Lia Stewart and Sean McIntyre were all set to elope one supposedly magical midsummer's evening. Lia waited for Sean to show up...little did she know that her dad, Eliah, discovered their plans and wounded Sean with his shotgun! Lia never knew that Eliah chased Sean off and Sean thought that Lia sent her dad to chase him away. While Lia pondered why Sean didn't appear, her heart broke, but she eventually was able to go on with her life. Meanwhile, Sean joined the military during the Vietnam War. He survived, came home, and made a business for himself. Tempers flare one hot summer over 30 years later when Eliah and Sean are pitted against each other once again...this time over land development.
Lia comes to her father's rescue, but is forced to face the man who left her waiting in the pouring rain, many years before. How can she fight her feelings for Sean, and at the same time come up with a compromise between him and her father when the two can't stand each other? Will Lia and Sean be able to overcome their hurt feelings toward one another and begin to fall in love all over again? Or, will Eliah's machinations destroy their love once again?
Roy develops her characters so well that the reader wants to hate Eliah for his duplicity, but can't help feeling sorry for him instead. Eliah is so bitter, but helpless. He ends up seriously hurt during one of his "stop Sean escapades" and Lia and Sean must overcome their anger to solve the land development dilemma. But, will a trunk full of secrets bring them the resolution both of them want, but fight against? Or, can one never truly go back to the past?
Sean is also well-developed. His boyish charms allows the reader to fall in love with him as Lia did those many years previous. The reader completely understands why Lia was so devastated when he left to find his "Soldier's Fortune." As Lia's and Sean's summer romance unfolds, and we learn the story of their love in 1960's, the reader can't help but feel the breathless anticipation of young love. One is brought back with Lia and Sean to their first love and the memories weave their spell as Roy weaves hers.
The most poignant part of the novel is when Sean and Lia see each other for the first time again after so many years. Despite dirt, sweat, and wrinkles, each see in each other the people they once were. The people both wish to be again.
Roy's talent lies not only in the development of her main storyline, but in the realistic tales of those who come into contact with Sean and Lia. These other characters bounce off Lia and Sean to make the novel completely realistic. One can't help but walk alongside the main characters and wonder what will happen next.
ESCAPE TO ROMANCE
TREBLE HEART BOOKS
