As scruffy and rootless as the other prospectors searching for gold in the Rockies, Low Down wanted nothing in return for nursing a raggedy bunch through the pox. But when pressed to reveal her heart's wish, she admits she wants a baby. Not a husband, not a forced marriage to the proud man who drew the scratched marble and became honor bound to marry her. To be sure, Max McCord was easy on the eyes, but he loved another woman and dreamed of a different life. Yet they agreed to a temporary marria More...

One of the best historical westerns I’ve read, a story that I won’t forget in a very long time. It’s about two people forced to get married and do the best they can about all the problems their marriage is causing, while slowly falling in love with each other. It sounds like a standard plot but it was not. The writing was flawless (I loved author’s style) and the story made feel all kinds of emotions. The hero did nothing for me but I loved, loved the heroine.
HERO does not have a defined type, More...

I'm really not sure how to rate this book. Objectively, it was a very well-written and finely-tuned tale with excellent characterization, storytelling, and character development. However, I didn't really connect with or feel pulled in by the story and characters until about midway through the book. It may in part be my own fault for picking a story that clearly has an "other woman" built into the premise, which is a trope that I'm rather biased against. The hero is engaged to another woman when More...

dah lama baca ni ibuk tapi baru inget buat nulis ripiunya pas nemu ni buku di GR..
ceritanya tentang MOC...heroine nya bernama Louise Downe atau biasa dipanggil Low Down...Low Down yatim piatu dan tinggal bareng pendeta sebagai sukarelawan di suatu desa kecil (lupa namanya)...
suatu hari ada sekelompok pendaki gunung yang terkena wabah cacar dan dirawat oleh Low Down...sampai akhirnya kelima orang ini sembuh dan mereka amat berterima kasih ama si Lou Down...mereka iseng nanya gimana nih caranya bu More...

4.5 on the Maggie Osborn scale, with Promise of Jenny Jones being an incomparable 5.

Just finished A Lady Awakened, and this has the same ‘heroine needs/wants a baby, hero is the man who pledges to provide it’ premise. Whereas ALA is exquisite, subtle and restrained, this is a booming, hearty story of unexpected outcomes about as subtle as the heroine herself. And just as lovable.

Low Down is a hardscrabble woman in a man’s world, prospecting for gold in the Colorado Rockies when the territory be More...

What a pleasant surprise! Silver Lining has been wasting away on kindle for a while because I was never in the mood for it and, not knowing Maggie Osborne, didn’t have any expectations either. I can’t believe I had this in my possession without realizing what a gem of a book I owned.

Silver Lining is the story of Low Down or Louise Downe, a woman who just wants to be one of the guys. Or rather she has to be because she is one of many prospectors searching for gold in the Rockies. When everyone ar More...

Re-read March 2011

This is a quickie review. For the full review, please visit The Romanceaholic.

This book is like hot macaroni and cheese. It's like meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It's like an ice cream sundae with extra fudge and whipped cream. In other words, this book is literary comfort food. *contented sigh*

This book has so many of the things I love in a romance novel. There's a tom-boy, downtrodden heroine, a forced marriage, a love triangle, hard decisions, and a love that builds so slowly More...

Truly one of my better recent reads and perhaps one of my top romance reads ever which is almost completely due to the heroine.

Louise/Low Down hasn't had an easy life or any practical knowledge of how to be a lady. Our hero marries her, because he does the equivalent of draw the short straw. A group of men in a mining camp owe Low Down their lives and tell her she can have whatever she wants. She finally and reluctantly tells them that she wants a baby. She didn't technically ask for a husband, More...

Titolo: Silver Linings

Trama: La corsa all’oro è stata un abbaglio che ha colpito molti uomini , ma anche qualche donna. Una di queste è Low Down, che è finita sulle Rockies, ad estrarre il prezioso minerale vestita di stracci e ridotta ad un essere che definire femminile sarebbe alquanto difficile. Non c’è spazio su quelle aspre montanee per bei vestiti o dolcezza, solo duro lavoro dalla mattina alla sera, ma l’animo generoso della donna è sopravvissuto a quella dura vita e quando il piccolo gru More...

