MY ENEMY, MY LOVE

Author: Diane M. Wylie ISBN: 1593741634 3/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
Time Period: Civil War, 1863

It was November 1863 and Captain David Reynolds of the Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry was fully prepared to die. Someone had once told him that dying was quite painless. He didn’t believe it, though he secretly hoped it was true as he and his men prepared to ride into chaos and horror. The battle of Mine Run had begun. Jennifer Winston could hear the booming sounds of cannon fire miles away from her Virginia home. She knew that the war had begun two years ago, but had been insulated from it all by her father. Little did she know that her life was about to irrevocably change and she would be tested to the limits of her courage and endurance for a man—a man who was the enemy.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

For those of you who love historical romances set during the American Civil War, this is one you won’t want to miss. Captain David Reynolds, a cavalry officer with the Union Army, believes in fighting for freedom for all and fulfilling obligations. He is badly wounded when a Southern belle, named Jennifer Winston, finds him unconscious atop his horse. She secretly cares for him, saving his life, when he decides he must leave and return to the war. Well, things do not go as planned and he is captured by a small band of Confederate troops. Again, it is up to Jenny to save him.

Jenny and David are admittedly in love, but they are torn apart time and again by the war that is dividing their country. David believes in the cause that the North is fighting for, while Jenny feels loyalty to her Southern roots. Things go from bad to worse for David, when he must endure the horrors of an enemy prison camp and experience what it is like to lose all hope of ever being happy and safe again.

I really appreciate the accuracy which Diane Wylie writes with in this novel. War is an unpleasant reality that is sometimes glossed over. In MY ENEMY, MY LOVE, Wylie writes of the horrors experienced by men and women on both sides of this war. But she also writes of the love and hope and happiness that can be found during times when everything seems so hopeless. I could not stop reading because I had to find out what happened between Jenny and David. I was rewarded with a beautiful story of love and survival. I highly recommend this novel, for it is one that I believe you will truly enjoy.

Carrye Syma