Title: Soul Journeys 1: Summer of Love
Author: AJ Wilde
Published in April 2007 by Torquere Press
Genre: Erotic Romance/Gaylit
ISBN: 1-60370-005-6
Related Books: Soul Journeys 2: Auf Wiedersehen, Mon Amour
There are times in our lives when some things just have to be said, times when doctors have to just say, "I don't know." This is the position Officer Rick Rathburn finds himself in when he is sidelined by a bullet and an unexplained ache deep inside that won't go away. On the whole, his life has been normal, and until this incident, and his difficulty healing, he had no clue as to what alternative healing, naturopathic and homeopathic medicine encompassed. New Age hocus pocus was his thought until he met up with Doctor Angela Martell, a psychiatrist who said she might be able to really help him. Thus begins a long and strange journey, one so erotically charged, and filled with such emotion he doesn't know which way to turn. Past life intrudes into his every day world, and Rick meets Johnny, the man of his dreams, the love of his life, and is helpless as their lives diverge. Cold reality seeps in, and Rick makes some very uncomfortable discoveries about himself, and about Johnny...
Johnny Ross, child prodigy, chemist extraordinaire, ex-special ops and black ops operative lives a life of pain and sorrow. He has been used and abused by the military and the government for a variety of secret projects. Biochemical warfare, toxins, psychedelics, and other substances found their way into the military's hands due to his experiments and his naiveté. Oh there were signs and signals, but Johnny thought he was being patriotic, and when the damn bursts, he is not ready to accept the horrors he faces. "Tune in. Turn on. Drop out." The prevailing theme of the anti-war protests, and the hippy lifestyle suits him until he meets up with Richard Webster, SFPD, ex-military, take one for the country hero who feels like the world just dumped on him. He is not prepared for the feelings this man engenders in him, his life suddenly totally messed up by the single incident during a peace protest. Haight-Ashbury protests often became unruly, and yet Johnny wasn't totally prepared for the violence done to him on that day. The fact he owed his life to Rick had nothing to do with the eventualities, and taking him home was pure impulse...
Summer of Love: Soul Journeys 1 is a poignant journey of the heart, of the mind, and of the soul to find its true love. Little did Rick and Johnny know what would await them, nor did Rick Rathburn ever believe he lived before. What floored him most of all was the experience itself, and the trip is one filled with soul-wrenching consequences. For Rick discovers something deep inside, a place hidden and there he recognizes someone else. The one person who can make him whole might be at his side on the force, one Jason Kovacs, his best friend, his partner, and his soul mate. This is a Soul Journey, that is only partly true, because it is also one of the heart, and its deepest yearnings for contact with another, for love, for life, and for a meaningful existence. AJ Wilde is a master at taking us through the therapy sessions Rick goes to, and through which he lives his summer of love. This well written story is a short and succinct read, give us a glimpse into the past lives of Rick and Jason, but still tantalizes us with what could be in the future. There are questions to be asked and answered, and one of the big ones is does Jason remember, and is he truly the one? Summer of Love: Soul Journeys 1 is a must read for those of you who appreciate a good story, for those of you Dear Readers, who can accept the love of human to human, who can respect love in all its forms, and who will not judge the characters or the writer who so imaginatively brings the story to live in your heart and your mind. Available now from Torquere Press, Summer of Love: Soul Journeys 1 leaves you with the promise of love to come, and gives us all a lot to think about. This is a book I truly hope to see a sequel.
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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