Doctor's Sweetheart, The
by L.M. Montgomery

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Book Reviews of Doctor's Sweetheart, The

Book Review: Here's my opinions, story by story
Summary: 3 Stars

2. Emily's Husband (1903): An estranged wife hears her husband is dying. See last sentence regarding "Kismet", above.

3. The Girl and the Wild Race (1904): A woman devises a way to choose between two suitors. Pretty entertaining and certainly better than the first two.

4. The Promise of Lucy Ellen (1904): An old maid regrets an old promise. This idea was eventually recycled as part of RAINBOW VALLEY's plot, though it's probably better done here. Not great but not bad.

5. The Parting of the Ways (1907): An unhappily married woman is faced with a tough dilemma. The martyred protagonist's situation is a bit like Leslie Moore's in ANNE'S HOUSE OF DREAMS. Easily the book's worst, hokiest story.

6. The Doctor's Sweetheart (1908): A doctor faithfully awaits the return of his underaged fiancee. Why this was picked to be the title story is beyond me. It's another of the author's completely humorless stories, and we all know how awful those tend to be. This one is no exception.

7. By Grace of Julius Caesar (1908): Two women are trapped on the roof of a house by a dog. After slogging through most of the preceding tales of repentance and sacrifice, this fun little story was a sizeable relief.

8. Akin to Love (1909): A woman tries to squelch her neighbor's amorous intentions. It feels somewhat unfinished (like several of the shorter stories) but is still rather sweet.

9. The Finished Story (1912): A woman wonders if the man she loved long ago returned her feelings. Not exactly good, but still kind of interesting.

10. My Lady Jane (1915): A man poses as his lookalike cousin. A story this contrived should be funnier, but it's not too bad.

11. Abel and His Great Adventure (1917): A frustrated man finds solace in his neighbor's garden. A lot of this was worked into ANNE'S HOUSE OF DREAMS (specifically, into Captain Jim). Serious, but not ridiculously so, and kind of absorbing.

12. The Garden of Spices (1918): A little boy befriends his mysterious neighbor. One of the book's best stories. The little boy is especially well written.

13. The Bride Is Waiting (1932): A woman grudgingly helps a friend decorate his house. Probably the best story.

14. I Know a Secret (1935): Not as good as the previous two, but still pretty diverting. It was eventually redone as a chapter of ANNE OF INGLESIDE.

I also enjoyed Catherine McLay's introduction, where she takes a thorough look at the author's methods.

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