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Tumbleweeds
Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson moves to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhadle, a community that lives and dies by its Friday night football games. She is quickly befriended by classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, up-and-coming gridiron stars with whom she forges a bond that will determine the course of their lives. Set initially against the...more
Hardcover, 480 pages
Published
June 19th 2012
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published 2012)
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The Texas panhandle breeds a bunch of us long, tall drink-of-water look-alikes. We're as common as tumbleweeds.
~T.D. Hall from Tumbleweeds
This week I read devoured Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham. I could not put it down, which was a bad thing because I've had TONS to do this week. Last week I posted about Meacham's other novel, Roses. As much as I loved Roses, I think I liked Tumbleweeds a wee bit better.
Tumbleweeds is like a cross between Friday Night Lights and The Thorn Birds. :D This is a very...more
~T.D. Hall from Tumbleweeds
This week I read devoured Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham. I could not put it down, which was a bad thing because I've had TONS to do this week. Last week I posted about Meacham's other novel, Roses. As much as I loved Roses, I think I liked Tumbleweeds a wee bit better.
Tumbleweeds is like a cross between Friday Night Lights and The Thorn Birds. :D This is a very...more
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Set in the Texas Panhandle in the period from 1970-present, this is a story that involves a love-triangle, the love of Texas high school football, secrets, and lives changed forever by lack of communication.
Trey Don, John, and Cathy are all "orphans" when they meet in the sixth grade in the small town of Kersey, Texas. They become the best of buddies even though Cathy has no interest in the much-loved and revered high school football team that captivates Trey Don and John and quarterback and wi...more
Trey Don, John, and Cathy are all "orphans" when they meet in the sixth grade in the small town of Kersey, Texas. They become the best of buddies even though Cathy has no interest in the much-loved and revered high school football team that captivates Trey Don and John and quarterback and wi...more
Accessible and engrossing, Tumbleweeds tells a love triangle of sorts involving Cathy, John and Trey. Each of them are standouts in their own right - good looking, athletic, smart, and wildly popular. John and Trey had been best friends and leaders even as children. When Cathy moved to Kersey, they took her into their group and forged a special bond that stretched and held through high school and the complicated ups and downs of teenage love.
John and Trey are football stars in high school. Cath...more
John and Trey are football stars in high school. Cath...more
Sep 11, 2012
Scarlett Rains
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
reviewed,
scarlett-s-reviews
Tumbleweeds starts out very slowly, to the point that I almost put it down. I’m glad I didn’t. After plodding through the dry, obligatory, chapters where Meacham established the adolescent bonds between the three key characters of the story, I finally made it to the interesting parts. I was hooked! Oh, the shenanigans those three got themselves in to as true love developed in a triangle complicated enough to give Pythagoras a migraine. Not me! I knew exactly which stud-muffin Cathy would pick. O...more
TUMBLEWEEDS
Leila Meacham
Having long been a huge fan of epic sagas Ms. Meacham led me to believe she was going to single handedly revive the genre. That may have been too much to ask of any author. Her first book, ROSES led me down that primrose path as I loved the book.
That is not the case with TUMBLEWEEDS. The book becomes overly melodramatic, terribly detail oriented with predictable, wooden characters and plot.
Recently orphaned eleven year old, Cathy Benson who had lived a life of plenty is...more
Leila Meacham
Having long been a huge fan of epic sagas Ms. Meacham led me to believe she was going to single handedly revive the genre. That may have been too much to ask of any author. Her first book, ROSES led me down that primrose path as I loved the book.
That is not the case with TUMBLEWEEDS. The book becomes overly melodramatic, terribly detail oriented with predictable, wooden characters and plot.
Recently orphaned eleven year old, Cathy Benson who had lived a life of plenty is...more
*SPOILERS*
This was an interesting read. On one hand, I really liked tracing the three characters throughout their life, on the other hand, it made me depressed that their life could be summed up in a book..Also, I had to majorly suspend my disbelief when Ms. Meacham made John the father of the child..yahh no. Lastly, the whole twist at the end, it was interesting, but it just left the book with an unfulfilling ending. Plus, there's really no explanation for TD to yell "Catherine Anne" at the end...more
This was an interesting read. On one hand, I really liked tracing the three characters throughout their life, on the other hand, it made me depressed that their life could be summed up in a book..Also, I had to majorly suspend my disbelief when Ms. Meacham made John the father of the child..yahh no. Lastly, the whole twist at the end, it was interesting, but it just left the book with an unfulfilling ending. Plus, there's really no explanation for TD to yell "Catherine Anne" at the end...more
3 likes · like · see review
This book was such a waste of time. Happily, I listened to it while driving to and from work, so I wasn't really wasting my time. It was just so melodramatic and stung out. I can only go by disc numbers; it was 13. It could easily have been about eight. Beautiful, popular, and rather bland people keeping secrets from each other and never forgiving one another, capped with a silly twist at the end that didn't do any of the characters a bit of justice.
