Customer Reviews

Simple Jess

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

P. Morsi does not pander to the sex starved reading public.
Like any normal man, Jesse is interested in sex. But he is resigned to being simple. It is just his way. He is a most wonderful character to be a loving hero.

Althea is bound and determined to save her farm for Baby-Paisley [I couldn't understand her marrying Paisley in the first place]and not turn it over to another man.
Her mother-in-law turns out to be quite a driven character.

I loved the way simple Jesse worked his way into Baby-Paisley and Althea's heart and was a little afraid when Oather suddenly commented on how beautiful was Jesse. Whoaee!

The supporting characters make up a great community and I loved Pastor Jay who was heard talking to the Angels.

I am more into the western frontier and military romances but THE MARRYING STONE and SIMPLE JESS was so very refreshing and fascinating that I am so glad to have added them to my library.

These stories are so much more real and earthy than the bed-hoping contemporaries being spun today.

I hope M. Morsi continues to spin these wonderful, refreshing tales, as these were a treat to read.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- great addition to most libraries.

In all senses of the word, this is a love story. Not a romance. The novel features a young widow who is forced by the community she lives in to pick a new husband. She's being courted by two handsome, elligible bachelors, neither of whom she's interested in. Her attention is instead drawn to her hired hand, Jesse Best, who is known locally as "Simple Jess" because of a brain injury as a result of his birth. In a community where he isn't treated as an equal, Jesse finds himself being viewed as a partner, by a beautiful woman who has seen past his shortcomings, and into his heart.

I've read a lot of romances and over time have come to really appreciate a well-written, non-standard story. I feel that Simple Jess is just that. One of the scenes I vividly recall is when Simple Jess is skinning a deer and patiently explaining every action to Baby Paisley just as his father did for him. You get a real sense of what is important in life. In my mind's eye, I could just see the love and patience being carried on through the generations and even though Jess wasn't "normal", he was still able to be the kind of person that they needed him to be.

On a lighter note, I love how Pamela Morsi makes her characters individuals that you wouldn't find anywhere else. For instance, whenever I picture Simple Jess, I see him drifting from one group of women to another, smelling them. I love it! It makes perfect sense with his personality.

Though this book can stand alone, I think The Marrying Stone should be read first to just to provide a greater understanding of the community and personalities.

Simple Jess is an unforgettable story about how a meddling mountain community is forcing a widow(Althea) with her young 3-year old son to remarry. Her husband had left a large desireable farm that she was unable to physically manage by herself, and many of the female elders felt she would be jeopardizing her and her son's life by remaining single. In such a small community, the selection of marriable young men were slim indeed. One gentleman was a heavy drinking, irresponsible, arrogant cousin and friend to Althea's dead husband, whom Althea found unsuitable to be a father, and unreliable to care for an entire farm. The other suitor, though polite and decent, had no interest in becoming a farmer, hunter and husband, and may have homosexual tendencies.

In comes Simple Jess, who almost died at childbirth from anoxia when he entered the world with the umbilical cord around his neck, was forever "simple", unable to think critically or quickly like the normal men around him. But to make up for his mental disability, he was blessed with sharp instincts, pure intentions, excellent work ethics, enduring patience, gentleness, and untainted love. Oh, and was a natural musician. His life and Althea's life crossed when she hired Jess to get the farm ready for the impending relentless winter in exchange for her high quality hunting dogs. The love story that develops between a down-to-earth woman trying the best she could for her son, and the sweet, other-worldly and very competent Jess is so pure and sweet, that it must have been made in heaven. Though simple, Jess still has the same sexual needs and responses of other men. And Althea,unlike other women, came to notice all the things that make Jess special and desireable.

I love this story because unlike a lot of other romance novels I've read, the love that develops was innocent and beautiful, lacking in heightened ridiculous drama, and full of sweetness, purity and genuineness. The love scene that came at last, was so wonderful that I had to reread that one part over and over again to savor it. I wish there were more love scenes between them in that book, but I think it would taken away from the characters and the story.

I highly recommend this book. I got my book through the library book exchange, and I doubt my copy will ever leave my bookshelf again!

This is one of the best novels I have ever read. It stirred my heart as no other book ever has (and I am a voracious reader). Jess is truly a simple man, but not a stupid one. His story is one of goodness and compassion. Read it, you'll be so glad you did!

The thing about this book that makes it so unique, is that the author gives the reader a chance to form her own opinions about the characters. The story presents the facts for you to interpret. In so many romances, the author doesn't seem to "trust" the reader. Pamela Morsi is a wonderful, thoughtful author and this book is my favorite of all of the books that she has written. It is light, tender, simple and fun. You will love Jess, too. Read Marrying Stone first to get the flavor of the town, and the gist of the traditions there.

I have read many, many books, and many romance novels, but Simple Jess stands out from the crowd.

