OLD FRIENDS

Author: Constance O'Day-Flannery ISBN: 0765354055 12/2007 PARANORMAL Publisher: TOR

The Yellow Brick Road Gang, otherwise known as Metaphysical Misadventures in the Search for Enlightenment, is a circle of women who came together as a book club. Together they began a spiritual search – one that, after eight years, has led each woman to realize that she’s come full circle. After all the mumbo jumbo of philosophy and self help... they have become women without rules. In the final installment of O’Day-Flannery’s uplifting and spiritual paranormal romance trilogy, it is finally Claire's turn to find love. Her closest friends have found new promise in life through love, and while Claire is happy for them, she cannot help but feel left out. A fling under a shower of meteors may not be love, but could be exactly what she needs to shake off the doldrums. But when secrets from Claire’s past return to destroy her, her sexy, nerdy fling shows he's not quite what he seems. Is Claire the next of the Yellow Brick Road Gang to find love in an unexpected place?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

OLD FRIENDS is the final book in Constance O'Day-Flannery's trilogy about a group of women who call themselves The Yellow Brick Road Gang. I did not read the other two books, but it wasn't at all necessary to have read them to fall right into the third. Even without the background in the first books, OLD FRIENDS pulled me in so completely I felt like the newest member to the Gang. I can promise you, though, that I will pick up books one and two. Book three was good enough to convince me that I don't want to miss the others!

Claire is the focus of this story, the woman in the gang who hasn't had love in her life for years. While she's thrilled for her friends having found their paths to happiness and romance, she can't help but feel left out somehow. Saturday nights for Claire run toward DVD rentals and Italian take-out. She knows there must be more. When she meets an unusual, geeky kind of guy at the video store, things begin to change for her. Unresolved issues from her past come barreling into her present, with Michael beside her every step of the way to help her adjust, accept and move forward.

I loved OLD FRIENDS. Constance O'Day-Flannery has a writing voice that is both quirky and soothing. Her storytelling is an emotionally gripping encounter that leaves the reader fully involved in the lives of her characters. I will definitely look for more from this author.

Kay James