A True Love Story: A Second Chance at Love
by Michael Van Buren Latch
Trafford Publishing

book review by Annie Laura Smith

The reader follows Mike's quest to have Mary in his life for 113 pages after their initial relationship dissolves and subsequent marriages and tragedies occur for both of them. The author chronicles the true story of his second chance at love, across the three decades that it takes for it to happen. Mike meets Mary for the first time in her father's Sunflower grocery store in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1979 while he is a beginning his senior year at Ole Miss. It is love at first sight for both of them, and in his eyes she is "…the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life." He shows Mary's independent nature well when he gets a second chance after a failed "three sheets in the wind" encounter with her at Abby's Irish Rose. She accepts another invitation, but warns, "Don't screw it up this time Mike because there won't be another." He assures her that he won't because he cannot lose what he believes to be his soul mate. He introduces the collegiate life through his association with his peers at Ole Miss. After he graduates from college, he and Mary move in together, but their relationship does not last. As the thirty years pass, neither forgets about the other, and social media comes to their rescue when Mary uses Facebook to contact Mike.

The author's revelation of his personal experiences provides in-depth insight into their lives. The reader mourns with Mike's love lost, and then rejoices with him when it is found again. It is indeed a heartwarming story which shows human emotions well as love triumphs over tragedy.

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