Coming Up Roses: Meet Me at the Fair [Paperback]

Duncan Alice (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rose Ellen Gilhooley would do just about anything for Buffalo Bill Cody, the showman who plucked her out of near poverty in Deadwood, KS, and turned her into one of the stars of his Wild West Show. So when journalist H.L. May proposes writing a series of articles about Rose set against the backdrop of the Columbian Exposition, she reluctantly agrees, since the publicity will help Cody's show. However, the pushy newspaperman wants something more than a business relationship with strong-willed Rose. The first in a three-book series, all with the same setting, this delightful novel combines historical details about the Exposition with breezy, humor-tinged writing that is perfect for the romance between feisty yet insecure Rose and brash, wildly enthusiastic H.L. Duncan, who also writes as Emma Craig and Rachel Wilson, lives in Roswell, NM. John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zebra; Regular Print/Single Titl edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821772767
• ISBN-13: 978-0821772768
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,139,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In an effort to avoid what I knew I should be doing with my life (writing'it sounded so hard), for several years I expressed my creative side by dancing and singing. I belonged to two professional international folk-dance groups. Dancing made for a lousy living, but it was certainly fun. I also sang in a Balkan women's choir. I got to sing the tenor drone, for the most part. My first book, ONE BRIGHT MORNING, was published by HarperMonogram in 1995. What's more, it won the HOLT Medallion for Best First Novel. It was a good start, but my career has been . . . rocky, is the best word for it, I guess. Publishing's a brutal business, but I've got more persistence than brains so the publishing gods haven't killed me yet, although they seem to be trying awfully darned hard, curse them. In September of 1996 my herd of wild dachshunds and I moved from Pasadena, CA, to Roswell, NM, where my mother's family settled fifty years before the aliens crashed. We love it here. No smog, no crowds, no money, but I had no money in California, either, and you don't need so much of it here.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful Americana romance, January 22, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming Up Roses: Meet Me at the Fair (Paperback)

In 1887, William "Buffalo Bill" Cody hires Rose Ellen Gilhooey as a trick rider in his Wild West show. Though not as famous as her pal Annie Oakley, six years later Rose still performs at Mr. Cody's show as The Wild West troupe works the Colombian Exposition of the Chicago World's Fair. Covering the World's Fair to include Buffalo Bill's Wild West show are local reporters Horatio Lambert "H.L." May and Sam Trimble.

The two journalists look forward to seeing the two female stars of Buffalo Bill's extravaganta. After meeting Annie and Rose, H.L. decides to do a story on the less famous woman who rides as well as any Indian. As he follows her for his story, Rose and H.L. fall in love. He rejects his feelings so that the chances of sharing what Frank Butler and Annie have seem remote.

The first tale in Alice Duncan's "Meet Me at the Fair", COMING UP ROSES, is a wonderful Americana romance that though placed in a different city echoes the delight of the movie Meet Me In St. Louis. The perspicacious story line is fun enabling the audience to acquire an impression of the American Gay Nineties while also providing a warm romance. Rose is an engaging character refusing to bury her country roots, but it is H.L. who steals the show by fleeing his small town Twain-like heritage for a Windy City persona. Ms. Duncan provides a delightful historical romance that will provide this rising star with a horde of new admirers.

Harriet Klausner