Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Every New Year’s Eve since 1946, Nate Meyer has ventured alone to Times Square to listen for the ghostly church bells he and his long-lost wartime lover vowed to hear together. This year, however, his grandson Blaine is pushing Nate through the Manhattan streets, revealing his secrets to his silent, stroke-stricken grandfather.

When Blaine introduces his boyfriend to his beloved grandfather, he has no idea that Nate holds a similar secret. As they endure the chilly death of the old year, Nate is drawn back in memory to a much earlier time... and to Walter.

Long before, in a peace carefully crafted in the heart of wartime tumult, Nate and Walter forged a loving home in the midst of violence and chaos. But nothing in war is permanent, and now all Nate has is memories of a man his family never knew existed. And a hope that he’ll finally hear the church bells that will unite everybody—including the lovers who hid the best and most sacred parts of their hearts.

 

Book Review

It was with no small amount of glee, and trepidation, that I cracked open 'The Bells of Times Square' by Amy Lane. Glee, because, well, it's Amy Lane, people, and 90 percent of the time, it just doesn't get any better than that. Trepidation, because I knew it was going to bring out the feels, and probably a tear or two. But I grabbed my glass of wine, my box of tissues, all of the animals for comfort and support, and bravely cracked open my Kindle.

World War II wasn’t just another world war. It was the end of an era, the beginning of a new one, and the emergence of the United States as a world power. There was pride in our country and our soldiers, and there was no shortage of people willing to help out at home to help the war effort, from victory gardens to Rosie the Riveter. Unfortunately, it was also still a time of racism, homophobia, and intolerance of anyone different than white, middle-class, straight Christians. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to be Jewish, and gay, as an aerial tactical photographer during the war.

“No. No. Not this. Not this, that had kept him aloof from his fellows through school. Not this fear of seeing the sun on a cheekbone, filtered through someone’s eyelashes, or the shadow of a jawline, and feeling . . . this thing. The thing that poets spoke about, but not like this.”

Nate met Walter when Nate's plane went down during a photography mission, killing the pilot, and leaving Nate severely wounded. Walter saved him and nursed him back to health, while they hid out in an abandoned farmhouse in the French countryside. The middle-class New York Jew and the poor white trash from Iowa. Doesn't stop them from falling in love, and it certainly doesn't prevent them from understanding the futility of the whole relationship, but dreaming of more.

"He turned his head away, wiped his face on the covers, then took a deep breath and looked at Nate with resolve. It was like he had a handle on what to do, what to say now. Well, good, because Nate didn’t.
“You’ll have a regular life after this, Nate. I’m something to toss away. I always have been.”

As usual, Amy has wrecked and devastated me with this tale of a love that could never be. A beautiful story of wishes, of hoping, and of finding forever love in the space of a month, in a war torn world. When the only promise they have to hold on to is meeting in Times Square after the war has ended, and finding somewhere together where they can live as two old bachelors.

Nate and Walter. They lived a lifetime in a month.

"The bells,” he said, hoping Walter would remember. “The bells, they will chime for both of us.”

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Riptide Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 236 pages/65300 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	15-December-2014
Price	$6.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback, $23.98 bundle
Buy Link	http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/bells-of-times-square