In trying to find books this month to showcase, in honor of Veterans Day,  I was thrilled to come across this series, “A Love From The Heartland” by Barbara Longley. This group of books is set in fictional Perfect, Indiana, a place that sounds quite perfect. These books appeal on so many levels. First off they are just well written fiction. The characters are so real and believable that long after you finish reading their stories, you might think to invite them to your next cookout just to catch up.

The interesting hook to this story is that the main characters are Veterans. These books, while all charming romances, are written with an acute understanding of the difficulties men and women in uniform, and the people who love them, face when they return to civilian life after war and trauma. PTSD is so often used in fiction as a plot device and it was refreshing to see it handled realistically in these stories as simply another brushstroke to fill in complex characters and story lines. As a brand new Indianan, it was also great to read a story set in my newly adopted home state. To have it conform so nicely to my own experiences of coming here and finding welcome and healing was a real thrill. In the interest of keeping the blog family oriented, I must point that the sex scenes can be explicit, but not in a graphic way.

Most if not all of these books are available on Kindle Unlimited and they make for a terrific read in a comfortable chair, with hot cup of tea on those increasingly chilly afternoons.