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MILITARY
BOOKS
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Geri Krotow
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Geri Krotow, USN, was “born and
raised in Western New York, Geri enjoyed writing and dreaming about foreign travel from a young age. Her dream of travel was
realized when she was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Geri Krotow graduated with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Political Science and was commissioned as a Naval Intelligence Officer. After a squadron tour, which took
her to the North Pole, South America, and Europe, Geri attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California, and
earned a Master of Science Degree in Information Systems.
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After three Navy tours Geri Krotow
realized she wanted to pursue her other childhood dream: writing full-time. Geri Krotow is the author of A Rendezvous
To Remember and What Family Means.
According to the book description of
What Family Means, “To Debra Bradley, marriage is being with the man you've always loved--despite
the odds. Despite what other people think. And marriage is about family, about protecting your children from a sometimes hostile
world. To her husband, Will Bradley, family is about creating a safe haven. Where it doesn't matter that one of you is white,
the other black. Where it's never mattered. All these years later Will and Debra are still in love, still each other's best
friend. They've made a good life for themselves and their children. But their daughter, Angie--pregnant and estranged from
the husband she loves--has to discover for herself what family means.”
Harriet Klausner said of What
Family Means, “In Buffalo, New York, Will and Debra Bradley have been married for thirty-five years. However,
their interracial marriage has had some conflict lately over their role in the lives of their adult children. Will believes
Debra is too involved while she feels he is too removed as their offspring need them because it is not easy being mixed race.
Debra looks back to when they first
started to fall in love and what they went through even in Upstate New York. She also helps her daughter Angie cope with an
unexpected pregnancy at a time when her child is separated from her spouse and takes care of Will's elderly mother without
complaint. Will her husband finally understand his wife does what she does because she loves her extended family and is not
motivated by guilt.
This timely family drama is at its
best when it focuses on the problems of interracial couples and their children; when the tale flashes back to the early days
of the relationship between Will and Debra it loses some of the momentum though it does provide insight into race in America
in the 1970s. The characters and their problems seem real as Geri Krotow provides a timely thoughtful contemporary as the
offspring of a mixed couple enters the White House.”
One reader of What Family
Means said, “Even in this day and age, interracial marriage seems to be one of the last taboos of our
society, and it's one which most writers don't care (or dare) to tackle. But Geri Krotow has taken this subject into her capable
hands and lovingly created a story that is both true to life and deeply moving. I would definitely recommend this to anyone
who yearns for a graceful, realistic tale of a thoroughly modern romance. You won't be disappointed!”
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According to the book description of
A Rendezvous To Remember, “World War II to Present. "My dear Melinda, I hate to see you
throw away what may be the love of your life. Melinda Thompson knew that her grandmother had always adored Nick. But Grammy's
gone now and Melinda's on the verge of divorce. When she comes home to her widowed grandfather, Grandpa Jack hands her a leather-bound
journal and invites her to look into some family secrets. Grammy's voice rings out from the journal, begun when she was in
her twenties and living in Nazi-occupied Belgium. Breathlessly, Melinda reads the story of a young woman involved in the Resistance
and the British airman whose life she saved. The story of passionate love and a wartime promise. One that saw her grandparents,
Esme and Jack, through World War II. And a marriage of more than sixty years. With the example of her grandparents' lives,
Melinda looks for the courage to believe again. In the love of her life.”
Harriet Klausner said of A
Rendezvous To Remember, “Speechwriter Melinda Busher-Thompson visits her grieving grandfather Jack Busher
following the death of her beloved grandmother Esmee. She too mourns her loss, but she has issues of her own as her divorce
is coming soon. Grandpa Jack gives Melinda a package from his late wife.
The cover note tells her to reconsider
tossing away the love of her life. Inside is a journal from the 1940s in which her grandparents documented their activities.
They both worked for the Belgium Resistance during World War II when one mistake would leave your compatriots dead. As she
continues to read the harrowing experiences, Melinda realizes her grandparents shared courage that kept them together as much
as respect and love for one another. She also turns introspective as she wonders if she should give her marriage a second
chance as granny is right; she still loves her husband.
World War II and its aftermath in Belgium
comes alive through the diary of Esmee and Jack Busher, resistance fighters, who enable Melinda and the audience to understand
how much freedom lovers were willing to sacrifice. Thus Melinda begins to consider whether recently she never gave her marriage
a chance. Geri Krotow uses a historical backdrop to remind readers it takes work for any relationship to flourish.”
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