Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Dear Ms Cummings,

Thank you for finding and taking the time to edit and publish what might have remained a little read glimpse into the daily life of David Day. Day, though a middle aged man at the time and also one having a wife and four children to support, didn’t hesitate to answer his country’s call to arms. Enlisting for a three year term of service, he saw action in now little heralded encounters along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia. His diary shows him as a hardworking man who never shirked his military duty yet also a man of intellect and education who possessed a dry sense of humor much appreciated by the men with whom he fought. His thoughts on citizenship and a man’s duty to try and preserve the union for which our forefathers had fought so hard were forthright and strongly stated without turning into a sermon.

His daily accounts of the differences between North and South were delightful to read and truly showed how distant the regions of the country were before the age of mass communication. As a resident of North Carolina, I found it amusing that …

Dear Mrs. Cummings,

I read your novel “My Rebel Belle” (TBH, I still cringe at that title) and quickly bought the rest of your published books. I had a feeling that “An Affair of Honor” might tie in with it and indeed it does, telling the story of the US Civil War from the Northern perspective. Since most books which use this setting take place in the South, I was curious to see if this Southern girl would enjoy this book as much as your first.

Colonel Raleigh Gilmore has no idea why he’s been summoned to meet with CSA President Jefferson Davis in early 1864. When he learns the reason, he’s stunned. Davis wants him to travel to Boston, MA and instigate something which will bring England into the War on the side of the Confederacy. The tides of the war are turning and without outside help, the chances of a Southern victory grow dimmer by the day. With only the names of two operatives already in the city and a fierce sense of honor to complete the duty to which he’s been assigned, Raleigh heads via gunrunner from Bermuda to NYC to Boston.

Lydia Appleton …

Dear Mrs. Cummings,

I had read a recommendation for your US Civil War novel, My Rebel Belle, but to be honest I was put off by the price being charged by Amber Quill Press ($7.00) combined with the paltry excerpt available at their site. I realize that neither of these issues are your fault but if I’m going to plunk down money with no chance of a refund, I want a better idea of what I’m getting. But after hemming and hawing for months, I finally said to myself, WTF. Life’s short and we all gotta take some risks. I’m hear to say I’m glad I took the chance.

Your bio states that you have an advanced degree in history and I really think this shows in your attention to detail throughout the story. I especially enjoyed the balanced way you portrayed both sides of the conflict and how Mara and her family and Lee learned that neither was the horrible or oppressive monster thought by the other while they nursed him back to health after he was shot out of the saddle in a skirmish …