The Fabled Realms

Review of

Eternally Rose by Lou Mastantuono

Eternally Rose
Publisher:
Published: 2022-04-17
INWOOD, LONG ISLAND, NY 1944 – A man returns home from the war to marry his one true love, only to have her die in his arms at the altar. Sixty years later, the man’s son – having lived in the shadow of his father’s grief for half a century – digs up the past to solve the mystery of how the woman died. Based on a true story.

As a sucker for mysteries, I couldn’t resist cracking open Eternally Rose – especially with that pull-at-your-heartstrings premise of a bride perishing on her wedding day! This fateful tale of high school sweethearts Johnny and Rose kept me rapidly flipping pages, thirsty to unravel the 50-year-old mystery shrouding my star-crossed lovers.

Mastantuono does a fabulous job steeping us in 1940’s Inwood, with vivid nostalgia for bygone eras seeping from every paragraph. I adored following popular couple Johnny and Rose as their letters and stolen moments transported me back to their blissful courtship days.

But oh how my pulse pounded as their wedding day approaches under Fate’s ominous shadow! Once tragedy strikes and Rose dies unexpectedly, I simply couldn’t put the book down. I just had to know what happened!

The author sprinkles intrigue across decades as Rose’s death ripples through Johnny’s life and his son’s. The way Mastantuono slowly unravels the past filled me with yearning and kept me racing towards resolution.

And that ending! As vintage secrets come to light, the truth of Rose’s demise hit me straight in the feels. What a bittersweet, fulfilling way to tie the past to the present! Eternally Rose earns 4 out of 5 stars from this eager reader. Its era-spanning, true story romance filled my heart to the brim!


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PJ Flip

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