Wounded Heroes: Anthology

Five enticing stories that will tug at your heart and leave you with all the feels. This review is for “Fallen” by Nia Farrell. Father Vincent has PTSD from his time in Iraq and one year of service left. He’s getting better, but he knows he’s in no shape to serve in that capacity again. He and his therapist Ilsa develop feelings and a connection. I liked that both Vincent and Ilsa thought things through prior, rather than acting on blind passions. Ilsa was a bit sneaky getting the answers she needed, but I liked her plan of action, and I look forward to seeing how things play out. Both main characters were thoughtful and caring people I enjoyed reading about and want more of.

These 5 short stories from 5 different authors were well written and had well created characters that kept me totally engaged throughout each book in this fantastic anthology!

The first book is about Confederate nurse, Rosa falling for Union soldier, Russell in the infirmary of a Confederate prisoner of war camp. After being treated and released into the pens from his initial injury, Russell keeps returning to the infirmary with new injuries and some times fabricated illnesses in order to obtain herbal medicines which he then gives to the Negro prisoners. After one particularly vicious beating, Rosa loses it and confesses her love for Russell and he in turn confesses his feelings for her, but can their love survive not only until the end of the war, but far in to the future.

The next book is about police officer, Len Yardley who falls for Leann who is a former stalking victim that has finished college and is fixing to work at one of the local banks. Leann has a soft heart, a cat she adores, a stupid ex-boyfriend, a new apartment and a new job. Len is recovering from a gunshot wound and is totally captivated by Leann’s innocence. Shortly after she begins working at the bank, it is robbed at gunpoint. Leann is hiding in her office and calls Len to notify him of what is happening. Upon arrival on the scene, Len discovers that Leann is taken hostage. Can they make a relationship work thru all their adversities?

The next books begins with two FBI agents and lovers taking part in an ambush that kills most of their team and she gets shot saving him which results in him leaving the Bureau and her behind. Fast forward two years, he (Tommy) is now an Organized Crime detective and she (Jess) is still with the FBI, but is now missing. Tommy is tasked with helping to find her and rescue her. Tommy learns that she was being held prisoner by the sex trafficker that his unit just brought down, but that she was moved shortly before they got there. Can Tommy find and rescue Jess? Can they find out who sold them out two years ago and sold her out this time? Can they rekindle their relationship and make it work this time?

In book four, two years have passed and military widow, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Matthews is still trying to find out the circumstances of her husband Robert’s death and the disappearance of his best friend Thomas “Tank” O’Leary. On the 2nd anniversary of Robert’s death, Lizzie remembers that he had a hidey hole built into their laundry shoot. Inside the hole, Lizzie finds a box containing photos, books from his childhood and a small bible that he had found at an antique store. Inside the bible, she discovers a note telling her that she needs to give the bible to Tank and that he will help her. This upsets Lizzie because she has yet to hear anything from Tank, so she decides to rebury everything between two rose bushes in her backyard. A few days later while her daycare is in session Tank shows up at her house and tries to talk to her. It isn’t until she hears that Tank was being held in a foreign prison with a bashed in skull and a mutilated leg that she lets him back into her life. Together they must find Robert’s cipher and key and hopefully find the answers they are both looking for. Perhaps they will also find their way to true love.

The last book was my favorite by far and if you like the Thorn Birds you will understand why. This story is about Father Vincent Delaney a former noncombatant prisoner of war. He was held by ISIS for weeks and now suffers from PTSD and claustrophobia. Father Delaney is now also struggling with his lustful thoughts involving the therapist he is seeing to treat his PTSD. To try and clear up his confliction, Father Delaney seeks counsel from a fellow Father by visiting that Father’s confessional and asking for penance. After performing his assigned penance, Father Delaney decides to see if he is ready to step back into the confessional so that he might here confessions at his own parish without giving into his claustrophobia. While he is on the priest’s side, someone enters on the parishioner’s side, he decides to pretend that he is sleeping, but he falls into a memory of his time in captivity and is pulled back upon hearing Ilsa’s voice on the other side of the confessional which awakens his desire for her. The events that happen next in the story are some of the hottest and most captivating that I have read. I look forward to reading more of the story in the future.

Thanks to Authorsxp I was able to read a complimentary copy of this anthology and I am voluntarily leaving this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own and freely given.