Always Remembering by Kathy Kasunich

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MWSA Review Pending

 

Author's Synopsis

Based on a real-life couple's experience, Always Remembering” intricately weaves together the heartfelt love story of Mike and Helen, amid the turmoil and battles of World War II. Their blossoming love, abruptly interrupted by the war, thrusts them into a world of separation, uncertainties, loneliness, and the relentless struggle to preserve their bond. Mike confronts the brutal realities of war, while Helen grapples with a domineering mother and a meddling family that strain their relationship. Intertwined within the narrative are unedited letters penned by Mike to Helen, signed with the touching sentiment: “Always Remembering, Never Forgetting, Loving You Forever, Mike.” These letters and the nostalgic memories they evoke become their anchor amidst the chaos, empowering them to endure and cherish the person who captured their hearts.

From the tranquil streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the harrowing battlegrounds of the 42nd Rainbow Division, the pangs of heartache, and the destruction of war resonates deeply. In a story told through both of their perspectives, Mike, an outgoing, confident medic, and Helen, a diffident, humble grocer, bare their souls as they navigate situations beyond their control.

“Always Remembering”, seen through the lens of two ordinary souls is a testament to enduring love, unveiling the emotional toll and unseen collateral damage that war imposes on the human spirit. Echoing the essence of Capra’s stirring narratives, this captivating tale celebrates the resilience of love and the powerful strength found within treasured memories.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Romance

Number of Pages: 356

Word Count: 98,000

The Road to Empire by John Wemlinger

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MWSA Review

The Road to Empire is author John Wemlinger’s semi-autobiographical novel of his years as a career Army officer. Wemlinger, a Vietnam veteran, has chosen a more contemporary period using the 9/11 attack on America as the linchpin for Jack Rigley’s 20-year journey from high school graduation through the many stops required by military professionals to his eventual rise to full bird colonel and brigade command.

This is not a military-only story. Empire is the small northern Michigan town where Jack and Annie spend their childhood. Despite living around the world, this is where their roots are planted. The genre of many of Wemlinger’s books could best be described as military-romance. He never forgets the story about wives, children, and other family members and the price they pay to support their loved ones.

Jack Rigley tells his story in the first person, occasionally alternating chapters narrated by his wife, Annie, who openly shares her joys, challenges, and frustrations living within the military framework. During Jack’s long deployments and intense training periods, Annie must run the household, raise the children, and deal with a dysfunctional extended family while trying to have a life of her own.

Rigley’s year spent learning to be a helicopter pilot is intense. The reader shares Rigley’s stress and anxiety, the successes and failures he experiences with his fellow pilot candidates, and the signs of leadership he often provides.

The story focuses on Rigley and his fellow officers; however, it’s the warrant officers (Chief) and senior NCOs (Top) who are often the quiet heroes. Wemlinger has great respect for the junior ranks.

Jack and Annie’s lives eventually come full circle, leading to the book’s title: The Road to Empire. They face significant health and family issues that require them to make life decisions that are never easy. This is a story of love, challenge, loyalty, and closure.

Review by James Elsener (February 2024)
 

Author's Synopsis

Army helicopter pilot Jack Rigley and his wife, Annie, face the trials of life in the military; lack of family support; separations caused by long deployments to dangerous combat zones, relocations to meet the needs of the service, deaths of loved ones, and the tug of heartstrings frimly rooted where each grew up, in Empire, Michigan. Ultimately, Jack will be forced to make a difficult choice; family or career.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Romance

Number of Pages: 259

Word Count: 75,000

Before the Snow Flies by John Wemlinger

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MWSA Review

Part romance, part courtroom drama, part mystery, and part literary fiction, Before the Snow Flies by John Wemlinger has something for everyone to enjoy. Revolving around Major David Keller, a double amputee returning home from Afghanistan in June—by way of Landstuhl and Walter Reed—the storyline leads readers through family issues, small-town politics, post-traumatic stress episodes, and well-kept secrets. Dynamic characters and a well described setting enhance the story. Throughout the book, the question lingers as to whether David will attain his goal of completing suicide before the snow flies. The reader is kept wondering whether an old flame will reignite or past jealousies will douse the flame. The suspense drives the story to the final page when the reader discovers if hope will triumph over fear.

