Two in one reviews.."When You Went Away" and "A Winter Discovery"

Overview....

Only a few months ago, Gerry Rubato had everything he thought he needed from life. He was passionately in love with his college sweetheart after nearly twenty years of marriage, he had a bright, independent-minded daughter, and he had the surprising addition of a new child on the way. Then everything changed with stunning rapidity. With little explanation, his daughter ran away with her older boyfriend. Then, only a month after giving birth to their son, his wife died suddenly.

Now, Gerry needs to be everything to his infant child while he contends with two losses he can barely comprehend. And when a woman walks into his life as a friend and their relationship verges on something more, Gerry must redefine all that he knows about himself, about love, about loyalty, and about his dreams.

An emotionally charged novel filled with warmth, humor, wisdom, and unforgettable characters, When You Went Away is a novel you will take to your heart.

My Thoughts....

The first book  I read in 2012 was "Spinning" by Michael Baron, and "Spinning" was also the first book I had read by this author. I really enjoyed "Spinning," so I decided it was time to read another one by Baron, and see if I would like it just as well. 

I really did enjoy this book, "When You Went Away."  However, the only complaint I have about this book is the references to all the baseball lingo about the Yankee Baseball Team. I know a man wrote this book, so if other men read it they will probably love all the baseball talk. I know that some of the baseball references were necessary for the story, but I don't follow baseball, therefore, I didn't really care about some of the statistics. But, that is just my viewpoint I'm sure everyone else didn't mind, and I really didn't mind that much either, come to think of it. 

Ally, the love interest relationship, was interesting, once for a change they became friends, instead of jumping into bed the first time they looked at each other, that was rather refreshing. I like light romance in some of the books I read, so this one was more to my liking. 

The ending wasn't long and drawn out, it just kind of ended.

However, there is this short novelette, "A Winter Discovery," by Michael Baron, it is 60 pages.

Overview...

Baron presents us with his first novelette and his first holiday story, a touching, luminous, and openhearted tale of love, wonder, and revelation.

Returning to the characters of his first novel, "When You Went Away," Baron takes us again into the world of Gerry Rubato, a man who has been marked by loss and revived by love, and his son Reese, now six, who celebrates life at a remarkable level but is only now starting to understand that he was robbed of the chance of ever knowing his mother. Reese is old enough now to get caught up in the excitement of the Christmas season and he throws himself into it with abandon. His sense of celebration takes on entirely new levels of meaning, though, when it leads him to an unexpected and most remarkable discovery.

My Thoughts..."A Winter Discovery"  helps us to understand  the development of the relationship between Gerry and his daughter Tanya, now 5 years later. We also find out if Gerry married Ally, or if he is still a single father. I enjoyed "When You Went Away" and "A Winter Discovery" and awarded them 4****

These books are part of my Kindle library.