But I will give it this: Cathy was no annoying...more
But I will give it this: Cathy was no annoying...more
Tumbleweeds was a 4 star for me up until page 399, like another reviewer here I felt the story was ruined for me at that moment.
Cathy, John, and Trey, all orphans, find a wonderful kind of friendship in their early years and it blooms as they grow into young adulthood. Cathy is refined, cultured, and smart. John is kind, conscientious, and honest. Trey is devious, unfaithful, and charming. Is it any surprise Cathy chooses to date Trey? It should be but in fiction the good girls always choose the...more
Cathy, John, and Trey, all orphans, find a wonderful kind of friendship in their early years and it blooms as they grow into young adulthood. Cathy is refined, cultured, and smart. John is kind, conscientious, and honest. Trey is devious, unfaithful, and charming. Is it any surprise Cathy chooses to date Trey? It should be but in fiction the good girls always choose the...more
2 likes · like · see review
The intrepid Kensey trio throught their lives, loves and saddness. Ms Meacham takes us on a journey through a third person view of three orphans (two orphans and an abandoned child) in the Panhandle. I liked it, sure it is a soap opera and probably would be great fare for the Lifetime or CW networks, but it was a guilty pleasure to excape into a summer novel.
I have never read Leila Meacham's first novel "Roses" and I probably will not. One confectionary tale is enough for me and I will admit tha...more
I have never read Leila Meacham's first novel "Roses" and I probably will not. One confectionary tale is enough for me and I will admit tha...more
1 like · like · see review
DRA-MA! First of all, if you want something that will keep you reading, this is a good one. I finished it in just 5 days which is really saying something about how hard it is to put down!
That said, I should have been more ready for how frustrating this book would be. I read her first book, "Roses," and was insanely frustrated by the basis of the entire plot being basically that small decisions really can ruin the rest of not only your own life, but pretty much everyone else you associate with's...more
That said, I should have been more ready for how frustrating this book would be. I read her first book, "Roses," and was insanely frustrated by the basis of the entire plot being basically that small decisions really can ruin the rest of not only your own life, but pretty much everyone else you associate with's...more
I was not ready for this book when I started it. And it was nearly too painful to finish but I just couldn't stop. I didn't go to sleep until 1am and was back up at 6am to finish the last several chapters. There is entirely too much that happened in this book to try to even begin writing a review but I will say that if you are one who delves into what you read enough to have emotions, brace yourself.
The story revolves around the three main characters Trey, Cathy, and John who bond over being...more
The story revolves around the three main characters Trey, Cathy, and John who bond over being...more
I chose this book because I really enjoyed her last book, Roses. I stopped reading this after about one fifth of the way through and was going to return it to the library. The characters were involved in a reprehensible crime and I did not want to continue. But I was still intriqued by the third main character and so I picked it up again and finished it. There were several unexpected twists and turns in this story of two young boys in Texas and the girl who changes their lives when she moves to...more
This book was hard to get into at first. The writing style seemed to be sort of sophmoric, and the story moved along at a very fast (almost too fast) pace making it difficult to stay interested. But as the story progressed, it took many twists and turns and then kept me reading until I was completely absorbed.
It's the story of three friends, two boys and a girl, all of whom have family issues that bind them together through their adolescence and then into young adulthood. As inevitably happens,...more
It's the story of three friends, two boys and a girl, all of whom have family issues that bind them together through their adolescence and then into young adulthood. As inevitably happens,...more
Aug 29, 2012
Terri Tinkel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
family,
female-friends
This is the second novel by this author. It's a fast-paced story of 3 friends. They meet as young children and have an instant connection. Two of the children are boys who have bonded over their situations. One lost his mother at a young age and never had a father figure who cared about him. The other lost his parents and was raised by his aunt. The third child is a girl who lost both her parents in an accident and is taken in by her aunt. The novel follows them throughout their teen years and i...more
Tumbleweeds follows the lives of three friends, Cathy Benson, orphaned at eleven; John Caldwell, his mom died when he was young and was neglected by his father; and Trey Don Hall, abandoned by both of his parents at a young age. Their lives become entwined when Cathy comes to the small Texas town of Kersey to live with her grandmother and from that point on, they are inseparable.
Both men are in love with Cathy, but only one can have her heart. The saga follows the trio through their young adulth...more
Both men are in love with Cathy, but only one can have her heart. The saga follows the trio through their young adulth...more
It's a good summer read, but that's about all it has going for it. The novel involves three people: TD, the high school golden boy quaterback; John, his WR and best friend; and Cathy, the woman they both love. Over time they separate but their lives continue to be intertwined.