What really made me want to read this book was the fact that the guy that Louise marries is already engaged and he truly loves his fiancee. So I wondered, how could this possibly work out? Well, it was complicated.

First off, Louise is one of the most unique characters I've read in a long time. She hangs out with the guys, she can swear up a storm, she likes physical labor, she's blunt, but she's also kind of vulnerable, naive, and she appreciates the little things in life. All in all, I thought More...

I ended up feeling a lot for Low Down, but I didn't really care much for Max. I don't know if it was a pacing problem or what exactly, but for such a long part of the book he seemed to think she was an ugly nuisance that had ruined his life. I was kind of hoping that he would die in an accident or something so that Low Down could have her baby and her new family and not be stuck with a husband who isn't in love with her.

And I guess that's where it falls down for me: in the end I could believe t More...

It’s a feel good story. Nicely done. I loved Louise.

STORY BRIEF:
Smallpox comes to a community of gold miners in Colorado. Low Down (Louise) is the only one who doesn’t get sick. She cares for all the sick men, cleaning up their vomit, feeding them, and insulting them to make them want to fight and live. They survive and owe her their lives. They ask her to name whatever she wants. They will give it to her. At first she declines, but in a moment of openness tells them her dream is to have her own More...

Heroine: Louise Downe aka Low Down
No background. No family. Doesn't have finesse and grace in her body. A low, good for nothing girl who drifts in an ocean of cruelty trying to find a place she can call her own.
Her courage, temper, wisdom and strength give me something to ponder. Is she an amazon girl or just plain stupid? Because no way a girl can stand outside for hours herding cattle and beeves with chattering teeth and blister hands two times everyday. Maybe she's both, cause I can't see ho More...

Louise Downe :
1. Umur 4 thn yatim piatu
2. Umur 16 thn kabur dr org tua asuhnya krn ga tahan dijadikan buruh
3. Umur 28 thn merawat 100 org laki2 yg terkena cacar

Louise yg sudah mengembara kemana2 & mencoba berbagai pekerjaan untuk bertahan hidup tdk menyangka di tempat penggalian emas ini nasibnya akan berubah.

Ke 64 org penambang emas yg selamat dr cacar berusaha membalas budi ke Louis yg telah merawat mereka sampe sembuh. Krn didesak terus akhirnya Louise bilang pengen punya bayi....nah lo t More...

I was utterly blown away by this book. It was unpredictable and I loved it. Low Down/Louise turned out to be a jewel. Max seems like a wonderful man. Honestly the growth of all the characters was awesome. Ms. Osborne described everyone perfectly. I could visualize them. I felt the shift of emotions as I read.

The magic of day to day life and seeing one's true character allowed Low Down to transform and truly become Louise Downe McCord. She tried to have a gruff exterior but she was a little girl More...

(Adult: sex, swearing and profanity, detailed birthing scene)

Scruffy little Low Down selflessly and tirelessly took care of the gold miners when they were deathly ill by small pox, so they owed her. She was soooo lonely and wanted a baby to love. The miners drew lots to see who would make her pregnant. Max won (or lost, in his eyes). Then, the preacher insisted they marry, to give the potential babe a name. Max married her, unwillingly and coldly, intending to divorce her once she had her precio More...

Low Down (her surname) saves the life of several men, taking care of them during a pox epidemy. The survivals decide to give her a prize:the thing she wants. But she wants a child... so after a lottery Max (who is to be married in 2 weeks) is the designated father and, after a discussion with the priest, the husband of Low Down...

I liked this book. I liked it very much but with some reserves.
The first is that Louise or Low Down is just a step behind the total saintness. What this woman cannot d More...

"You have beautiful eyes," he said in a low, gruff voice. "Tonight your eyes are more green than hazel, as green as the early spring grass." "Good heavens," she whispered, amazed. "I didn't know I had any beautiful parts."

