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Linda Barrett
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True-Blue Texan (Starting Over Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Linda Barrett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,669 ratings
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STARTING OVER... Brave. Bold. Brainy. One woman reached for the gold, one for the law, one for the university, and one ran as far from home as possible. But often, the best laid plans fall apart, and Starting Over is the only thing to do.

True-Blue Texan, Book 1 --

A fish out of water. University instructor, Katherine Kirby, reluctantly faces a new city and a new job. How could she, who was used to teaching eager undergraduates at a prestigious college, relate to a class of adult high school dropouts seeking an equivalency diploma? She has no family, no love in her life, and no choice but to jump into her new position and do the best she can. After all, it's only temporary while she gets her career back on track.

Her new students, however, begin to touch her heart. Especially the tall, dark Texan in the second row.

Nick Martinelli's presence in her class is a secret -- from his parents, his customers and the entire city. But his interest in Katherine is no secret. In his desire to teach the teacher, however, Nick learns a little something himself.
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  1. Book 1 of 4
    Starting Over
  2. Print length
    304 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    February 26, 2018
  6. File size
    2097 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Linda Barrett grew up on New York City, earning a B.A. and M.S. at Hunter College. In her teaching career, she first worked with children and then with adults, preparing them to take the GED exam. To keep herself from getting bored during long New England winters, Linda began writing romance fiction. Her emotional stories have earned many industry awards through Romance Writers of America including the Holt Medallion, the Award of Excellence, the Write Touch Readers' Award among others. Linda and her husband live in Florida. They have three grown sons.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07B3Y859H
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Linda Barrett Books (February 26, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 26, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2097 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1945830158
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,669 ratings

About the author

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Linda Barrett

Linda Barrett

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Linda Barrett grew up on New York City, earning a B.A. and M.S. at Hunter College. In her teaching career, she first worked with children and then with adults, preparing them to take the GED exam. To keep herself from getting bored during long New England winters, Linda began writing romance fiction. Her emotional stories have earned many industry awards through Romance Writers of America including the Holt Medallion, the Award of Excellence, the Write Touch Readers' Award among others. Linda and her husband live in Florida. They have three grown sons.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,669 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Myra
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect, perfect...it's just perfect! A 5 star +++
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019
Verified Purchase
There is so much right with this story, it's hard to put down the words. Main characters from different worlds with similar heartbreak in their pasts. They meet, their stories begin to intertwine and I just got lost in the whole story. It was well written, the characters all so well defined, the action and suspense so well plotted and told in perfect sync with the other events going on, well, I get lost in trying to describe it. The romance was just beautiful. Clean, so tastefully done that it was beautiful. This goes to the top of my read again list. More than once even. I could actually "promote" this story, it was that good. Thank you, author, this was just a perfect read!
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Guy Reviews Romance and More
4.0 out of 5 stars Teacher, teaching remedial classes, falls for a student finishing high school decades later, but someone is stalking them...
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
True-Blue Texan is about working past one's limitations from trauma or promise. The push-pull between the MMC and MFC are quite exquisite as they each fought with their responsibilities and their feelings. The tension of somebody is out to steal the bid info for a pay day was also quite good, with proper motivation and escalation.

Katherine Kirby lost her entire family one night. Ten years later, after some turmoil, she moved to a new city and a new job, intending to start over, but instead of teaching undergrads at a university, she's teaching GED prep at a local academy. She hadn't felt love for such a long time, that she's slow in recognizing any, esp. from the Nick, the tall dark Texan. Nick Martinelli never graduated high school. He had worked in the family construction business all his life. With his father's recent heart attack, and the need to create a bid for the local school district, he's getting overworked. This GED thing was to fulfill a promise and must remain a secret from the rest of his family. He's not ready to romance Kathrine... or become friend with the kid Jeremy, who's both lost and hurt, and copes with being destructive and disruptive. With possibly the future of his company on the line, he had to put in more time, but his love for Katherine can't be denied. And Katherine longed for a family. But someone eager for a payday has his eyes on stealing the bid related information, and he doesn't care whom he had to hurt to get it...

