Title: Maroon: Donal agus Jimmy
Author: PD Singer
Publisher: Torquere Press
Pages: 73
Characters: Donal Gallagher, Jimmy Healy
POV: 3rd Person
Sub-Genre: Historical Romance
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
The best jobs in 1911 Belfast are in the shipyards, but Donal Gallagher’s pay packet at Harland and Wolff doesn’t stretch far enough. He needs to find someone to share his rented room; fellow ship-builder Jimmy Healy’s bright smile and need for lodgings inspire Donal to offer. But how will he sleep, lying scant feet away from Jimmy? It seems Jimmy’s a restless sleeper, too, lying so near to Donal…
In a volatile political climate, building marine boilers and armed insurrection are strangely connected. Jimmy faces an uneasy choice: flee to America or risk turning gunrunner for Home Rule activists. He thinks he’s found the perfect answer to keep himself and his Donal safe, but shoveling coal on a luxury liner is an invitation to fate.
Review:
I’ve loved everything I’ve read by PD Singer, but I’ve got to say that she has outdone herself with Maroon: Donal agus Jimmy, the story of two Northern Irishmen who helped craft the great ships that once sailed the oceans, connecting continents and carrying men, women, and children to America in pursuit of the dream.
This story is set against the backdrop of a country divided between the Protestants and the Catholics, between those whose desire it was to become independent of British rule and those who remained loyal to the crown. It is the story of two men who meet and fall in love, though that love was one that would always remain private, between only the two of them— To be discovered would be their ruin, but to be together, to dream of a future with each other, is worth the risk. When those dreams of the future include the possibility of journeying to America, Jimmy sets sail upon the unsinkable Titanic, where, on one ill-fated night, more than 1500 souls learned the whims of fortune care nothing for the dreams of mere mortals.
Maroon: Donal agus Jimmy is a story that draws you in quietly, setting the tone for a lovely romance between two charming men who seem destined to have met, who seem fated to be together. As it progresses, however, once PD Singer has lulled the reader into a sense of false security, she turns the tide and grabs you by the heartstrings, then propels you to the end in pitch perfect timing.
This is a story that packs a lot of emotion into its seventy-three pages, pages that melted away, word by word, as I fell for Donal and Jimmy.
Reviewed By: Lisa
