On Barbara Vey's Blog

I am walking on the moon.

Right now when you open www.publishersweekly.com/beyondherbook , it pops up with a huge and gorgeous bookcover for To Love a Hero.

Saturday Blurb Special Beyond her Book Blog on Publishers Weekly

Barbara Vey
Saturday Blurb Special June 28, 2008
It's so exciting to be able to have another edition of Saturday blurbs. Our faithful readers have given up all other pursuits of happiness just to read and write about the exciting books waiting for you. So here they are:

To Love a Hero by Mona Risk (E-Book)

Read by Joysann

Over two decades after the Chernobyl disaster, American chemist Dr. Cecile Lornier travels to Belarus to undertake the task of renovating the sadly outdated laboratory needed to expedite cleaning the land of suspected deadly carcinogens. This task is the dream of Major General Sergei Fedorin, and working in close contact with Cecile, it seems they will make it a reality. Less likely is realizing their own passionate relationship. Between their strong personalities and the differences in cultures, they each decide that personal happiness needs to be discounted so as to not endanger the welfare of the people of Belarus.

I have no doubt that Mona Risk was there, for the descriptions of the people and places in Belarus are clear and convincing. The sense of the unfamiliar makes the story exotic, and a subtle tension was maintained with the trace of fear for an unknown culture and its politics. I found myself googling Belarus for some of its history, and that means I enjoyed the story a lot.