Prim Rose

November 30, 1992
Criswell's Flowers of the West historical romance trilogy ends with this far-fetched, sometimes amusing finale. Only Criswell's most devoted fans will buy the plot, in which the Martin family wheat farm is sold to Alexander Warrick, Duke of Moreland, right from under the considerably out-of-joint nose of Rose Elizabeth, who refuses to leave her soddy. Nonetheless, romance blossoms, complicated by the arrival of Warrick's pregnant fiancee and Rose's fierce independence. (She mocks Warrick's title by addressing him as "your dukeness," "your ineptness," "your majesticness," etc. Mildly entertaining at first, it wears thin.) The tale will satisfy romance junkies, but other readers should steer clear.