Review by Betsy Beard (June 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

Major David Keller was well on his way to becoming a general when a roadside bomb in Afghanistan took his legs. Angry, grieving, and carrying a loaded gun, David returns home to mend a few fences before using that gun to end his life. But before the snow flies, his family, his community, and Maggie McCall, someone he's tried to forget, will prove to him that life in the small town of Onekama, Michigan, can be great once again--if he will only let it--and if murder doesn't get in the way

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Romance

Number of Pages: 313

Word Count: 80K

The Return by Carole Brungar

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MWSA Review

The Return, an incredible story of one woman’s search for love, by Carole Brungar is book five in her Nam book series. Author Brungar draws the reader into the life of dynamic business woman Jackie Coles, an orphan saved during the fall of Saigon. Jackie is adopted by veterans Terry and Evelyn even though she was told that fellow veteran Jack Coles was her birthfather.

When Jackie’s stepfather Terry falls ill, she fears losing the only father she has known. During his illness, the two talk and reminisce. Terry encourages Jackie to return to Vietnam and seek out her mother’s family. “It will help you discover who you are,” Terry insists. Jackie promises she will go to Vietnam and meet the family who abandoned her as a baby. Will she discover a truth she never knew she was searching for? As Jackie approaches age 40, she is overwhelmed by the feeling that something is missing from her life. Will leaving a new and budding relationship with rescue pilot Jeff Hunter be compromised by her traveling to Vietnam?

After Terry’s death, Jackie convinces Frankie to accompany her to the country of her birth. While in Vietnam, Frankie divulges that Jack Coles is not Jackie’s birth father, but the man who saved her, raised her, and loved her, Terry, is her birth father. He loved her, she loved him, and they spoke of their love for each other. If only she had known the truth.

Jackie's trip to Vietnam brings changes to her life in unanticipated ways. She makes a major decision that may affect both her future, and her future with Jeff.

Well-developed characters and a great story line draw the reader into the life of Jackie Coles.

Review by Nancy Panko (March 2023)

 

Author's Synopsis

They say love will set you free, but do the orphans of war ever really experience that freedom?

Ambitious and dedicated, Jackie Coles is the shining success story of a once abandoned child.

But as her 40th year approaches, the realization that something is missing in her life is overwhelming. How can someone who has everything lead such an empty life?

Rescue pilot, Jeff Hunter, fell in love with Jackie the first time they met. Years later, a chance meeting brings all those same feelings flooding back.

When Jackie’s stepfather falls ill, she makes him a promise that she will return to the country of her birth and meet the family who abandoned her as a baby. But what will she find in Vietnam? The answer to her loneliness? A truth she never knew she was searching for?

And what about Jeff? He’s more than perfect and falling in love with him is far too easy.

But what if Jackie’s trip back to Vietnam threatens to destroy every chance at happiness with Jeff? Will she have to choose who she can love and who she can’t? Or will Jeff make that choice for her?

Format(s) for review: Kindle Only

Review Genre: Fiction—Romance

Number of Pages: 336

Word Count: 93279

Love and Lies: Call Me Eve by Sandi Hoover & Jim Tritten

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MWSA Review
Love and Lies: Call Me Eve has the right combination of romance, intrigue, and suspense to keep a reader hooked. It is a love story about two people meeting in an exotic location. Mark is interested in Eve, who leaves out important details about her life. This sets the plot in motion for a series of conflicts for the main characters both on the island and when they return to their normal lives in the United States.

The authors set scenes beautifully without over describing. The initial story setting put readers into the scenes and allowed them to escape to the tropical paradise where the two main characters lived at that moment. The characters had their own personalities from the beginning, but the authors left enough detail out to keep readers guessing about their true goals and motivations.

