Review: MORE THAN JUST A ROMANCE!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2011
A friend recommended BECAUSE OF YOU to me, I put it on my TBR and hadn't gotten to it yet.  We met for lunch a couple of days ago and she told me I really need to read it.  I bought it last night and could not put it down.  I had to brew a pot of coffee at 10:00 PM, so I could stay up to finish it.BECAUSE OF YOU is an emotional journey with ups, downs and humor.  I went into this thinking it was a romance about a soldier and a woman, but it's so much more.  It's about a breast cancer survivor learning to feel like a WHOLE woman again and realizing she is worthy of a relationship, about a soldier feeling like he let his troops down,  it's about the sacrifices soldiers and their families make, it's about the brotherhood that develops among Soldiers, about the poor living conditions our wounded Heroes can find themselves in, the cuts the government makes that negatively affects the VERY PEOPLE PROTECTING our rights, about PTSD, the strain deployment puts on the soldiers, their relationships and the women who are left home for months at a time taking care of the children and wondering if they will ever see their loved one again.There are so many touching scenes in this book.  The night before and the morning of the deployment, feeling the fear and tears of watching your husband get on a bus and heading off to war, had me crying, I felt like I was there with them.  Being at the hospital waiting to find out who the wounded Soldiers coming in were, then  the pain, fear and tears of healing and recuperating.Shane and Jen are wonderful H/h, I was so happy with the way their story ended.  I absolutely LOVE Nicole and Carponti (such a lovable smartass).  And I cannot wait to see what happens with Trent and Laura!One of my favorite LOL moments:Shane's friend stepped right up, instantly recognizing her. "Hey, aren't you Laura Davila's friend from last night? I'll have your child if you let me skip the smallpox va," Carponti beggged. "I will make Shane send you pictures of his--"Suddenly Shane's palm struck him on the back of the head and Carponti's freckled face went from grinning to groaning. Carponti stumbled forward and nearly collided with Jen before he caught himself.Shane covered his mouth and coughed, and she couldn't tell if he was laughing or horrified. "Sorry about Carponti, ma'am. We don't let him out to play often."I read BECAUSE OF YOU on 12/30/11, just in time to make it on MY FAVORITE BOOKS of 2011 list!!!If you like the T.V. show ARMY WIVES you will REALLY love BECAUSE OF YOU!!