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MWSA Review
Always on My Mind by Bob Every tells the story of two souls crossing paths in the Navy, parting, and reuniting. I was hooked from the start. I rooted for Emmett MacDonald, enjoyed his best friend Cappy, and liked neighbor Bubba and his family.
Emmett joins a private yacht club so he can drink a beer on any given Sunday. A U.S. Navy veteran, he is best friends with another Navy vet, Cappy, the bartender in the club. Cappy lives on a boat docked behind the club — not really a boat — more of a floating house because there is no engine. The yacht club is Emmett’s favorite hangout. It’s also the favorite hangout of a tough guy called The King and his bodyguard Dom, both of whom are deeply involved with the Philadelphia mob.
Two battle-hardened vets colliding with two low-down dirty rats. What could go wrong?
Enter Janice Wilson, a retired Navy nurse who served with Emmett. She remembers their dates and how he treated her with kindness and love, yet he never said the words. When Emmett retired and returned to Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, Janice also retired and decided to hike the Appalachian Trail with her eye on one particular respite stop, Port Clinton.
Emmett buys a farm along the shores of the Susquehanna River and goes into business with Cappy as his partner. When Bubba and his family are threatened by the mob, the two vets go on the offensive.
Having made enemies of The King and Dom, Emmett and Cappy are always on alert for trouble.
The author crafts a kaleidoscope of action that made me turn each page. The characters lingered with me even after the final sentence—this is a story that stays with you long after the reading is done.
Review by Nancy Panko
Author's Synopsis
Emmett McDonald never planned to start a war. He just wanted a beer on a Sunday in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania.
Janice Wilson never planned a five-million-step quest through the wilderness—the Appalachian Trail. But it's not Mount Katahdin she's aiming for. It's Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, an insignificant town of under three hundred people.
Brace yourself—Emmett McDonald, a battle-hardened veteran of three wars, is now in a struggle a lot bigger than a closed bar on a Sunday. It's about who makes the rules - and who has the grit to stand up to them.
Can an irascible Irishman with street smarts, scars, and an inconvenient conscience take on the people who run everything? And what happens when Janice finally reaches Port Clinton?
Do you believe street smarts can win over organized power? Does the quest of Don Quixote of La Mancha inspire you? Am I a good enough writer to pull it off?
Clicking the sample bar suffices. The decision is yours.
Format(s) for review: Kindle & paper
Review genre: Fiction—Literary Fiction
Pages/Word count: 273 / 70,000