Author: Steven Manchester

Reviewed Prior to Publication (ARC Copy)

The following review was contributed by:  Jennifer Murray.

Steven Manchester’s book Pressed Pennies is an intertwining of four distinct types of romantic relationships. The rekindling of a first love, a relationship that is more about the comfort in the knowing than the actual enjoyment of each other, the later in life surprise relationship, and the enduring love from losing one too early.  

Manchester sets up how the rekindled romance first evolved by introducing us to Abby and Rick during their last summer together when they were children. Manchester had me as a reader almost feeling the warm summer nights, as well as the deep in your gut thrill as you whoosh down the street on your bike. I could almost hear the sounds of that last magical day Abby and Rick had together and empathizing with their pain of having to say good-bye to one another. With this rekindled first love, we see the randomness of their reunion and how they deal with those rekindled feelings toward one another in relation to the emotional scars of failed marriages and the uncertainty of single parenthood.

I feel that he captured very eloquently the dance that those types of relationships entail. Even though you have this history with this person, there are still chunks of time that you do not have with this person. So there’s that strangeness of knowing yet not knowing as well as having to always be aware of children that could be and are involved as well. Yet with this segment of the story, I did not feel that that Page, Abby’s daughter, was given as much “life” as she could. Manchester put her through so many changes in a short period of time yet I never truly felt what she was going through. I would have liked to have gotten into her head more to really view her anger at her mom, her resentment towards Rick for being a third wheel, a well as her disappointment in her dad.  

In Manchester’s comfort relationship, we get to experience the thrill of the chase and conquest along with Grant. The newness of each dance becomes addictive in its own right and I could never see why Grant got married to Carmen in the first place. I would have like to see more of their story – what it was about her that got Grant past the thrill of the chase to even consider a lifetime commitment in the first place.

Personally, I would have to say the surprise relationship is the one that I truly enjoyed the most. Where you have become so comfortable within your skin and are enjoying life’s journey for where it leads, that’s usually when this least expected person shows up. I feel that the randomness of it all was detailed so eloquently with Eunice and Bill’s first trip to the ice cream parlor. 

The two sides of the same coin in the rekindled and surprise relationship I felt were handled extremely well and I also appreciate the direct connection that Manchester gave to the two relationships and the examples and hopes they both provided to each one. The lost love of Rick’s parents also provided an example of how love can endure in all its various guises.

Overall I enjoyed the story, I just felt that some of the characters could have been more rounded and I did find myself slightly confused at times as to which character was thinking or talking and I felt that a few of the transitions from a character being to them reading an email or poem were a little rough, but a lot of that could be handled with visual text cues in the published version.