Daisy Jones has loved Gideon McElroy her entire life. Painfully shy, she lived for the summers spent at her grandpa’s cabin as a child, when Gideon would come to stay with his grandfather, the Colonel. While the old men reminisced on happier times and discussed the sad state of the future, Daisy would follow Gideon like a puppy, happy just to be in his presence. To her, he was everything a girl … girl could want in a Prince Charming. When he enlisted, she was heartbroken but took solace in the fact that he would still come to visit his aging grandfather when time allowed.
Fate had other plans, and when his grandfather passed on, and Gideon didn’t attend the funeral, Daisy knew he was gone forever. She married, had a child, and tried not to think of Gideon or what had become of him. It was a childish infatuation.
Fifteen years have come and gone, and Daisy stayed on the summer island after her own grandfather died to raise her little girl. As the local vet, she sees to the needs of the tiny town and keeps to herself after her husband’s suicide. But when rumors fly that a strange man is squatting on the Colonel’s land, she makes it her duty to investigate. She finds Gideon, a battle-scarred, ruthless man now, who wants nothing to do with the town or her. Can she help him overcome his experiences, or will his wounded soul drag her into his dismal world?
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This a fast insta love story. It’s one I wish that was longer. The characters pulled me right into the story. Though this book is quick the author had me so invested in the characters. There is one point in this book my heart just dropped that I didn’t want to read on, but I did. The epilogue was just the perfect touch. It packed the feels.
My biggest complaint about this book was that it’s a novella instead of a full-on read. I didn’t realize that going in and there is so much goodness that could have been explored but unfortunately there weren’t the pages.
Gideon has lots and lots of scars, both inside and out, and I would have LOVED to get the chance to explore those more. How Daisy manages to break down his fences and get him to think about living again. How he manages to adjust to life after war. How he goes from giving up to trying for more. It’s such a compelling story and while we get parts of it there is so much more there that I would have loved to get to experience it.
We do get to know Daisy a little bit more. The girl has grit, which she needs not just to make her way into Gideon’s home (and his heart) but also to expose the horrible conditions that veterans are experiencing at her local VA. Her husband came back from war suffering and she fought to get him the care he needed. It’s heartbreaking but she didn’t back down and you have to admire her for it. She takes that heart and courage with her when dealing with Gideon.
While the ending is an obvious heart grab, it also worked and I really enjoyed how it wrapped up the story … if only I’d gotten about 200 more pages before I got there 🙂 As long as you are OK with a fast (and somewhat cursory) story I think you’ll enjoy Adams’s story. I’m pretty sure if I’d gone into it with a different understanding of what I was getting it would have been so much more satisfactory since I liked what I got, I was just expecting something different.
**Review given honestly and freely after receipt of a reader copy. This opinion is completely my own and was not influenced in any way.**
This was an amazing Novella that should have been a full length novel as far as I am concerned because it could have been. The author gave you just enough but she could have given us so much more that it could have been a phenomenal novel. As I was reading it I felt like I was there. I could feel the soldiers pain and I could feel Daisy’s pain and her suffering. This is a story about love, faith, and healing and so much more.
I laughed, I cried and I yelled at my kindle because I was so mad at how they treated the veterans. These are men and women who serve our country and give their all to the country to come home broken and battered and traumatized to not receive the proper help they need. Daisy though she was determined after her husband killed himself that she was going to do so much more for the veterans who return home from war battered and destroyed.
Daisy and Gideon spent every summer together at their grandparents house. Daisy had a crush on Gideon and when she would look forward to summer where she could spend all her time with him. Then they grew up and Gideon stopped coming to his grandfathers cabin and enlisted in the army where he served his country. He was gone for over 17 years and when he returns home he is a broken man and does not remember anyone or anything.
When Daisy finds out that Gideon has returned and she finds him broken she is determined to help him out and when she finds out that he doesn’t remember her she is willing to fight for him to get back his memory and some semblance of life.
This is such an emotionally charged novella it will have you laughing and crying and praising the end!
