THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE

Author: Linda Barrett ISBN: 0373654219 11/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN EVERLASTING

"Dear Joe, I love you and miss you and will write to you every day." Her Joe. Killed in the trenches of World War II. Rose Kaufman thought she'd never stop grieving him. He died never having seen his baby daughter. But Charlie Shapiro, Joe's war buddy, didn't die. He came home to Brooklyn and dreamed of rebuilding his shattered life. With Rose... It's hard to believe sixty years have passed since Rose said "I do" to Charlie. Sixty years since she entered this marriage of convenience...not knowing if she'd ever love the gently, caring man who adored her without question. Can love be as true the second time around? For Charlie, now in his eighties, only one woman can answer that.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE is one of the most heartwarming stories I've read in months. I loved it from beginning to end, and my only problem with it is that it was over long before I wanted it to be. Don't get me wrong, Linda Barrett told the whole story in a wonderfully satisfying way. Maybe that's the problem-she told this story so well that I would have been completely content to simply read on and on, lost in the world she created and listening to her characters.

This is a story about love-deep, undying, everlasting love. When her husband is killed in the war, Rose doesn't believe she'll ever find love like what she shared with Joe again. But when his friend Charlie comes into her life she allows, eventually, for a marriage of convenience. Love is funny sometimes, and hearts can be stolen without their owner's notice. Surrounded by a growing family, and despite the pressures of day-to-day living, Rose and Charlie find their way to happiness.

Set in Brooklyn, this story has a definite New York flavor that is so well told and realistic, I smiled time and again. Yes, I'm a New Yorker, so THE SOLDIER AND THE ROSE made an instant connection with my heart. It was the author's storytelling and flawless writing style that kept me interested, though. Rose and Charlie's story is like a treasured family heirloom, something to be taken out and enjoyed more than once. Anyone who believes that love never ends will love this book. I do, and I did.

Kay James