Fireworks Over Toccoa - A Review

Fireworks Over Toccoa - Jeffrey Stepakoff (Shelf Awareness/Publisher)

Product Details (B&N)

• Pub. Date: March 30, 2010
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover, 272pp

• ISBN-13: 9780312581589
• ISBN: 0312581580

Synopsis (from book)

Lily was married for just days before her husband was sent abroad to fight in WWII. Now he, and the other soldiers are returning, and the small town of Toccoa, Georgia plans a big celebration. But a handsome and kind Italian Immigrant, responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned captures Lily's heart and soul. Torn between duty to society and her husband, and a poor, passionate man who might be her only true love--Lily must choose between a love she never knew and a commitment she'd already made.

My Thoughts:

I picked this book up thinking I would find a sweet love story, I wasn't let down. It was that and so much more.

The story begins with Lily's granddaughter coming to her house to get her wedding dress. A dress Lily isn't sure Colleen's ready for. Lily's sees something the paper that leads them to the local museum and we find ourselves dropped into an amazing story of Lily's youth one summer while waiting for her husband, whom she was only married too for two weeks before he left, to return from WWII.

She meets Jake, a pyrotechnics's man who was setting up the fireworks for the annual firework's display, and the attraction is immediate.

I could feel the intensity of the passion, the need to be together, the uncertainty of what they were doing.

Jeffrey really brought to life the characters and the town of Toccoa. Lily's secret cabin where she did her art, her big white house with the wrap around porch. the field where the fireworks were buried. All of it I could easily envision as I turned the pages.

Grab a box of tissues folks, this one will bring tears to your eyes.