Silver Lining by Maggie Osborne was my first ever Western/Historical Romance. While it was a decent book, I don’t see myself reading much more of this genre. I’m not a huge fan of western styles and originally found it hard to get into this book. What this book did have howeve More...

★★★★★ Whoa, baby! (Baby being the operative word here!) Another great book by the exceptional Ms. Osborne. I just love the way she gets me to care about a different type of heroine. I can ache with them, yet not pity them. Watching them each transform in different ways is a pleasure.

Every cloud has a silver lining. ~ Proverb


In this one the heroine, Low Down, is definitely not your mainstream historical romance heroine. Instead she is a complex blend of an eternal positivist and someone suffe More...

This book is about an unusual character: Low Down (Louise), a gold miner. When smallpox gets her community, she lefts her skin caring for all them. They decide to grant her a wish. At first she declines, but then she just try it and shares her secret dream: having her own baby. Destiny makes Max pick the scratched marble.

Louise isn’t gorgeous, or cultured. Her most valued possession is a silver spoon. But Louise is hones, she is a fighter and she cares. She deserves hapinnes.

Max is in love with More...

Wow.. What took me so long to read this book?!?! I absolutely loved Low Down/Louise.. This author did a fantastic job of actually making a heroine with a backbone and NOT mistaking backbone with bitchy. There were so many emotions packed into this book, I never cried but it was very close a couple times and there were several times that I literally laughed out loud. Max was a fantastic H also.. I would have liked if we would have been in his head a little more so we see him coming around towards More...

I really enjoyed this western historical romance. The main characters LowDown/Louise and Max marry early in the book and there aren't big misunderstandings or what have you that drive them apart. There was plenty of tension and conflict in that Max had been in love with and engaged to another woman up until he was honor bound to marry Louis. But they were together learning to make their marriage work while the other situation played out.

Characterization was good all around and the secondary cha More...

So I have decided to just do a Maggie Osborne glom. Her writing voice is simply speaking to me right now. Prior to my foray into her books, I hadn't read a western, Americana romance since...well... the late 80s maybe. I think maybe The Gamble by LaVyrle Spencer was my last one or close to it.

This one was just as wonderful as the other two. I think sometimes I get so exasperated with romance because the overwhelming majority of heroines are beautiful and no matter their issues or problems they More...

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, despite a one-dimensional villianess and a ridiculously contrived beginning designed to create a situation in which these two main characters were thrown together in an unwanted marriage.

After the initial set-up, I fell into a story that was refreshing and lovely. Usually, the heroines of these stories are beautiful and shy and definitely silly. This heroine was disgusting enough that 65 mining camp men couldn't imagine bedding her to fulfill her wish for a child More...

This was a very enjoyable read. I loved Louise. My heart broke for her many times but I loved how strong and yet vulnerable she was. Max wasn't so bad. I understood his anger at having lost what he thought was the love of his life. And then replaced by guilt over what he thought he'd caused.

I really hated Philadelphia and hoped she got much more than she did. She had everyone fooled acting like an angel when she was just a manipulative b****. I felt bad for Wally getting stuck with her. But in More...

Do you know what I love about Goodreads? I find out about great authors that I otherwise might not hear about. Our library doesn't have any books by Maggie Osborne and none of my sisters have read/recommended her so I didn't hear about her.

This book was sweet, moving, and heartwarming. I know that sounds trite its just my reaction. The writing reminded me very much of something Cheryl St. John would write or Jo Goodman. I enjoyed the aspect of this story that the heroine was not a great beauty, More...

This is my first time to read a romance set in the Old West. I love the story! I love the character development. I love Low Down--she's crass and unpolished, but she is selfless and headstrong. I also loved how the concept of love--of falling in love and of loving someone--is presented in the story: that love is shown through action, that love is earned, that love means being selfless. Here's one of my favorite passages (SPOILER ALERT):

"I think I fell in love with you that amazing night on the k More...