The romance was actually quite good, as it's got this reluctance to engage, they dance around each other a lot, and each went through "I can't possibly do my job and love him/her" phase, only to figure it all out later. The threat tension was also pretty good, with just enough evilness showing through, but not too much, that it made sense without being psychopathic or flat. All in all, a good read.
22 people found this helpful
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Jane Haney
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery as well as romance
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2024
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Good story and believable characters
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Rosa Lopez
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and Heartfelt!!
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024
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This was hard to put
down! Loved the characters and how down to earth and loving the characters emotions !
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Kitt Crescendo
4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Insta-Love
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2023
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I chose this book for my book club monthly challenge to “Read a book with a color in the title.”

I wasn’t completely sure what to expect with this book, but quickly understood that Ms. Barrett knows how to tug on a heartstring. Honestly, sweet is not usually on my radar….I prefer heat levels that practically require fire trucks, but I will be making an exception in this author’s case.

While we never quite discovered the answers to what exactly was the catalyst that caused the heroine to move to Texas in the first place, she was an interesting, intellectual person hiding a big heart and needing to be shaken up. I enjoyed how “in-your-face” the hero was and how self aware he seemed to be. It thrilled me to watch her discover how to connect on more than a superficial level and how much it enriched her life and changed her world view…even if the “love” feelings felt a bit rushed.

The hero was charming, thoughtful, and almost too good to be true, but definitely one of the good guys. I loved him. Especially with Jeremy, the trouble teenager they met through the heroine’s class.

Bottom line, while sweet is not down my normal alley, I’ll definitely be reading more from Linda Barrett. I enjoyed her overall style and her character building and connections created throughout the book were on point and heartwarming.
One person found this helpful
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CatHutch
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will touch every part of you!
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2023
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It touched my heart & soul. Made me think, feel, laugh & cry.
It is a wonderful and inspiring read.
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Bookzilla
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Entertaining Easy to follow stand-alone. Some violence and family drama. Not all questions are answered.

Plug and play storyline. Interesting theme of GED's and how that accomplishment will help people achieve their goals.

Believable dialogue and characters with distinct personalities.

Did Nick and Katrin practice safe sex?

This sentence is awkward, fingers on the trigger? Also, firing into the ceiling?
'She grabbed the weapon, placed her fingers on the trigger, pointed at the ceiling and fired... with two hands.'

No desire to re-read this story. I may be interested in other works by this author. Remember this is my personal opinion and does not reflect on the author.
24 people found this helpful
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ABQ Sunshine
5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2019
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This the first book by this author that I have read. It is a heartwarming voyage of self-discovery for two individuals and new beginnings for both. They face emotional trauma of loss, and manage to overcome their fears, and other external obstacles. The characters are well described and I could easily picture them. This is a book to enjoy during a quiet time; I only took two breaks!
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Top reviews from other countries

sally brady
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy starter book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2023
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Got me reading this book easily, couldn't put it down, loved the story even a tear or two was shed
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Lane
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read but somewhat unrealistic
Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2019
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To have her grab the gun and point it to the ceiling and firing with both hands was somewhat ridiculous and certainly unnecessary. He already had the bad guy down on the floor, so what was that all about? The damage to the ceiling & roof was never mentioned or what became of that. Surely it would need to be fixed. Somewhat disjointed and yet interesting enough. The inclusion of the rebel boy was rather what made the story.
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Smita P
4.0 out of 5 stars A great love story abt moving to new town
Reviewed in India on September 15, 2018
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It could have been set anywhere and story would be as beautiful n heart warming. Besides two leads we have other characters so integral to story.
Story ends little unexpectedly, I was expecting it to continue for couple more pages. But this happened earlier too when I expected that 5his is end it continued.
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hancock
5.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in Australia on February 6, 2019
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A good story. I enjoyed it from the first words. The interaction between the 3 main characters is lovely. Recommended read.
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Barb Dee
4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Holiday Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2020
Verified Purchase
Katherine Kirby moves to a new town and gets a job teaching adults who missed out on their high school diplomas. She meets Nick, who in his younger days was a bit of a rebel, but has now settled in the family building business but still wanted to obtain his diploma. Also in the class is Jeremy, who had been caring for his alcoholic father and had got himself into trouble in the process. Katherine and Nick are immediately attracted to each other and with Jeremy also having feelings for his teacher there could be trouble ahead. A nice easy summer read on the beach or in the garden.
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