a sometimes riotously funny, always strikingly real tale of love and life. Drummond is intensely likable and writes with the facile confidence of one who clearly knows herself well. Plenty of surprises lie along the way, such as her parents' divorce and an immediate pregnancy following the nuptials. She's sure to have readers in tears and in stitches as they share her adventure. In a word: delightful. Includes several recipes. (Feb.)