BUFFALO VALLEY By Debbie Macomber Mira Romance ISBN # 1-55166-841-6 October 2001 {Click here to buy this book} Bestselling author Debbie Macomber has made a name for herself over the years with her down-home stories about people

Vaughn Kyle has been hired by Super-X but isn't officially due to begin his job until after the Christmas Holidays. His girlfriend Natlie is also with the company...a sophisticated, go-getter who's main job with the company is finding perfect locations for the company to set up shop...even if the community don't want it. When Vaughn finds out that the latest location for the superstore is to be Buffalo Valley, North Dakota, the place where his parents have retired to and where he'll be spending his holidays, he's put into the difficult position of scouting out the communities feelings on the opening of the store. Of course, he's asked not to tell anyone that he works for Super-X which puts him into a position of being nothing better than a corporate spy, much to his disgust. It's Natalie who talks him into the inspection...just to find out what the people think...so that she can mount the proper campaign to force the community to accept their fate.

What Vaughn doesn't count on is gaining such a personal connection with the community and its people. Specifically Hassie Knight who owns the town's only drug store and who will be the most affected if Super-X is allowed to open. Vaughn was named for her son who died in Vietnam. His own mother would have been Hassie's daughter in law had it not been for the war. Instead, she married his best friend and named their son for the man they both loved.

Vaughn also doesn't count on falling in love.

Carrie works for Hassie and loves her like a mother. When it becomes known the Super-X is moving into town it's Carrie who stands up for Hassie, who believes herself too old to fight the superstore, and gets the community to stand together and fight back. When she meets the infamous Vaughn Kyle, the man that Hassie has talked about for years but never met, she believes him to be the living legend that Hassie has painted him to be. She finds that his sterling character is as shiny as Hassie has been saying all along. Carrie is still hurt from a recent divorce though and is not in any hurry to get tied down again...or trust a man again for her happiness. But there's something about Vaughn that pulls her to him as if by magic and she can't help falling in love with him. When she finds out the truth about Vaughn, his employer and his supposed engagement to Natalie, that she puts the power of truth and trust to the test.

Like the Texas series, the Dakota series is a voyeuristic visit into small town America. Readers of "Buffalo Valley" will find themselves being swallowed whole as this story pulls them in and carries them around this small town to experience what a rural small town in modern America is really like. This is a place where families live, work and commune together as one large family rather than several that are spread all over the valley. There is a sense of oneness with the community and one wonders why more communities can't live in such support and harmony.

As with the Texas series, many characters lives are visited upon in "Buffalo Valley" though the main story here is between Vaughn and Carrie. Their characters are well developed and believable, and the situations between them realistic. While the plot moves slowly, secondary characters like Carries 4 older brothers and Hassie's reminiscings keep the story moving along. Sub-characters are well developed as well, and situations are realistic enough to be stories of anyone's life. While there is obvious tension between Vaughn and Natalie and Carrie when Natalie shows up in Buffalo Valley the problem is not allowed to escalate. Everyone acts maturely, working side by side to solve the problems and many misunderstandings so that Vaughn and Carrie can get on with being able to find out who they really are and what they mean to each other. Delicate situations are handled well where there is a potential for things to get out of control.

And while there is an underlying feeling that the story should be going in one direction, Ms Macomber keeps the story on course and doesn't allow herself to fall under the influence of conforming to expectations. No spoilers here but readers of "Buffalo Valley" will understand once they get into the story.