Calendar Boys November: Over Here

Title: Calendar Boys November: Over Here
Author: Jamie Craig
Publisher: http://wsww.amberquill.com/AmberAllure
Genre: Nostalgic Contemporary GLBT (M/M)
Length: Novella (22 K words)
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

Harvey Kramer shipped home from the European front with a damaged leg and memories of a man he couldn’t have. Ten years later, on the first official Veterans Day holiday, that man knocks on Harvey’s door and turns his world upside down.

Zach Jones never forgot Sergeant Harvey Kramer. Though he made it through the Second World War uninjured, he bears the scars of a love he thought he lost forever. Using the new holiday as an excuse, he tracks down his old friend in hope of a sweet reunion.

THE REVIEW

It was Veterans Day in the Ohio River Valley and the year was 1954. Harvey had the day off work and had no idea what to do with himself because he had no family and few friends. His leg had been injured in World War II and he had been shipped home in 1944; since then he had lived and worked in his hometown. Then someone whom he thought he had lost forever came back into his life, his best friend and Army buddy Zach who had been trying to find him for 10 years. When Harvey saw Zach it was as if the past and the present were rolled into one.

Zach had always loved Harvey and over the years he had tried to find him and renew their past relationship. When Harvey was injured in the War and shipped home Zach had lost touch with him and had no idea if he was dead or alive. Harvey had written Zach while in hospital but when he didn’t hear back from him he didn’t pursue it any further because he feared that no one would want him in his present condition.

As they renewed their friendship both men realized that their old feelings since boot camp were still there. Very quickly they moved from reminiscing to loving, and Harvey whose life in Ohio was very lonely, felt wanted and needed again. But Zach wanted much more from him and when he told Harvey what was in his heart Harvey didn’t feel he could give him his heart’s desire.

Calendar Boys November: Over Here was a really warm and wonderful story about two Army buddies who still carried a torch for each other at a time when gay relationships were forbidden and could only be conducted in secret. Harvey and Zach wanted the same thing – each other, but they could not live openly as a couple and they had to make some very difficult decisions about what was most important in life.

Both protagonists were lovingly drawn and the secondary characters in the story were real and three dimensional as well. Jamie Craig always write such terrific characters that I have yet to be disappointed. The story is warm and tender, just like the characters and I really hated for it to end. This is an excellent book which reminds us how far we have come in terms of men loving each other and living together openly as couples. I loved Calendar Boys November: Over Here and I would definitely recommend it to readers of the genre, whether or not you are fans of the authors.