Reviewer: Robyn Roberts
Title: The Sweetheart Tree
Author: Clover Autrey
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
ISBN: e-book format (Short Story)
Release Date: January 2008
Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal Romance
Year/Setting: Present day & Civil War era
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: Negligible
Clover's Website:
www.eaglekinseyrie.com
A beautifully written short story that takes you back in time and allows your imagination to take part in the Civil War.
Bree (Sabrina) is bored to tears by the tour guide’s endless monologue about the Taggart’s Mill museum in Virginia. While her sister Dee loves every word about every building in the area, Bree would rather be doing something else. After learning more about the Battle of Sunken Bridge, Bree decides to rest a while under the Sweetheart Tree. It’s a tree where lovebirds would carve their initials.
Looking at one carving at the base of the trunk, she notices the letter looks like it’s an arrow pointing to the ground. She digs up a beautiful piece of topaz wrapped in a cloth that says, "If you want it bad enough." Imagining the lovers who left it at the base of the tree, she drifts to sleep and awakens in the middle of the night, during the Civil War. What’s a modern girl to do?
While this is a short story, it flows well and doesn’t have the choppiness that is often found in these stories. I appreciated the way Clover Autrey wove the present and past together in the story without letting it become stilted or dull. When Bree wakes up in the midst of the War, it’s craziness. As she gets to know the soldiers, especially Caleb, she becomes less certain that she wants to return to the 21st century.
With a poignancy that will touch at your heart, Bree wrestles with staying in the ‘restoration period’ after the Civil War with a man who ends up being on the losing side or returning home and missing out on what could be her true love.
My heart ached with Bree as she tried to make the best decision for her life. I almost cried with her as she makes a final choice. From there on out, the story becomes a compelling must read and you won’t stop until you’ve read the very last word.
Robyn
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