The writing was superb in several ways. The authors, Sandi Hoover and Jim Tritten, provided subtle clues to the bigger plot but let the reader discover it as the story evolved. For example, on page one: “Well, that's swift. Sun crashes into the ocean without a breath.” This short passage provides an important clue about Eve’s mindset at the time and foreshadows an important event. The authors also did an excellent job describing each of the characters in their inner and outer dialogue and their displays of emotional body language. Throughout the story, the authors showed how the lovers’ brief encounter helped them learn more about themselves and their true desires over the next year.

Hoover and Tritten wove a full and interesting love story into a mere fifty pages, not wasting a word. This novella is highly recommended for romance readers and for those who enjoy discovering the nuances of good writing.

Review by Valerie Ormond (February 2021) 

Author's Synopsis
“She sipped her well-chilled, dry martini, taking extra time before answering. What . . . how much do I tell him? Just want a distraction. Something to fill an evening.”

Eve was sipping a Fiji Moonrise, the house specialty at Fiji’s Natewu Bay Resort’s water’s edge bar, when an unfamiliar baritone asked, “May I buy you a refill? The evening is far too pleasant to spend alone.” Mark Adams proves to be an irresistible diversion during Eve’s trip home from a conference. But when playtime’s up and planes are departing, Eve doesn’t play fair.

Upon her return, Eve receives an unexpected life-changing event and regrets having lied. Mark is faced with a wounded heart and a nearly insurmountable challenge. Join an exciting adventure where true feelings are the catalyst to propel two star-crossed lovers to find each other … again.

ISBN/ASIN: B08SXZ6SFB

Book Format(s): Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Romance

Number of Pages: 50

Notes from the Other Side of the Mountain: Love Confronts the Wounds of War by J. Allen Whitt

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MWSA Review

The novel, Notes from the Other Side of the Mountain – Love Confronts the Wounds of War, by J. Allen Whitt, spans the central years in the life of Gary Reed. This thoughtful young man spends his younger years in New Mexico and Texas, when he falls in love with the beautiful Kristi Preston. Losing Kristi’s affections, he joins the Navy in time to take part in the Vietnam conflict and experiences the horrors and losses of war. Vietnam comes home with him in the form of PTSD. However, he rekindles his romance with Kristi, only to lose her once more. Finally, decades later, Gary returns to New Mexico to reflect on his life there, the embers of his love for Kristi, and the lessons and perspectives life has granted him.

This novel is part coming of age, part romance, and part call to action in the cause of PTSD treatment, but primarily it’s a memoir in the form of a novel. Whitt’s voice is consistent throughout, and particularly strong in Part 4, when the text switches to present tense. It’s in this final phase of the novel that it gains its strength and emotional impact. His narrative depictions of scenic views in New Mexico are inspired, particularly for a first novel, and are testimony to a writer’s eye, ear, and nose for the surrounding world. Balancing crisp dialogue and narrative is an art in itself, and this one is certainly ripe for growth in that regard. Whitt has a talent for surprise and drama in creating his story arc, but there are issues here. Unresolved or unexplained episodes with his school friends in New Mexico—particularly the crumbling of his teen romance with Kristi—create an early disconnect from the story’s overall impact. There are repetitive scenes, layout problems with the book, typos, misspellings, and punctuation errors.

Review by Bob Mustin (June 2019)

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Author's Synopsis

 Through his vivid narration, we follow Gary Reed as he finds love in high school, then is called to Navy service in Vietnam. Traumatized by the carnage of war, he comes home, hoping to reunite with Kristina Preston and find peace within the serene mountains of New Mexico. Yet Kristy has harrowing secrets as well, and they will face daunting obstacles as they struggle to build a future together and survive unexpected twists of fortune.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-10: 0692954252, ISBN-13: 978-0692954256
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Fiction—Romance
Number of Pages: 368

In Plain Sight by Sephira Allen

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MWSA Review

The Romance genre novel, In Plain Sight, takes place in Virginia during the Civil War years of 1963 to 1865. Its underlying theme is in the ways families and other loved ones are torn apart and virtually kept separate by this war and, by extension, any war of domestic import.

