Coming up Roses (Harper Monograms) [Mass Market Paperback]

Catherine Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harper Monograms | Publication Date: September 4, 1993

Wary of love after her failed first marriage, widow Kate Blakely nonetheless falls for her new neighbor, Zachariah McGovern.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kate Blakely is trying to hold together a farm in Oregon near the turn of the century after her husband's reported drowning. Kate wishes she could erase the memory of his abusive behavior towards both herself and her traumatized four-year-old daughter, Miranda. His equally rough brother, Ryan, insists that Kate marry him, and threatens to take Miranda away. Meanwhile, Kate's handsome new neighbor, Zachariah McGovern, withstands rattlesnake bites to rescue Miranda from a well, and Kate takes him into her home to nurse him back to health. After Zachariah accidentally discovers why Kate's rose garden flourishes while the rest of her land produces little, the two make a marriage of convenience so that Zachariah can adopt Miranda and keep her from Ryan's clutches. Anderson ( Comanche Heart ) has a talent for drawing characters. Kate is portrayed sympathetically as a self-protective woman who has suffered, but the historical setting is less convincing. It seems unlikely, for instance, that a late 19th-century farmer could intuit modern psychiatric techniques, as Zachariah appears to do when he employs doll play to get Miranda to tell him about past abuse.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Catherine Anderson lives in the Oregon mountains with her husband and her Rottweilers, Sam and Sassy, who seem convinced that they are teacup poodles and that obedience training is for people. Catherine spends leisure time with her family and friends, including her sons and daughter-in-law, often discussing intriguing story twists for her books. Such talks can draw curious stares if they happen to take place in a restaurant and involve plotting the demise of a fictitious villain.

An award-winning author of twenty published works, Catherine is currently working on her next full-length romance for Onyx.

--This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch; First Edition edition (September 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061080608
• ISBN-13: 978-0061080609
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #990,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Anderson lives in the pristine woodlands of Central Oregon.

She is married to her high
school sweetheart, Sid, and is the author of more than twenty bestselling and award-winning historical and contemporary romances.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Memory Souvenir. -- The biggest of 4 stars., April 24, 2004

By 

MaryGrace Meloche (Ontario, Canada.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming up Roses (Harper Monograms) (Mass Market Paperback)

With many books, once I turn the last page, the story's image disappears. Within a few days, I have forgotten the book's foundation. This is not so in Catherine Anderson's "Coming Up Roses." I think the child in this harrowing tale will live in my memory forever.

Kate Blakely and her daughter, Miranda, endured personal hell for five long years. An agonizing world controlled by a heinous man - a perverted man to whom Kate Blakely had regrettably married. A man unsoundly motivated -- by his own interpretation of the Bible. Joseph Blakely perceived his wife and daughter as `Handmaidens to Satan' - sent by the evil one to tempt him into sin.

Zachariah McGovern is the neighbor around whom Miranda builds a castle of dreams. In Miranda's eyes, this man is her hero. A man who ranks right up there with the fairies, the elves, and the mystical unicorns from her mother's fairytales -- he is the stuff of magical wishes. Zachariah McGovern is a god sent.

Through the pages, the author has drawn striking character sketches. Kate Blakely is a gentle, loving woman -- the victim of a life mistake. Anderson drafts Zachariah McGovern from her masculine template - brawny men who are everything wonderful. And little Miranda Blakely is divine, the star of the story. This cast and their lives make remarkable reading material.

What are the problems? The conclusion wrapped up too nicely, too methodically. These are two wounded souls who would not come back from the brink of destruction so easily -- no matter who the hero is. Secondly, Zachariah's tragic past was an unnecessary side story. Still, this is a forceful well-written story.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite by Catherine Anderson, May 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming up Roses (Harper Monograms) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is her best work. It's the only book I ever finished, and then immediately reread - the same day. Excellent. You can still find it in some libraries.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Catherine Anderson's best book, bar none!!, January 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming up Roses (Harper Monograms) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book will touch from the beginning until the end. I have read it several times, and when anyone asks me if I have a book they can read, this is the one I suggest. Hopefully you can find a copy somewhere, I loan mine, but it is a permanent part of my library.