Montague — Jill Penrod

He thought he was a monster… When Sheila was ten, her parents moved from the city to the isolated river delta, where they had to learn to live a new lifestyle in a peaceful, slow-moving, yet sometimes hostile swamp. Away from people, her only friends were three triplet brothers, three years her junior, who taught her how to play in the river, catch crabs, swim, and mostly cause trouble. At eighteen, Sheila wants to get married, but she can't imagine growing up and leaving her triplets. Then she realizes that she's really only worried about leaving one triplet. It's hard not to think of him as a little boy, and although he's grown up well, Sheila isn't sure how to relate to her playmate as a romantic prospect. Montague has always been hard on himself. He wants to be a good husband and father, and that means learning to hunt and trap and build and trade. He has no patience with his older brother, who still sees him as a little boy, or with his siblings and Sheila, who don't understand his fears. When an accident drives him even farther inside himself, Montague begins to see himself as a monster, irredeemable and definitely not someone worthy of friends or a wife. Sheila only hopes her love can convince him to see himself the way the rest of them see him. Montague is the first book in the Triplets on the River series. Grow up. Fall in love. Avoid Alligators. Again.