After Words

Love this book. It’s like getting two stories in one. Love Leeza and Gavin. Love how They both give each other purpose and how they work together. Beautiful ending.

What an interesting, intriguing and entertaining idea, melding a story from long ago with a current story, with a few parallels and just enough overlap in context or circumstances to be very captivating!

And...can I just say hallelujah for a romance beteen two “older” people! Just because you’re a certain age doesn’t mean you can’t have romance!

We initially meet Leeza Boychuk, a recently divorced woman who manages a chain bookstore, while she’s cleaning out her recently deceased grandfather’s house. She comes upon a small book amongst his extensive collection only to discover later that it a diary kept by a young man, a man younger than her son, Drew, that chronicles his military service. The diary belonged to William Henry Smith with the first entry being July 21st, 1941.

Once home, Leeza reads the entire diary, which, unfortunately abruptly ends without evidence of what happened to young William Henry Smith at the close of the war and no clue as to where his family might be.

With her own son embarking on a new career taking him to England, Leeza feels a kinship with William’s mother, a woman whose very young son also is so far away from her at the time of his diary. So begins Leeza’s quest to find William’s family in the hopes of delivering the diary to them.

Soon we meet Gavin, a widower who works part-time at the store Leeza manages, who happens to be a history buff and enjoys sleuthing through history - and begins helping Leeza find out more about William Harry Smith.

Without giving the story away, there are some very poignant and emotional passages, but also wonderful romance and joy as Leeza and Gavin become involved with each other while searching for William’s family.

If you’re looking for a touching, memorable story, this is it!