What a delightful series! I thoroughly enjoyed reading them all this past year and am sad to have reached the end. I can’t wait to share these books with L when she gets older!

A wonderful finish to this series. I'm so glad they didn't end it with the wedding but let us see Betsy and Joe's first few years together. Getting to watch Betsy learn to be a wife was delightful.

I didn't want it to end.

I cannot think of any other fictional series that carries the main characters from childhood (five years old) to marriage and settled adulthood. There is something immensely satisfying about this progression, although Betsy-Tacy love and devotion being what it is, I think that most of Lovelace's fans will agree with me: I wish there were at least one more novel! We have to look to Lovelace's own life to know what happens next.

One of the things that I truly appreciated about this novel was the focus on Tib - and her two unsuccessful romances before she meets the 'right' one. The love, mutual respect and devotion of the Betsy-Joe marriage is such a great example to all of us. Somehow this book - indeed, the entire series - manages to be both realistic about life's challenges and sorrows, and yet also so full of human nature at its very best. An example which comes to mind is Betsy's reaction to having Joe's Aunt Ruth come to live with them during their first year of marriage. Her initial resentment and inner resistance gradually gives way, and she has the reward of knowing that she has not only done the right thing - but she has gained from it in ways that she couldn't have imagined.

I had to have a good cry after finishing this beloved book. What an absolute delight to read the entire series again after so many years.

"Joe sat up in bed, and Betsy told herself that she must never allow him to wear any pajamas but blue ones."
It's been less than a year since I last read this, but with Maud's writing that doesn't matter. This book only gets better and better for me and I continue to revel in the "rightness" of Betsy and Joe together.

3-3-09 review:
"After a while he went back to the bacon."
Chose to re-read this in honor of my sister's wedding. The older I get, the more I treasure it. It's inspiring and just plain fun to watch Betsy and Joe settle into married life. The other day someone was describing her ex-boyfriend and I almost shouted out, "You were dating a Rocky!"

Prior read: 2-20-06

This was a delightful end to a delightful series! I love Betsy and the Rays, and seeing everyone grown up and leading happy lives was great. I'm still not a huge fan of Joe, as he's a bit of an ass, but he matured a bit and was therefore more palatable. I was happy for Betsy and that's all that matters.

I will miss these books, and I recommend them to all readers looking for a fun children's read, looking for what life was like in the early 20th century, or young readers looking for a great start on chapter books. Start at the beginning, you won't regret it!

When I finished this book I was crying happy tears. What a lovely ending to the series, having Betsy, Tacy, Tib, their families and friends all back together in Deep Valley. Just perfect.

I really enjoyed this final Betsy-Tacy novel. Joe and Betsy's early years of married life are so sweet and charming, with them getting settled in their first homes, working and writing together, and spending time with their family and "Crowd." Betsy's homemaking efforts are so much fun, as are Betsy and Tacy's matchmaking efforts for Tib. Betsy growing to love Joe's Aunt Ruth was touching, after the way she initially felt about Aunt Ruth's visit. It was all so cozy and domestic. Hanging over all of it, though, is the shadow of WWI and the time when we as readers know the U.S. will join the fight, taking Joe and the other young men we've grown fond of overseas.

The entire Betsy-Tacy series is absolutely wonderful, full of fun and kindness and humor and love. Love of family and friends permeates everything about these stories. I wish I'd read them when I was a child - and given my taste in books back then I'm kind of shocked I didn't - but in truth there's never a time that's too late to read the series. Maybe it's good that I had them waiting for me in 2020-2021, with the world so full of sadness and difficulties. Spending the past few months with these characters has been a balm to my soul.

Many more than 5 stars for the Betsy-Tacy series. I know I'll be reading all the books again someday and happily revisiting my beloved friends.

A quick reread before a local Maud event. I forgot how much I always liked the last book of this favorite series, it just completes everything so well. As an adult, I appreciate the deft hand Lovelace used to help Betsy overcome her feelings about Aunt Ruth coming to live with them. In fact, as a kid, I always thought it was a much larger part of the story than it turned out to be. The specter of war in Europe really shadows the whole book, but as newlyweds, Betsy and Joe probably speak of it as much as any couple of the time. And like that, I was ready for the Lowry Hill tour!

Fun to read.

By far my least favorite. Besty's Wedding picks up right where Betsy and the Great World left off. She is about to get off the ship as she returns from Europe and Joe is set to meet her at the docks. He immediately assumes she will marry him and she just sort of goes along with it. Then we spend most of the rest of the book with them as newlyweds. It's fine, but I felt like Betsy gets a little ditsy in this one in way that wasn't endearing.

I also feel like there was supposed to be another book after this one. Right at the end of this book the US has decided to join WWI and most of the young men we have met through these books are headed out to serve. I would love to know how that goes. I'm guessing not well.

I will admit I've only read the first two books in the series before picking up this one, but I didn't really care for it. Adult Betsy lacks the charms of the child Betsy and they're actually isn't much of a plot after the wedding.

This book has sat on my shelves for so many years I figured I'd read it! I was wrong, and this was a first time through. I enjoyed it, as I enjoy all the Betsy-Tacy books, but this one was so heavy on early 1900s domesticity that it didn't have the same appeal as Betsy and Tacy running around their hometown and getting into mischief together. I did love reading names of Minneapolis landmarks and imagining Betsy in places that are still there today, and the warm descriptions of nesting in a new home. There was a bit too much focus on the need to marry up her childhood friend Tib, which didn't sit super well with me, but it was a good book for a grey winter day.