While the book’s references to the details of the Virginia war during these years are indefinite, they don’t seem inaccurate, and this vagueness is appropriate to the book’s assigned genre. Instead, the book’s details center about Rylee James, a young woman who dons men’s clothing and identity to rescue her Confederate brother Matt, who has been captured by Union forces in Virginia. Rylee’s disguise and role as a doctor prove successful in gaining her access to Matt — until she becomes enthralled with Union Captain Eli Webb, and her guise becomes threadbare. Ry springs her brother Matt from his military prison, is wounded, and falls unconscious. As Eli tends to her wound, he discovers her gender and he realizes why he’s been attracted to this faux-male doctor. The two become lovers and face complications that could very well mean execution for both.

The story has many unexpected twists prior to war’s end that are indicative of the “fog of war” and of the best of human nature, and these traits kept this reader turning pages. The characters, while somewhat skin-deep, are true to human nature and appropriate to this genre. The book was written in an omniscient third person point of view that often set this reader apart from the characters’ emotional dynamics. While a wartime story depicting such emotional conflicts should show the interior thoughts and motivations that both draw similar characters together and keep them apart, it may have been better to write the story in a series of “close” third person points of view that would have increased the intimacy between character and reader. Because of this choice, the author too often chooses to explain the motives of the characters to the reader in narrative. Too, narrative could have used more scenic description, but this doesn’t seem as important in a book genre primarily preoccupied  with character emotions and related activities. The love interest between Ry and Eli doesn’t gain steam until some one hundred pages in, and toward the story’s end Ry’s attention is often on her brother and the family home. For this reason, the book may have been a stronger candidate in a Historical Fiction genre.

Clearly, the writer has put much thought into placing her characters into the book’s wartime background, and there is much storytelling talent here.

 Review by Bob Mustin (April 2019)

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Author's Synopsis

 What wouldn’t you do for love? No damsel in distress, 20 year old Rylee James hides in plain sight of the enemy, hoping to rescue her brother - a Confederate soldier captured by Union forces. Disguised as a man, she's counting on her skills as a doctor to see her through while she risks it all to save the only family she has left. But even the best laid plans can go awry when love is at stake, and all too soon she is faced with the reality that life's choices aren't always easy. Love of family, love of country, or love of a good man - agonizing decisions to be made when she finds that setting her brother free has left her a prisoner of the heart. A historical romance set in the midst of the American Civil War, In Plain Sight intrigues right from the start, taking you on a wild and perilous ride through the war-torn Virginia countryside. An emotional journey of courage, daring and love, that keeps you enthralled right to the very end.

ISBN/ASIN: B07F5XVF8K, 1983392502, B07KYWJTS9
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Romance
Number of Pages: 332

Ranger's Sacrifice; by Tracey Cramer-Kelly

MWSA Review

Sex, commitment and careers come together in Ranger’s Sacrifice. Two couples, Cory and Maddy and Chase and Ella, work to build their relationships amidst war and separation. Is it possible to find and keep true love alive under these circumstances?

Cory and Chase are members of the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, an airborne unit assigned to special missions. Absent from home much of the time, both have discovered the possibility of lasting relationships. At home, Maddy and Ella must continue their lives while waiting and hoping their men return safely.

Ella, both Chase’s girlfriend and Cory’s little sister, is recovering from a disastrous relationship with Rolando. Maddy is a doctor who met Cory when she treated Ella.

Ranger’s Sacrifice offers plenty of hot sex scenes to tantalize readers. However, can
good sex lead to healthy, lasting relationships? The author digs into the issues of
communication, waiting at home, long-distance relationships and life-changing
events as the story develops. Ranger’s Sacrifice is the second book in the Army
Ranger Series. The author is currently working on book three, Ranger’s Choice.

Review by Pat Avery, MWSA Reviewer

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Author's Synopsis:
Tracey Cramer-Kelly is an award-winning author who draws inspiration from her past experience as an Army combat medic and helicopter pilot. She lives in small-town Minnesota with her husband and two children and spends as much time outdoors as sub-zero winters allow, all while managing the family motorcycle business.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1544844589
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Fiction, Romance
Review Genre: Fiction—Romance
Number of Pages: 184