This is the third story about the Yellow Brick Road Gang, a group of five women who started as a book club and developed into more of a family for support and acceptance. Claire Hutchinson is the last member not in any kind of relationship when she learns that her movie-night buddy is getting married. Claire is happy for Tina but feels very lonely. Then she meets Michael and he seems like the perfect opportunity for some fun and romance without entanglement. But Michael isn’t what he seems, he claims to be from another dimension and that he is here to help Claire overcome her pain from the past. Claire has put her past abuse by her family behind her and moved on, or so she thinks. When her stepfather dies and leaves her money she must decide if she can deal with seeing the family that betrayed her over twenty years ago. Claire’s life becomes even more complicated when she discovers there is another child in the family who is probably experiencing what Claire went through. Can Claire just step back and allow another child to be hurt or can she risk getting involved? What about Michael, where does he fit in with all of this?

Old Friends by Constance O’Day-Flannery is an interesting book. I have not read the first two stories in this series and I didn’t need to for this book but I do wish I had read them. I have always liked everything I have read by Ms. O’Day-Flannery and this one lives up to my expectations. I was nervous about the subject of child abuse; I do not like to read about child abuse. The main character in this book, Claire, has experienced it in the past and does not go into graphic detail. The child in the story may be experiencing it during the story but it is not a main part of the story. The story is more about whether Claire will step up to stop it from ever happening again for the child and how an abused person can begin to get past the abuse. Then running parallel throughout the story is the unusual romance between Claire and Michael and they have a lot of dialogue about philosophy and the role of different religious beliefs. I did not agree with all the views presented in the story but I was still able to enjoy the book. I also really enjoyed the dynamics between the five friends and think I would have enjoyed knowing more about them, information that I could have gotten from the earlier books.

Reviewed by: Stephanie B.