Anne of the Island

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery

Anne goes off to college. There are various challenges, but everything seems to end up well in the end. She and her friends want to rent a house together. They luck out and find a house that they liked available for rent. There are all sorts of boy issues and marriages. Anne tells a good friend that they can only be friends and then dates another guy. Two years later, when the other guy proposes to her, she turns him down and realizes the friend is best. There are also various romantic challenges, including with a couple that had to wait a few decades for a sick mother to die. It feels refreshing to read about relationships rather than "desire" in modern romantasies.

Anne's House of Dreams

Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

Anne is now married to a doctor. She moves with him to her "house of dreams". On the way in, she notices a beautiful girl. Their neighbors also include a gossipy spinster and an old sailor. Anne befriends many of the neighbors. She learns that the beautiful girl is a woman that has been married for a dozen years. She has faced great hardships and was forced into the marriage with the man. The man has since become amentally deficient invalid and she has been caring for him for years.

There are some adventures. They learn of a teacher that used to live here. The grandson of the teacher comes back. The beautiful girl falls for him, but remains loyal to her spouse. The grandson also works on writing a book of the sailors history. Later Anne's husband talks to the beautiful girl about a surgery to cure his problem.

The story ends with a happy ending. After the surgery, the girl's "husband" turns out to be the husband's cousin. The real husband had died. The sailor's life history was published. The spinster found a husband. Anne gave birth to a child. The writer returns and starts a courtship of the beautiful girl. The sailor is able to read the book of his history and then passes away. It all makes for a nice happy ending.