Title: Love on a Battlefield
Author: Posy Roberts
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 126 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: These guys are great together, and I have no doubt that other readers will love them as much as I did.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: Not every compass points north.
Andrew Summers is forced to spend his vacations reliving Civil War battles with his father. He hates every minute, until a blue-eyed, red-haired boy behind enemy lines catches his eye.
Shep Wells would much rather travel the world than play at boring war reenactments. He never dreamed a Texan boy would capture his heart.
Real life and years separate them; Andrew is forced onto real battlefields, but for Shep the world is a playground. They’re opposites, but writing letters closes the distance, uncovering their hopes and dreams. When Shep visits Andrew, they get to see if the tug they’ve felt for years is the compass pointing the way home.
This is a story about first times, second chances, and the transformative power of the written word.
Review: What a sweet novella this was. I’ve been a big fan of Posy Roberts’ stories for so long, and Love on a Battlefield is another great example of why. So lovely in its simplicity yet still a powerful story, I love where Roberts took these characters and how she wove their story together. In the author’s acknowledgements at the beginning of the book, she talks about the restorative power of writing and how it helped heal her in a way no other conventional method could when she was going through some health issues, and I loved so much how she made that a part of Andrew’s story and journey. Don’t skip over the acknowledgements! For me, the reading experience was made even more special because of her sharing what writing this book meant to her.
As a young teenager, Andrew doesn’t relate to the guys his age on his side of the battlefield; they’re too narrow-minded and angry. But, there’s a kid on the other side who keeps catching Andrew’s eye. Now eighteen, and after a few years of being fascinated with this red-haired, blue-eyed boy, Andrew is determined to meet him, and finally gets an opportunity. It turns out that Shep also feels drawn to Andrew, and they wordlessly agree to make the most of the weekend they have together. I loved how these guys met, and though I didn’t immediately feel the full force of their instant connection, Roberts very quickly had me on board. Her use of their letters to establish their bond and what they meant to each other across the miles, and over the five years between that initial weekend and when they meet again was excellent. We got both character development and relationship development as the guys got to know one another as pen pals. And, as the story is told in Andrew’s POV, the letters were also a fabulous way to let us partially into Shep’s head.
Since the weekend he and Shep were together, Andrew’s life hasn’t gone at all according to plan. Circumstances derail his college plans, and he ends up joining the army. A terrible incident toward the end of his final deployment sends him home to Austin, and he has to figure out how to wrap his head around his new situation. As a way to deal with what happened to him in battle and take his mind off his pain and frustration, Andrew starts journaling. He writes about his nightmares and his dreams about Shep, both the good and the bad. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m not going to say much more about this, but it’s a significant part of Andrew’s journey, as I said in the opening, and I love how it plays into the rest of the book.
While Andrew was deployed and then settling back in Texas, Shep was off seeing the world in a totally different way and sharing his experiences and stories with Andrew through his letters. But, he never forgot Andrew or their time together that weekend and did everything he could to keep reminding Andrew of it as well. I looooved this, from one of Shep’s many swoony letters…
Still I can feel the tug deep in my belly. I feel tethered to you. Everywhere I go, my mind is pulled to where you are, my body facing whatever direction that will take me to you.
These guys are great together, and I have no doubt that other readers will love them as much as I did. As it says at the end of the blurb, “This is a story about first times, second chances, and the transformative power of the written word.” It is absolutely all those things. Check this one out, guys! It’s a great little weekend read. 😊
You can buy Love on a Battlefield here:
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