Reviews (XVIII)

Terri Talley Venters's review Posted on Goodreads and rated 5 of 5 stars 
This review is from: Shadows of the Past (Kindle Edition)

Read from September 22 to 24, 2013

In the prologue of Shadows of the Past, we meet the young, medieval nun named Genevieve who lives in an Abbey in rural England. The remote Abbey is only accessible via the cursed forest. We also meet a young visiting priest named Andrew and catch a glimpse of their dire circumstances. 


In a parallel love story, we fast forward to modern day England and meet Anne and Neil. They’re attempting to rekindle their love affair after suffering a brutal, two-year hiatus. After getting lost in the woods, actually the cursed forest, they battle the elements, starvation, and ghosts of the past.

Carmen takes us on a journey of the young nun, Genevieve. Starting from her childhood, we follow Genevieve’s path to the Abbey. We experience her hardships in her childhood, and then again at the Abbey where the corrupt convent leader, is out to get her with her abusive power and evil worships.

In the modern day setting, we follow Anne and Neil’s journey through the cursed forest. Led by ghosts haunting Anne’s dreams, she discovers an old skeleton wearing a bejeweled cross. Anne senses the skeleton and the tormented ghost are one in the same. The modern day and medieval stories weave together to rekindle love and triumph over evil.

Carmen’s fantastic writing paints vivid pictures, transporting you to the medieval Abbey and the cursed forest. I felt like I was right there with the wonderful characters she created.

I loved reading two stories at once. The modern day characters, Anne and Neil, and the star-crossed lovers of the past, Genevieve and Andrew. I couldn’t put this book down because I needed to know how the two stories truly connect over five-hundred years later.

I loved her creativity with the wood anemone, bejeweled cross, and past lives. I highly recommend this fast-paced, page turning tale and can’t wait to read more of Carmen’s stories.
Buy links
 Wildchildpublishing
Amazon

Reviews (III)

December 9, 2012 - by Paulette Mahurin (http://thepersecutionofmildreddunlap.wordpress.com/blog/)

Excellent Story Telling

Carmen Stefanescu’s Shadows of the Past was a great read that I enjoyed from the first page through the last sentence, that I was sorry to see end; I tried to savor this one, make it last, that’s how entertaining a read it is. The author writes a tightly worded, intelligent, story, a story within a story, then and now, from a past that needed resolution in a modern day couple.

The dreams and visions the protagonist, Anne, experienced set the stage for the unfolding of a story, brilliantly told, moving through her as a past life apparition, Genevieve. The character development of Anne and her partner Neil, and other story counterparts is really well done, but the star of he story is the tragic Genevieve, as if taken from the pages of Shakespeare, one can not imagine less unfortunate issues to befall a human being, and in counterpoint is the lusciously evil antagonist the Abbess, who you read page after page hoping she gets hers.

The pages invite the reader in with a wanting to know what is going to happen to Anne, to Genevieve, and page after page as the tension builds the reader is not disappointed. This is an excellently crafted work, by an author who clearly knows how to write, who understands literature, and knows how to tell a compellingly great story. I loved this one.  (original post)