Dorothy Garlock’s Sunday Kind of Love begins as an old-fashioned love story. It's 1956, girl has already met boy, and they’re en route to Buckton, Indiana, to meet her parents. Gwen hopes she’s found a partner in her boyfriend, Kent—a man to stand beside her, not tower above her.
Gwen is a small-town girl who, unlike most of her friends, attended college and then left Podunk Buckton for the glamour of Chicago. She’s fallen for the dazzling Kent Brookings—an attorney par excellence and a young man on his way up.
However, Gwen soon realizes that the entitled young lawyer sees her as more of a beautiful trinket than the intelligent young woman she truly is. When the two travel to Buckton to visit Gwen’s family, Kent announces their engagement to her parents—before he’s even asked Gwen to marry him. Gwen is infuriated.
Garlock’s mastery of momentum paired with captivating characters ensures a satisfying read.
After Kent’s surprise announcement, Gwen storms off into the night to re-examine the relationship. Gwen is torn. Kent doesn't support her dream of becoming a writer, and if he doesn’t take her seriously, how can she become his wife? However, she knows Kent is everything her parents want for her: an educated, thoughtful and wealthy young man.
As she ponders her dilemma in the darkness, she drops her prized writing journal in a swollen river and, while attempting to retrieve it, is swept away by the current. As fate would have it, local bad boy, Hank Ellis, hears her calls for help and risks his life to rescue Gwen. Despite this act of heroism, Gwen’s father shuns Hank when he brings her home, asking him to get out.
To Gwen’s family and the entire town of Buckton, Hank is a pariah. He was responsible for the fiery car wreck that killed his much-loved younger brother. However, it seems that everyone in Buckton has a secret, and Hank, devastated by his brother’s death and his father’s alcoholism, is no exception. Yet despite his painful past, Gwen finds herself developing feelings for this rough, misunderstood giant of a man who saved her.
The latest of Dorothy Garlock’s romances underscores why the author is a nearly permanent resident of the New York Times bestseller list. Garlock’s mastery of momentum paired with captivating characters ensures a satisfying read.
