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Margie Kinnard has wondered her whole life why her father didn’t want her. After a while, she ceased to care that he never sent her a birthday gift, never helped her out when she was in trouble and never, ever came by to talk to her at the café where she worked. So when he asks her, out of the blue, to travel to California with him, she is suspicious and surprised.
Going to California has long been a dream of hers. She wanted to see the stars, and perhaps be lucky enough to be in a movie herself. She wanted, for once, to have a little fun. She had tried to go to California once before, with a man that she had hired to take her there, but he had stolen her money and left her stranded along the way. If not for the kindness of strangers, she would never have been able to make it home again. Should she risk going with her father, and give him the chance to leave her stranded, too? After all, there never has been any love lost between the two of them.
Margie decides that she will risk it, just to fulfill her dream of going to Hollywood. However, the trip across the country on Route 66 turns out to be more than she bargained for. After forming a caravan with fellow travelers, for safety, Margie meets Brady Hoyt. Hoyt is a tough rancher, with a few ghosts in his closet, and he’s going to California to find a home for his small niece.
After misfortune strikes Margie’s father, Margie must decide if she’ll let Brady, and the love that has blossomed between them on the journey, help her through one of the toughest times in her life.
Dorothy Garlock is a nationally best-selling author, and it is easy to see why when one reads her prose. She has an earthy down-home style, and her details of this 1930’s trip from Oklahoma to California on historical Route 66 are quite realistic. The characters of Margie and Brady really come alive on the pages. Her secondary characters are vivid and well-developed, and the sheer malice of the villain is truly creepy!
HOPE’S HIGHWAY is not about a happily-ever-after fairy tale love; it is about the genuine, and sometimes imperfect, love that can bind two people together and last for a lifetime. If you are a fan of the typical Garlock style, you won’t be disappointed with HOPE’S HIGHWAY.
Reviewed by Janean Nusz
for The Road to Romance
May 15, 2004
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