Review: Love conquers all
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 21, 2013
This is what I was doing through the first couple chapters of this story.  The way Heather Long wrote the emotions that Eli and Rick were felt.  The hurt, the pain, the longing, the emotional turmoil that Eli and Rick experienced during their year long separation was felt while reading this story.  When I am crying while reading, the author did their job portraying emotions that the characters were feeling.  It seems lately, Heather has been making me cry more and more.I really don't know what to write about this Always a Marine story other than I loved it.  Eli and Rick are not the "usual" Marines that we have seen Ms. Long write because Eli and Rick were already a couple that just experienced a year long separation after a nasty argument about going public now that DADT was repealed.  Rick wanted to and pushed Eli, who didn't want to come out.  We find out why though and it broke my heart.Besides Rick and Eli, Eli's mother is the one character that stood out for me.  She knew about Eli being gay but let Eli live the way he chose without interfering, until she recognized how sad he was at a family dinner.  I love that she pulled him away so that they could talk privately and I really loved how she called him out on him being gay.  I don't think Eli knew how to react to that one.  Me, I laughed at his silence.  Leave it to a mother to tell it like it is.I loved seeing how Rick and Eli were able to still be themselves but also willing to compromise so that they can be together.  Maybe that old saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is really true.  It took a year for Eli to realize what he didn't want to lose but it also helped Rick realize what he wanted to, Eli.