Anna Jeffrey

Contemporary

Overall:
Sensuality:
Cover Cheese:

They say good writing's a product of great research.

If that's truly the case, then you're about to read one of the best darn columns ever written about a romance novel.

You see, this week's novel is set in the southwest, so I wanted to research and tell you about some of the great American writers who've brought the flavor of that area to the stage and screen.

Men like Horton Foote and Larry McMurtry and…

Anyway, what I ended up doing was intensively researching -- well, actually, just staring at for a really long time -- an old photo of Sam Shepard.

Hoo Doggie.

Now, actor Sam Shepard also is one of the finest American playwrights of our time. An artist who, in his haunting works, dissects the most complex parts of life against the backdrop of excruciatingly small-town America.

But dang if he isn't just my idea of what a no-nonsense, laid-back cowboy from the southwest oughta look like.

So, I'm picturing Sam in a sleepy West Texas town, a lot like the kind you might find in one of his plays.

A town like Agua Dulce, population 10, hotbed of inactivity and bone-dry setting of Anna Jeffrey's refreshing, appealing, and authentically romantic new novel, "Sweet Water."

Fort Worth real estate speculator Terry Ledger is young and handsome, and has the brass and the cash to buy Agua Dulce on eBay so he can turn it into an upscale community.

Marisa Rutherford is mired in West Texas after returning to Agua Dulce to care for her mother who's stricken with Alzheimer's disease.

Marisa's got some brass of her own, and she's not afraid to stand up to Terry to keep him from ruining the lives of her friends and neighbors by forcing them out of their homes.

But when Terry presses lovely Marisa into making a case for her own needs, he's tempted to give her whatever will make her happy -- despite how that might affect his bottom line, or his famous self-control.

"Sweet Water" has that authentic "American southwest" feel to it, a pitch and cadence that are evocative of long, slow days, and simple, good folks whose lives are tempered by the places they live.

But like the town of Agua Dulce, "Sweet Water" is deceptive in its simplicity; Anna Jeffrey creates characters with real desires and foibles, and places them in a situation that might crush the spirits of less hardy folk.

Moving and sensual, "Sweet Water" is not soon forgotten.

Don't forget I told you to --

Buy the book.

For more on Anna's novels, visitwww.AnnaJeffrey.com.

Next Week's Review and AuthorView: "Suite Fantasy," by Janice Maynard