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Years
Years
Author: LaVyrle Spencer
Eager to begin her first teaching position, lovely Linnea Brandonberg stepped off the train looking as grown up and worldly as her 18 years would allow. The golden fields and fragrant wheat of Alamo, ND were as new and different as the Westgaard family which whom she would live. Farm life in 1917 was hard and bitter, but Linnea was determined ...  more »
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ISBN: 405437
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 472
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

robinmy avatar reviewed Years on + 2038 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
18-year-old Linnea Brandonberg has traveled to Alamo, North Dakota, to start her first teaching job. She is met at the train station by Theodore Westgaard, a 34-year-old wheat farmer who is not happy to meet her. Teddy was expecting a man. The teaching job includes room and board at the Westgaard farm, and the teachers have always been male. With no way of pawning her off on another family, Teddy takes her to his home where his mother and teenage son live.

Linnea soon has her eyes open to the farmers way of life. The boys work in the fields and have no time for school until the wheat has been taken care of. She and Teddy clash over his son's schooling. But when the fighting turns to attraction, Teddy does everything in his power to keep her at arms length.

This is a wonderful historical romance that was very hard to put down. I'm usually not a fan of older man/younger woman romance, but I certainly loved this one. Linnea is a great heroine who cares about her students and wants to fit in with the people in the small town. Teddy is a fantastic hero whose wife left him and his child years ago. He never thought he'd have another chance at love. This book is also a tearjerker. There are a couple situations where I had to set the book aside to grab a kleenex. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
jdyinva avatar reviewed Years on + 408 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A very satisfying story of a young woman's trip to the plains of North Dakota to teach and find love - an unlikely love. I really enjoyed the book - one of Spencer's best.
aafolk avatar reviewed Years on
Helpful Score: 1
In my opinion, one of Ms. Spencer's best books. The people and their lives come across as so real - including the struggles against the hard land of the upper midwest. I loved the family aspect of the novel, particularly the relationship between the Westgaard brothers.
bookdeejay avatar reviewed Years on + 132 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Loved this book. Step back in time and experience a young girl's growing up in the harshness and beauty of the wheat fields of North Dakota in 1918. It was a time when life was a struggle and family was everything.
jjares avatar reviewed Years on + 3242 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is an unusual story about two people attracted to each other but 16 years apart in ages. Linnea Bradenborg, 18 and fresh from teacher training, arrives at Alamo, North Dakota.

Wheat farmer Theodore Westgaard arrives at the depot to take the new teacher to live in his home. Everyone is shocked that L.I. Bradenborg is female. Teddy pitches a fit and refuses to keep her, even though he has kept all previous teachers (who were male). Teddy soon finds that he has no choice and Linnea moves into the home.

Eventually, we learn that Teddys wife left him and their young son many years before. Theodore is fairly hostile towards women. At the opening of the story, Teddy is 34 and his son is only a year younger than the new teacher.

In no time, Linnea starts to change the Westgaard household in various ways often unintentionally. She receives an education of another kind she learns just how hard life is for farmers and their families.

The relationship between Theodore and his brother is beautifully written. The whole book is a step back in time and the reader feels the emotions the characters are expressing.

Teddy and Linnea fight against their growing attraction for each other. On the side of logic, the reader agrees with Teddys feeling that he is too old for Linnea. On the emotional side, this reader feels that they cannot stay apart.

This is an emotionally satisfying tale that will stay with the reader a long time. They grapple with issues that are still important today.
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reviewed Years on + 3 more book reviews
My all time favorite book!!
reviewed Years on + 6 more book reviews
This was the first love story I have ever read, and it remains my favorite! Teddy and Linnea are magic in old fashioned Romance ways!
reviewed Years on + 11 more book reviews
This is an outstanding book by LaVyrle Spencer. It's by far my very favortie! I say a MUST read!


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