Customer Reviews

The Journey Home: Extraordinary tales of honor, courage and love

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You'll go a long way before you'll find a better group of writers, and they've produced stories for this collection that are as powerful as any book any of them has written. The theme of each is the "wounded hero," a man coping with the aftermath of a war--a timely subject if there ever was one--and each story has a central romance. Otherwise, all bets are off. You'll go from fantasy worlds to distant planets in the future to WWI America. You'll meet witches and ghosts, and be thrown into alternate realities. It's a smorgasbord, with something to satisfy every palate.

War changes a man's life. It can make him stronger or destroy him. And it's the same for the woman who watches him march off to unspeakable horror-wondering if he will ever come back to her. And what he will be like when he returns.

In this anthology, award-winning, best-selling authors Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice, Rebecca York, Diane Chamberlain, Catherine Asaro, and five others team up to present a wonderful collection of stories about wounded heroes and the women who love them.

War is a universal reality of human existence, and these stories span the ages-from the past to the distant future.

I loved every one of them. The characters are so real. The stories are heartwarming. And the magical elements add a special and surprising touch

*** Gathering the work of several authors in a common theme, this anthology deals with soldiers trying to make it home after war, whether in the distant past or the far future. Some of the stories are fairly standard ghost tales, much like campfire standards or fairy tales, others, more imaginative. Among the later entries is a story set in an established "universe" of one of the authors' making, and readers may feel lost if they have not read books in that series. However, for the most part, the stories need no "historical" knowledge to enjoy. ***

It's hard to imagine a collection of stories that does a better job than this one of illustrating its theme at the same time it offers something to satisfy every romance reader's appetite. I bought the book because several of the authors are among my favorites, and they all delivered for me, as usual--and then some. But I was delighted to find that ALL the stories are equally strong, so I've added a few more authors to my favorites list!

Just a quick look at what's in store for you, starting with the more contemporary stories: Chamberlain gives us a Desert Storm hero who's haunted by a nightmare of the day in Kuwait when he lost his leg, his dream of being a doctor, and the woman he loved. Rice's is a heart-felt tale about a Vietnam vet who goes home afraid that his anti-war sweetheart won't love him anymore. Traveling back in time, Madl's hero is a survivor of WWI who's (cynically) engaged in search for a psychic medium who can put him in touch with his deceased twin sister. The Civil War is the backdrop for Kane's young Confederate hero, who's rescued from a Union prison by his brother and left in the care of the woman he's secretly loved all his life--his brother's wife. In Kohl's clever twist on "ghost" stories, a British soldier's act of kindness on a battlefield in Colonial Georgia offers him the chance at a new and better life, if he can bring himself to claim it. A big leap back takes us to medieval England's War of the Roses and Grijalva's tale of a man who's helped to face the ugly truth that he fought on the losing side by a dying woman who he accidentally ran through with his own sword. Then, leaving the real-world behind, Scott spins a medieval-like fantasy of a knight who paid a terrible price to escape prison and return to his loving wife only to find that he can't bear the guilt over what he's done. Along similarly medieval-fantasy lines, Putney's brief but delightful story introduces a hero of an entirely different ilk, upon whose brave (if furry) shoulders an entire kingdom rests and whose reward, IF he's victorious, is a mate of his own. Leaving Earth behind, York takes us into the future, to an Earth-colonized planet facing reconstruction after its own Civil War, where the hero's deeds that helped win his people's freedom may also have cost him the heart of the only woman he's ever loved--the daughter of his former master. Finally, we get a tantalizing glimpse into Asaro's award-winning Skolian universe in a story about an empathic fighter pilot who, physically, has survived a crash and the loss of his squadron but who desperately needs the heroine's courage, as well as her special gift, if he hopes to ever mend his broken spirit.

These stories and authors are among the best romance has to offer. Don't miss the chance to sample them.

What a great--and timely--idea: a collection of stories about men returning from war. And what a terrific group of authors, ones whose names you're not likely to find together, in one place, anywhere else. There's something here for everyone: historical, contemporary, paranormal, sensual, sweet--name it, and you'll find it. Of course, everyone's tastes are different, so the individual stories will hold varying degrees of appeal for different people. But ALL of them are well-written, true to the theme, and worthy of being included in this terrific collection. I highly recommend THE JOURNEY HOME to any lover of true romance.