First Year (Paperback)

Stevie O'Neill, a young LA actress, recklessly marries new love, Robert Anderson, and follows him home to South Dakota. There, she discovers that her Hispanic/Irish ancestry doesn't bother her blue-eyed blond in-laws, but her lack of domestic skill does-a situation Mom Anderson is determined to correct. This orphaned, metropolitan smart-ass becomes an unwilling Martha Stewart in a student trailer park-but her life is not all drudgery. In Los Angeles she's a grunt in an army of wannabe celebrities; in South Dakota she's a star because of a beer commercial. Her brief fame even gets her a teaching job at the University.

Stevie's new existence is filled with adventures most city girls never experience-or want to. She goes pheasant hunting; she survives blizzards; she drives the Hereford Queen in the Homecoming parade. She's thrown into an extended family circle and learns to deal with family life. In the first year of an impulsive, hormone-driven marriage punctuated by misunderstandings and reconciliations, Stevie discovers that her Prince Charming has skid marks in his tights. Should she stick with him? At least for one more year?