The Patchwork Bride

By: Sandra Dallas

Libby eBook

Published: 2018

Genre: historical fiction, relationships

As much as I loved the first Sandra Dallas book I read, I disliked this one. Why then, did I finish reading the entire thing? And why did I request it a second time after several weeks' wait? And why didn't I blog this last night before it autoreturned?

I can answer the last question. We hosted a family party last night and it was fun! After everyone left, I was tired and hoped to blog this title this morning before Libby took it back. Now I'm on a six weeks' wait to get it back! Why am I requesting a book that I didn't enjoy and have already finished reading? Because I highlighted some passages and would like to make comments on them. Because I'm apparently a bit OCD with my book blogging. Because I forget details about books I read, which is why I blog about them in the first place.

This entry will be updated after I get the darn book back!

<Above posted 7.21.2024. Below added 8.20.2024.>

It only took four weeks to get it back. Here's what I had highlighted:

Chapter 1: "Then the memories would die with her. Nobody cared about the stories of an old woman."

Initially, I was drawn to the character of Ellen (the grandmother) whose husband Ben is losing his memory. People's stories matter!

Chapter 4: "'He was cultus when he was full of busthead,' Wendell said at the supper table . . .'That means useless when he was drunk.'"

I was so glad that Lucy explained the ranch slang to Miss Nell, because I was confused! 

Chapter 7: "For a moment, Nell was speechless. She had dreamed of this, but she was startled. She'd never thought Buddy would propose at a water tank."

I'm not 100% sure why I highlighted this, but I know I got frustrated with her husband-hunting behaviors. And then I was super irritated at the "surprise" ending.

Chapter 8: "She had lost her sense of direction. But then, she had never seen a storm come on that quickly. It hadn't been five minutes since the snow started, and now it was so thick that she couldn't see five feet in front of them."

Again, not sure why I highlighted this, but dangerous weather can absolutely do this to people.

Chapter 11: :"Nell even quilted with her grandmother's stitching group. They called themselves the Pickles, after a paisley fabric one of the members had acquired."

This made me curious of the order in which Dallas has written her books. I really, really enjoyed The Persian Pickle Club. (Now that I've checked, TPPC was published in 1995 and TPB in 2018.) I'm not sure if I'll read more of her books, though.

 

Chapter  20: "The idea of finding another man scared her, but she needed a husband, and the longer she waited, the harder it would be to force herself to meet men."

This idea permeated the book. For the era and this character, it wasn't a huge stretch, but it bugged me. Especially when she had sex with potential husbands! Seriously, what were you thinking?

Chapter 20: "Then she thought of the quilt she had left behind half finished at the Rockin' A. She had begun it as a wedding present for Buddy, had pieced it and begun the quilting. What had become of it? Had Lucy finished it before she died? Perhaps it had gone into the dog's bed or had been cut in half and turned into a saddle blanket. Maybe one of the cowboys had taken it for a sugan."

This is a quilter's fear! What if someone doesn't value the quilt and uses it as a dog bed or worse? (A sugan is "a coarse blanket used by cowboys and ranchmen." according to Merriam Webster.)

Chapter 22: "Nell didn't care for sherry at all now and would have liked whiskey, but she was afraid the others would disapprove. So instead, she sipped the too-sweet drink."

Yuk. If you don't like it, don't drink it. 

Chapter 24: "The car's an Oldsmobile Curved Dash, and it goes very fast - up to twenty miles an hour."

Why would Wade buy a car when he was so traumatized over his wife and child being killed by one?

Chapter 24: "He wasn't balky like Buddy, and he didn't have another wife, at least not one that was alive, although Nell thought she would always live with the ghost of one."

 

I was really glad Claire ended up with Wade - he was a good guy. 

 

SPOILERS!

 

Chapter 25: When June called out her grandma on being Nell in all her stories. It just wasn't the powerful reveal Dallas made it seem. I didn't get especially attached to any of the characters. Later in the chapter, June does some math and realizes that Ellen / Nell left the Rockin' A already pregnant with June's dad. Buddy / Grandpa Ben married her in 1902. Happy Ever After.