My biggest problem with the book stemmed from the John becoming a priest plotline. The author says that she's not Catholic so she had to do research here, but it seemed to me like she was into the "Hollywood" Catholic stuff...more
My biggest problem with the book stemmed from the John becoming a priest plotline. The author says that she's not Catholic so she had to do research here, but it seemed to me like she was into the "Hollywood" Catholic stuff...more
I loved Roses - loved. I mean, it wasn't amazing literature or mind blowing prose, but it was a good story, it was interesting, I felt invested in the characters, I loved the descriptions and the characters and I really "felt" that book, if that makes sense. It was "soapy" and "sudsy" to quote other reviewers - but it was juicy and good. I do enjoy a good epic saga. So I was super crazy looking forward to this book. My sister in law also loved Roses and we've both been anticipating Tumbleweeds w...more
SPOILER ALERT: This previous review says exactly how I feel after reading this book: "I really enjoyed reading the beginning and middle...but when it got to the point where the close-knit threesome started to unravel...I felt as though the author tried to incorporate almost too much drama into the story. It wasn't a bad story, but I didnt feel fulfilled when I finished it. The murder of Trey was completely unnecessary....it made things feel unresolved between Trey and Catherine Ann. I wished the...more
This is my first Meacham book and it was obvious from the start that romantic mystery is her game and she knows how to play it very well. The language wasn't poetic and most of the characters were one dimensional, but she certainly has a craft that she's perfected over the years and I respect her for it. The novel does a great job of presenting multiple frayed ends of a rope in the beginning and then tying them up nicely in the end with a surprising little twist. The only thing I'm not sure of i...more
Tumbleweeds is readable, but the ending was so out of left field that it killed any enjoyment I had in the story which had already been dying a slow death as the book went on and on.
It's got an old-fashioned feel to it, sort of as if it was written 50 or 60 years ago. That's not a problem. The book is about two boys and one girl who are best friends from the age of 11 on. It's not the most natural storytelling out there, but up until the turning point in their relationship, it's enjoyable. Fran...more
It's got an old-fashioned feel to it, sort of as if it was written 50 or 60 years ago. That's not a problem. The book is about two boys and one girl who are best friends from the age of 11 on. It's not the most natural storytelling out there, but up until the turning point in their relationship, it's enjoyable. Fran...more
Leila Meacham has the drama laden novel down. Once again she writes an amazing story of love, friendship, betrayal, secrets, murder and religion! You won't be able to put Tumbleweeds down until the final word. And you'll never know which character has the last word! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys an epic saga!
"Old sins that time cannot disperse." Ah, that's the story of "Tumbleweeds." Cathy, John, and Trey Don are three ships that pass in the night. Bonded by their orphan status, the three become fast friends in childhood, and their adult lives tumble from one crisis to another as each barely misses another opportunity for happiness and instead is forced to continue to claw up the ladder. Years and generations pass, and the three lives circle around and miss each other again. Still, their lives escap...more
*SPOILER ALERT* I really enjoyed reading the beginning and middle...but when it got to the point where the close-knit threesome started to unravel...I felt as though the author tried to incorporate almost too much drama into the story. It wasn't a bad story, but I didnt feel fulfilled when I finished it. The murder of Trey was completely unnecessary....it made things feel unresolved between Trey and Catherine Ann. I wished they could have had one more meeting to resolve things and bring closure...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A fun, juicy, dramatic read! I really liked "Roses" by this author, so I was happy to see that she had written a new book. This one follows a girl who moves to a small town in Texas to live with her grandmother after her parents die. Her grandmother asks two boys she knows to befriend the girl and watch out for her. Well, of course the two boys end up falling in love with her and a love triangle begins. I liked how the author introduced different plot twists than I expected. The book seems like...more
"oh m g
totally excited for this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was what I wrote when I saw this went up on Goodreads.
Now that I've read it, my review is here:
http://www.burtonbookreview.com/2012/...
totally excited for this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was what I wrote when I saw this went up on Goodreads.
Now that I've read it, my review is here:
http://www.burtonbookreview.com/2012/...
I adored the author's previous work, Roses. So much so that I snatched this up as soon as I saw it sitting at my local bookstore.
And it was ...fine. I felt that some segments were rushed and others were overly drawn out. I would have preferred a stronger focus on the high school years and the 22 years later hinted at in the prologue, with less focus on the inbetween years.
I loved Roses for the soapy drama but despite murder, deceptions and a love triangle, this book was not nearly as intense as...more
And it was ...fine. I felt that some segments were rushed and others were overly drawn out. I would have preferred a stronger focus on the high school years and the 22 years later hinted at in the prologue, with less focus on the inbetween years.
I loved Roses for the soapy drama but despite murder, deceptions and a love triangle, this book was not nearly as intense as...more
Initially I enjoyed this tale of friendship, love and betrayal. Lots of orpahns here, and I am always taken in but that archetype. I don't want to get into specifics since there would be too many spoilers, but I found the last third of the book to be too melodramatic. Secrets kept too long started to get funky and far-fetched. For instance, a DNA test might have clarified one situation. I was fond of two of the 3 main characters, John and Cathy. As for Trey, I felt he was overly villianized and...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
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Leila Meacham is a writer and former teacher who lives in San Antonio, Texas.
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“Don't be afraid to let it go. Releasing hate does not make you forget what you want always to remember. It does not mean reconciliation.”
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