“For the Roses” by Julie Garwood

“For the Roses” by Julie Garwood
1995, Pocket Books
ISBN: 0-61-01498-6

“For the Roses” by Julie Garwood is a terrific book. It’s sort of heavy on the sex, but, hey, what’s a romance without some sex in it? Anyway, this is a western romance. It’s about 4 young boys who are on their own in New York City right before the Civil War. They’ve formed their own gang and watch out for each other. The oldest one, Adam, is a runaway slave from down South and at 13 he assumes responsibility for the 3 younger ones.

One night Adam, Travis and Cole are asleep in their alley. Douglas has remained awake as lookout. It just isn’t safe to have a life on the streets. Douglas observes a fancy carriage, a gentleman and a woman in close conversation. A basket is handed to the woman and an envelope. The carriage leaves and the woman furtively makes her way to their alley. She throws the basket on a trash heap and runs. Douglas whistles to awaken the others, tells them to look in the basket and takes off on foot after the woman. He prides himself on being a very, very good pickpocket.

The boys get to the basket just as rats are swarming over it and find a 4 month old baby girl inside. That was the day they stopped being a gang and became a family.

They all moved West and carved out a life for themselves.

Years and years later someone comes in pursuit of Mary Rose. Lo and behold she was kidnapped as a baby and is a long lost heiress.

“For the Roses” is just a really terrific story. All the characters are colorful and the story is a gripping one. You just won’t be able to put it down. This is a terrific book.

And, the icing on the cake? This was made into a movie by Hallmark called, “Rose Hill
” and aired on television in 1997. We belong to Netflix and I was able to “save” the DVD. Netflix doesn’t have it yet, but you could go to Amazon and buy it there if you can’t wait for Netflix.