Wildly popular award-winning blogger, accidental ranch wife, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) tells the true story of her storybook romance that led her from the Los Angeles glitter to a cattle ranch in rural Oklahoma, and into the arms of her real-life Marlboro Man.
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Popular blogger and cookbook author Drummond shares the story of her courtship and marriage to her husband, whom she refers to as Marlboro Man. Though Drummond grew up in Oklahoma, she never imagined she�d end up there for good. After four years of college in Los Angeles, Drummond was only making a pit stop home before moving to Chicago. A chance encounter with a devastatingly masculine cowboy in a local bar changes everything. Though several months elapse before Marlboro Man calls her, the spark between them ignites as soon as they start dating. A rancher with deep roots in the land he works, Marlboro Man isn�t going anywhere, which means Drummond has to decide whether, to be with him, she�s willing to give up her dream of moving to Chicago. By the time Marlboro Man proposes, the decision is made, and Drummond prepares to marry the love of her life and discover what being a rancher�s wife will entail. Charming and bright, Drummond�s story will be an inspiration to those who despair of finding old-fashioned, lasting love. --Kristine Huntley
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
#2 New York Times Bestseller (New York Times )
#2 Wall Street Journal Bestseller (Wall Street Journal )
“Fans of Drummond’s blog and cookbook will eat up this breathless blow-by-blow chronicle of falling in love with Marlboro Man, a.k.a. her husband, and adapting to life on his ranch. . . . Generous dollops of self-deprecating humor contribute a welcome tang.” (People )
“Charming and bright, Drummond’s story will be an inspiration to those who despair of finding old-fashioned, lasting love.” (Booklist )
“The Pioneer Woman is perfect reading for Valentine’s Day, whether you’re celebrating a lasting love or still looking for The One. Even the most cynical of readers will be charmed by Drummond’s hilarious story of being won over by a cowboy.” (BookPage )
“An affecting new memoir . . . charming and romantic. Riotously funny . . . Drummond is . . . sure to have readers in tears and in stitches. In a word: delightful.” (Publishers Weekly )
"I'm a desperate housewife. I live in the country. I channel Lucille Ball, Sylvia Plath, and Ethel Merman. Welcome to my frontier!"
My name is Ree. I'm also known as The Pioneer Woman on my website, ThePioneerWoman.com.
Years ago, after living and working there for several years, I left the great city of Los Angeles . Fleeing a dead-end relationship with a surfer, I planned a much-needed pit stop in my Oklahoma hometown before beginning my new life in Chicago. While home, I met and unexpectedly fell in love with a Wrangler-wearing cowboy whose icy-blue eyes made me forget myself. Before I knew it, I'd canceled my Chicago plans, married the cowboy, and was bearing his children and chasing cows off my porch on his cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere.
Four children and thirteen years later, I still don't know what I'm doing here.
But I do know this: I'm exactly where I belong.
A former vegetarian and food-lover, it was a rude awakening to find out that cowboys don't eat seaweed. They don't eat salads unless they're piled high with ranch dressing, and they certainly wouldn't consider spicy Thai food the height of culinary bliss. They eat meat, lots of meat, with an occasional potato thrown in for balanced nutrition. I stood in my country kitchen and cried, mourning the beautiful things I used to eat. I stared at potatoes with disdain.
Then I picked myself up off the figurative floor, dusted off my apron, and figured if I couldn't beat 'em...I'd join 'em. I jumped right in, teaching myself to cook cowboy-friendly meals. Occasionally, I'd throw in some fresh basil to bring a little of my old life in. I'm still cooking today, and I love it more and more all the time.
Unless the family requests fried calf nuts, and then I start crying all over again.
One morning in 2006, my husband took all four of our small children to work cattle. In my pajamas, I wandered to the computer and started a blog, "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman." What started as a place to post the occasional photo or two quickly became a catch-all for rural stories, bizarre poetry, photography tips, and eventually, my step-by-step pictorial recipes. Now, nearly four years later, ThePioneerWoman.com is still going strong. I love sharing my crazy, silly life with the folks who stop by my site...and I love interacting with them. They're the best people on the internet.
My cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks", is a natural extension of the cooking section of my website. Using only simple and widely-available ingredients, I share my favorite, classic recipes from my website---along with a good crop of new dishes. I hope you enjoy it. It's homespun, homemade, and very stream-of-consciousness. It's me.
I've seen prior reviews of this book that use the words "pedantic, repetitive" and "poorly written" and I whole-heartedly agree. What really irritated me though were the author's descriptions of what I perceived to be her husband's selfish, borderline boorish behavior and the fact that she never calls him on it. He allows his brother to humiliate her in a disgusting fashion (rectal thermometer "initiation"), takes her horseback riding when she's not comfortable on a horse (and she almost falls off) and then drags her into a prairie fire. And when she finally shows a bit of irritation with him for taking her into a potentially life-threatening situation, he gets huffy and gives her the silent treatment. While she fretted about his reaction and whether or not he was going to call, I silently screamed, "grow a backbone girl". And does he apologize? Heck no - he just saunters back into her life and lets his Wranglers do the talking. I would've enjoyed the book far more had their culture clash been a bit more two-sided (i.e. if they'd both done their share of compromising, which from her description, didn't seem to happen).
I love PW and follow her blog daily. I was so excited to get this book and read it since I had read the story on her site about how she and her husband met and fell in love. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this book. Only the last 85 pages is new material. The majority of the material can be read for free online. Also, the story up through the wedding is very detailed and flows beautifully. The story that takes place after the wedding doesn't have a lot of detail and doesn't really flow that well, but what can be expected when you are using 85 pages to cover a year when you have previously used 230 pages to describe the first year? The price is very high, even at the sale price, for the amount of new material. I suggest checking this book out from your library rather than purchasing it, or just reading the blog for free.
Like many have said, most of the book is available free on her blog, I first read it on her blog and I laughed and I cried reading it. I was so excited to read more! Being a newlywed myself I was excited to see how Ree handled the wedding the first year of marriage. I was super disappointed, it seemed disjointed, hokey, like she was trying too hard.
I'll continue to read her blog and I love her cookbook, but will be skeptical of any new novels.
