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Book Review of Wild Oats

Wild Oats
Wild Oats
Author: Pamela Morsi
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Paperback
jjares avatar reviewed on + 3411 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


This has to be about the best book I've read this year; it's funny, full of quirky characters who haul around lots of baggage. The secret of Morsi's success is that she takes plain folks, puts them in odd situations and allows us to watch their efforts to work themselves out of the corner.

Jedwin Sparrow has inherited his father's mortuary but cannot overcome his illness around the work of embalming. Jedwin is a shy, inexperienced lover who decides to ask the local divorcee to help him become skilled in sexual matters! In exchange, he will make improvements on her (run-down) home and give her a small income.

Cora, who is practical but nearly destitute, is at first horrified by Jedwin's suggestion, then angry. However, she has been alone for 8 years and is charmed by Jedwin's honesty. So she offers to let him court her. It doesn't hurt that Jedwin's mother has made Cora's life miserable; this may be a chance to tweak Mama's nose.

Now this is uncomplicated until the town snoops join the mix â and they all seem to be busy-bodies. We learn that Jedwin is a hen-pecked son who just wants to sow a few wild oats. This is a charming story about two wonderful misfits who learn they fit together quite well.

Jedwin is an amazing, if unlikely, hero; his poetry is side-splitting. The author takes her time unrolling the twine of their earlier lives. The only thing I thought off-putting by this story was the quick change in the townspeople (in the end). Cora was a much stronger person than I gave her credit for being.

Overall, this story is so unique and special that I decided to ignore that part and savor the total tale. I could not put this book down.