Daisy is been in love wirh Gideon since she was a teenager. He is back in town but is recluded in his house. Can Daisy and her daugther bring him back an show him how to enjoy life again? good audiobook
The moment I read the synopsis for this book I was drawn to its theme of starting over and to its main couple who experienced a lot of emotional and physical pain in their pasts. As childhood friends there was a solid foundation for romance which made their sensual reunion early in the story a bit more believable. With each turn of the page readers will become invested in these wounded souls and will be rooting them on every step of the way.
Gideon McElroy once had a home full of love and support in the small town of Watertown, so it’s naturally where he’s returned to in order to recover. A wounded warrior full of anger and only wanting to be left alone, he at first turns away the kindhearted young woman who was once so important to him. But when he needs her most she’s there, turning a night full of tears into something long-anticipated as their reunion brings him back to life. Though not much time is spent with these characters, there’s much to like about Gideon. He’s strong and protective, jumps in the moment he senses danger. His scars may have bothered him early on but through Daisy’s eyes he sees himself as the only man she needs in a romance full of heart.
Daisy Jones is a truly good person, caring of those who are in pain and a champion to all those wounded warriors returning home. The suicide of her husband drove her to take on the VA, earning her the moniker of “Crazy Daisy”, and showing herself to be a kindhearted heroine with a strong sense of protectiveness and a soul that lit from within. Daisy always had a crush on Gideon and has no intention of letting him live like a pariah, making it her mission to drag him back to the land of the living. It’s a journey full of heartwarming moments, as well as a few tears, that will keep you glued to the pages while watching them make a life for themselves.
This is a quick read, too quick of a read as it jumped many years in the life of this couple to show some of their most emotional moments. I would’ve love digging deeper into these two characters, having their pain amplified to make their message regarding veteran’s care a more potent debate. This story on a whole remained light, leaving readers wanting more, but content with what’s between the pages as we’re left with a very HEA.
I was so drawn to this book with the blurb, but it was just so meh for me. There wasn’t any connection with the characters, in fact Gideon was pretty unlikable. The story felt choppy and very disjointed. I’m so sad that this book didn’t hit the spot for me.
The blurb for Crazy Daisy hooked me. It sounded like an amazing story of two lost, kind of tortured souls. Unfortunately, that’s not what I felt that I got in reading the book. The blurb is more detailed than the story itself.
The premise of this book is a solid story, but the execution fell way flat. Are there chapters missing? Gideon goes from wanting nothing to do with Daisy to falling into bed with her the third time their paths cross? I just didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters, and things moved way too fast with little to no build-up, which did nothing as far as making me invest in Gideon and Daisy as a couple.
Seeing as this novella is 8 chapters long, it only took me about 20 minutes to read. I think there’s a promising story in the midst of the clunky writing and awkward dialog, but it definitely needs to be fleshed out.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
I loved Crazy Daisy!! Maggie Adams gave us a great little read with heart, humour and heat.
I think the only thing that could have improved the read for me was a bit of backstory – their interactions when they were younger and a glimpse of how they were together then.
Daisy is my kinda crazy and much as she drove Gideon to distraction a lot of the time, she was the right blend of crazy and good for him – thankfully it didn’t take him too long to stop being an objectionable ass and see what was in front of him!
I’m giving this great little read 4*, mainly because I would have liked more of them!
I simply adored this wonderful novella. The author has given us a delightful storyline that will keep you entranced from start to finish. It’s a quick read with very endearing characters. Daisy, a widow and the small town’s veterinarian, is quite the character. The town calls her Crazy Daisy for various reasons, as you will see when you read the book. She had a crush on Gideon all through her younger life. But when Gideon joined the army and left her, she moved on but she never forgot her first love. Years later, Gideon returns a broken, injured war vet and wants nothing to do with anyone. But Daisy doesn’t take no for an answer very easily, so maybe she is a little Crazy, I’ll let you decide for yourself.
This story will make you laugh and make you smile, but most of all it will touch your heart. 2 Thumbs up for a great 5 star read that I highly recommend.