Morning Glory

Brown's 25th book is the inaugural installment in the Drifters and Dreamers series, a warm-hearted historical romance set in 1917 Healdton, Okla. Boarding-house owner Clara Anderson, jilted by a preacher 10 years ago, has been waiting for her long lost beau to return-with a derringer in her purse. Her hatred of preachers is only matched by her hatred of oilmen, whom she thinks are ruining the area's simple way of life. So clearly there's no way she would ever risk losing her heart to Briar Nelson, head of the Rose Oil Company. He's nursing his own misfortunes in love, but once Clara's cook, Dulcie, rents one of the boarding-house's rooms to him, neither Briar nor Clara can long deny the attraction. This is a fresh-baked muffin of a novel: not too ambitious, but wholesome, direct and charming without being cloying.