Out of all of LaVyrle Spencer’s books, and I have loved all of them that I’ve read, all of the historicals, and even dipped my toes into one contemporary, Separate Beds, November of the Heart is the one that sticks with me the most. That’s saying a lot. I have to confess, in the interest of full disclosure, that I have had more than one friend (two, at my best recollection) yell at me via email, because they didn’t know this book was going to have so many feelings. That’s why I love it.

One friend even said the title was “too sad” for her, but again, the title sold me right away. I love November, the month of coziness and deliciousness and giving thanks and  world full of color and scent and the holidays only a glimmer away. Turn of the century Minnesota is not an overplowed field in the historical romance world, and the all important annual regatta means everything to both the wealthy father of heroine Lorna and Jens, a boatbuilder pressed into service as a waiter. Slipping plans for a prize winning boat into one’s employer’s dessert is a recipie for disaster, but it also opens the door for a grand and glorious love that defies class barriers.

Lorna and Jens are star crossed lovers, Lorna drawn to Jens and his boat, their connection -it goes beyond attraction- gets tried by class, by time, by life, but when Jens and Lorna finally say the hell with everything that keeps them apart, I want to take a victory lap and toss confetti.  If LaVyrle Spencer ever wants to come out of retirement, I am leaving the porch light on for  her. If not, what she’s left us with is still magnificient.