Where the Lion Dwells


Fiction - Womens
224 Pages
Reviewed on 08/07/2016
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Two-time Royal Palm Literary Award winner and multi-published author Robbi Perna started penning romantic fiction as a respite from her career as a military analyst specializing in strategic communications. Robbi grew up in a strong Italian-American family background in Colorado where she spent the first half of her life. She later relocated to northern Virginia where she built a successful career as a defense consultant. As the only girl, she gained unique insights on the Italian male psyche over the years. Her stories often reflect her heritage and the traits many Italian men and women exhibit, a facet of her stories that appeals to readers. In a recent review, one reader remarked, “I enjoyed how she developed the characters while introducing interesting information about Italy.”
Robbi brings a diverse perspective to her stories. Her degrees in the Art History of Augustan Rome and a professional background in business, strategic planning and communications, and military analysis provide a wealth of inspiration and bring her writing full circle.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

Where the Lion Dwells by Robbi Perna is a beautiful story of love, loss, and redemption. Joanna Sansone is still mourning her fiancé, Renzo Moretti. She’s finally coming home, hoping to live a quiet, peaceful life after her stint in Iraq as a political adviser. But the government still needs her, now in a different role. At the new English Language school in North Virginia, the son of a tribal sheikh becomes very ill. When the boy’s family decides to enlist the services of Mick Riliuni, Joanna’s life gets shaken again like never before: she is accused unfairly and caught between two men who remind her of everything she detests. The twist is what will catch readers off-guard. Will she find answers to the nagging questions that stir her thoughts? What about her passions? Can her heart open to love again or will she be haunted by the memory of a love stolen by death?

Robbi Perna’s is an exciting voice in women's fiction, a strong voice that will entice the hearts of many readers. I loved the opening of this story, action-packed, and featuring one of the dominant conflicts that will carry on throughout the book. The themes are universal, including love, loss, and grief. I loved the way the author integrates the political reality into this interesting story. The setting is beautiful and it becomes more beautiful with the picturesque descriptions and the clear prose. How can one not see in their mind’s eye the “green fields of crops stretched down to the banks of the Tigris River,” and images like “her tear-drenched eyes blind to the endless rows of marble headstones … scenes of the rubble and refuse that lined the single roadway running between the two arched gates into the Iraqi town of al-Tarmiyah.” Where the Lion Dwells is a great story, entertaining, and featuring compelling characters.