Today’s guest blog is courtesy of Samantha DeMart, who loves her God, her husband, her books and her Buffalo, NY. She’ll be sharing book recommendations with us from time to time, and we’re thankful for her insight! Samantha…
Who doesn’t like a good love story? (Hint: If you don’t, this book is not for you!) Let’s be honest though, most of us just adore a good love story. They meet, there are butterflies, they fall in love, there are inevitably adventures, they (hopefully) live happily ever after – it speaks to something to innate to our humanity and we just can’t help but be enraptured by it. Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is one heck of a (hysterical, over-the-top) love story, and if you’re in to that kind of thing, you’re in for a treat.
Ree Drummond, known in popular culture as The Pioneer Woman (self described “accidental country girl who is a desperate housewife, lives in the country and channels Lucille Ball, Vivien Leigh, and Ethel Merman), pens this memoir and gives us all a glimpse in to her romantic, hilarious and sometimes downright ridiculous courtship with her husband Ladd, whom she lovingly refers to as Marlboro Man. We follow Ree as she returns to her hometown in Oklahoma, after attending college in Los Angeles. She intends for this time to be a brief stopover as she re-organizes her life post-college and post-long-term-boyfriend and readies herself for a move to Chicago – a big city where she has hopes and dreams for a fancy apartment, great job and a fabulous foodie experience. Her world is turned upside down when one night while out with friends, she meets Marlboro Man in a bar. They talk the night away and Ree is head-over-heels – and is convinced that this could really be the start of something. Alas, she doesn’t hear from Marlboro Man for months! Just when she has about written him of she does finally hear from him, and what follows is a whirlwind romance that is just too good not to be recorded in a book. I honestly found myself laughing to the point of tears at a few junctures, and reading small snippets out loud to my husband (he thought it was funny too!). I found myself rooting for our heroine and her romantic cowboy love affair, and the book certainly didn’t disappoint me.
Sure, the stories are fun and funny, but they’re often poignant too. And if you look just a bit below the surface, beneath the hilarity of a city girl literally stranded, barefoot and pregnant in a ranch in the middle of nowhere, you find some deeper truths too. Truths like the power of sacrifice for the person that you love. Truths about having a sibling with a developmental disability. Truths about how the splitting up of a family hurts, at any age. This book is fun and funny, and yes, a bit…much at parts. It may even be what many consider a “beach read”; but it’s engaging and poignant and touching too. If you’re a fan of The Pioneer Woman, you won’t be disappointed, and if you’ve never heard of her, you’ll likely walk away from the book as a converted Pioneer Woman fan.
