I read this first chapter and I really liked it- it's different and refreshing. I don't see a lot of stories written in this style. (Correct spelling and grammar, more mature language and vocabulary, etc)... I'd definitely like to see that Friends story and see if I can help out.

This was a very emotionally evocative story, with a beautifully-paced plot. Yet another that played itself out in living colour in my imagination. Some exquisite moments that need mentioning...

Jeff singing "Imagine" to his sister... a superb way of tying together Al's war experience and Sam's! Lovely!

Al's reaction when he hears the lies that the Harringtons have told about him and Trudy was stunningly realistic and heartbreaking.

The dream Al has of Jeff's final moments sucessfully communicates the profound horror of the situation. I was particularly moved by the cries for the dead soldier's name, as well as by the description of Jeff's face as "a mirror that could project the past and the future at the same time".

You gave me goosebumps this time! What a wonderfully crafted narrative!

I was going to review this all in one sitting, but there was something in this chapter that didn't fit with the rest of what I had to say.

The argument between Allegra and her parents about the party? Hilarious and uncannily realistic!

Nicole,
No wonder you won an award for this one! (As you should for all your stories) I want to say so many things but I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't read your wonderful work yet.
I can say this, your stories are always original, well thought out and very thought provoking.
And you seem to be inspiring as well since I have read stories by others who seem to be trying to duplicate your style.
All I can say to them is...'Learn from the way Nicole writes, but don't try to copy her unique style. She is the only one who can do what she does the way she does it'...
Nicole, you are in a league of your own.
BRAVA, BRAVA!

No, that is mean! What did Sam say to Jeff? You really pulled me into this story. Thanks!

Great story! I was enjoying it so much, I didn't even notice until the 3rd chapter that it was one of your stories! No wonder I enjoyed it so much! I was afraid something like that would happen to Al when ge drove off upset, but I'm glad that he's okay. Kepp on writing, I love your stories!

Great story, very well written and good characterization. My only criticism (this is the history teacher in me) is a couple a factual errors:
1. Annapolis, like West Point, provides a free college education in exchange for six years of military service.
2. The QL writers were guilty of this, too: It’s not historically accurate to have Al held in one of the so-called jungle camps. Virtually all pilots/officers who were POWs during Vietnam were held in Hanoi and the surrounding area .The so-called “jungle camps” that the Viet Cong ran were used to hold enlisted men captured in the south.
But those are just nitpiks. Great story.

Full of emotion, realistic to the hilt, eminently powerful. This is a marvelous story!!

This was really great. I think it would have been a little easier to read if you had split it into several chapters...minor quibble though. :) Nice work! You captured Al's angst beautifully and provided some really good backstory for him. Hope you'll be writing more QL!

This is a very powerful story.

Well written, and moving.

Its hard to understand that anyone could be so evil as Daniel, or as weak-willed as Renee, and yet even in his 'absence', you've made it a believable scenario.

Well done.