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Central Park Rendezvous

First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Ronie Kendig, Dineen Miller, Kim Vogel Sawyer and Marylu Tyndall and their publisher for sending me a copy of "NOVEL" to review for them. I am truly grateful for this generosity. I really appreciate the time, effort and expense it takes to make a reviewer copy available to me.

“Central Park Rendezvous” is a beautifully crafted anthology of historical romance stories. Each story takes a step further back in time to follow the previous generation’s love story. The common threads running through each tale turn out to be deeper than the obvious: a city a family and a coin with a story of its own! The wounds/scars overcome in each beautifully written story are inspirational. These men and their lovely ladies transcend four engaging tales.

*****The author’s fascination with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is apparent in Ronie Kendig’s present day story, “Dream a Little Dream”. (TBI is also a major plot point in her latest incredible novel, “Trinity: Military War Dog”.) Jamie Russo has come across a stack of undelivered letters from the Wolfe Estate. She hunts down Sean Wolfe, a former soldier with TBI, to deliver the letters to the Wolfe family. While they are getting to know each other, Sean deals with demons over his father’s death and the two try to untangle the mystery of the missing coin. A letter leads Sean into the next tale…

*****“A Love Meant to Be” by Dineen Miller is set in the early 1970s where Marcia Wolfe entices her sister Gail to indulge in one final fling before marrying. Alan James was Patrick Wolfe’s best friend and the perfect target for Marcia’s idea. Instead of a fling, these two seem to have found true love as Alan escorts Gail around New York City. But Marcia’s lies keep Gail and Alan from fulfilling their plan to reunite after Alan returns home from Vietnam. This story continues to the present day and a possible third chance at love. The song at a dance serves as a segue to part 2 of “Dream a Little Dream” which transitioned to the next story through another letter…

*****Kim Vogel Sawyer’s contribution, “To Sing Another Day,” finds Helen Wolfe having given up her dream to finish her music course and sing opera to take care of her siblings after their parents’ deaths in this WWII era story. Bernie O’Day runs a pawn shop. Taking an interest in the Wolfe family when he meets Helen and then her younger brother, Henry, Bernie hires the boy and becomes Henry’s role model. This offers a wonderful opportunity for Bernie to share God’s love with Henry but winds up sharing that love with the whole Wolfe family…leading to part 3 of “Dream a Little Dream” and another letter of another love…

*****“Beauty from Ashes” by Marylu Tyndall, set at the end of the Civil War, tells the story of William Wolfe, a soldier wounded and disfigured during battle, and his fiancée, Annie. William returns to the Williamsburg area to make her his bride. What he doesn’t know is that her sister, Permelia, has loved him silently for years. He also doesn’t know that he had been corresponding with Permelia when he thought he was writing to Annie. As he spends time with Annie, William’s suspicions about her character are ignited and he begins to notice Permelia’s kind and generous nature. The conclusion of this Civil War romance leads to the final installment of “Dream a Little Dream” where Sean and Jamie’s story is concluded.

A terrific weekend read!

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