I read Simple Jess before I read Marrying Stone, and as a result, I was rather disappointed with the latter. I found the simple (no pun intended) love story much more touching simply because of the way Jess was portrayed. He is a man, an equal, not recognized as such by most, but he is a hero nontheless.

This book is just a wonderful love story, that's all, but it's very well written, and touched my heart like no other.

Widow Althea Winsloe just wants to be left alone to raise her young son as she sees fit. Unfortunately for her, the men and women of her tight-knit village in the Ozarks are determined to see her remarried, and soon. Determined to remain in control, she plans to sell her husband's well-respected pack of hunting hounds. No one's going to just marry her and take what's hers, she's saving everything on the farm for her son to inherit one day.

In the general store when Miss Althea discloses her plan to sell her hounds, Jesse Best chases after her to try to buy a dog from her. Nearly strangled by his umbilical cord when he was born, he's known as "Simple Jess" to the townfolk. An honest man and hard worker, he's nonetheless often taken advantage of for his lack of wit or logic. He's a simple man, and he wants three things in life - a dog, a gun and a woman.

Seeing an opportunity, Althea makes a bargain with Jess. He can earn all the dogs by working on her farm to get her set for the coming winter. Wanting to earn a living like a man, and excited to own his own hunting dogs, Jess eagerly accepts.

This is the one book I've read that's truly captured the truth of disability. Jess was a fabulous character in that he was nothing special. He was only intractably different in other people's minds. He wasn't an inspiration to others, he was just a man whose brain didn't work quite right, but went about his life doing things his own way.

When the story is told from his perspective, there's no angst or drama from him on his otherness. He regrets that other people treat him bad or take advantage of him, and wishes that he could keep up with other people's thinking, but he doesn't see that as making him less than anyone else. He just works hard to do right the things he can do. When we read the story from his perspective, it's colored with a sense of wonder and confusion. The prose changes a bit to reflect his simpler thinking but without bogging the narrative down in awkward sentence construction or excess dialect. You see less rumination on other people's motives and more of him repeating things to himself so he won't forget.

I loved Althea as well. She's a strong woman determined to spare her son the drama she went through when her widower father remarried. She's reluctant to marry again and have her new husband slight the son that isn't his own blood. The more she works with Jess, the more she begins to appreciate a man who works hard but isn't afraid to defer to someone else's judgement when he should.

Thankfully, the book avoids a common pitfall of books dealing with disability and there's not so much as a hint of charity in Althea's relationship with Jess. Loving him doesn't make her a better person, it makes her a happy person. She genuinely values what he can contribute and is happy to compensate for his weaknesses. Bit by bit throughout the novel we see the many things she has a newfound appreciation for once she sees him as a man.

And thank goodness, because pity sex is just pathetic. When these two finally get together it's anything but charitable. Their first kiss is equal parts sweet, passionate and awkward. Jess's inexperience is tempered by his blunt honesty, and having a man plainly say how much a woman drives him mad is hot, hot.

As strong as the main couple is, and as much as I love the treatment of disability, I think the secondary characters might make the novel. The town of Marrying Stone is populated with a wide variety of characters and none of them are cardboard placeholders. Even antagonists Eben Baxley and Oather Phillips have rich backgrounds and nuanced personalities, giving the marrying plot more depth and drama. Althea and Jesse are made even more vivid by the rich characters that surround them and the colorful conversations they have with them.

Simple Jess was a pleasure to read and I'd recommend it unreservedly to anyone who loves an emotional, character-focused read.

I picked up this book years ago from a second hand book store and fell in love with it at once. Must applaud Mr Morsi for choosing to write on an atypical character like Jess and he was handled wonderfully. I lmoa when he say her "round parts" and I like the side story. The hog killing scene is one I always remember. It is a refreshing read from all those sex-soaked novels you get nowadays. My absolute favourite novel.

This is one of my all-time favorite romance stories EVER! In fact it is also on my list of favorite novels regardless of genre. I was ecstatic when I saw it was available for Kindle. There is not much else more to tell that the other rave reviewers haven't already said.

I also downloaded its sister book "Marrying Stone" (You do not need one book before the other; Marrying Stone is set before "Simple Jess") I am reading this book first before rereading Simple Jess via the Kindle edition. And based on Marrying Stone's formatting & a review I read for one of Ms. Morsi's other Kindled books -- do not expect perfection, there are several instances where words are hyphenated for no good reason. Try to get over it. Once I got it in my head that this was how it was and the story is still there, I got over it. No biggie, print books are not perfect either (true Kindle files seem notorious for formatting glitches - but there is high demand for electronic versions of books - companies will cut corners to try to meet demands -- c'est la vie -- it isn't the end of the world.)

But I digress.... back on track...

I highly recommend Simple Jess -- he is not your usual hero, but a hero nonetheless. His and Althea's story is a beautiful romance If you are bothered by "bad formatting" on Kindle files - get the paperback, you will not be disappointed. :-)