Review: Quick, Emotional and Earthy Military Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2014
This is a quick, emotional and earthy romance featuring struggles of a military couple during deployment separation. Rating 4.25.This is a very real, emotional glimpse of a career army romance with its fears, loneliness, misunderstandings and commitment. Nicole and Vic have been married for five years but still struggle with the commitment from each other to see them through the tests of absence during war deployment.Vic prides himself on helping to boost the morale of his buddies, and his wife, through humor. His superiors don’t always appreciate his sardonic and sometimes irreverent attitude which brings him close to major trouble. Those who know him well know that this is his coping mechanism and they tolerate it. On this deployment Vic has the conflict of wanting to keep his promise to Nicole to be home for Christmas but also wanting to stay with his platoon as they adjust to a new leader after their Sargent, a friend of both Nicole and Vic, is injured.The story shows some of the real downsides of being separated for long months and how one couple copes. Nicole wants to know what is happening with Vic but doesn’t want him stressed by her possibly worrying. Vic doesn’t want to share the dangers and horrors he goes through, even injuries to friends, so Nicole might not have to dwell on that information and worry more. It seems like a cycle of less than full disclosure and trust to me. It may be naive from my view but I think it takes a strong woman to remain a career army wife and part of that includes knowing what is going on and being able to cope in spite of the dangers. I think this story shows a bit of that message but also shows that it takes each couple finding the best way they can to handle the stress and losses — together.This is fast paced but is emotional and therefore not necessarily an easy read. The love and sexual aspect is pretty intense and earthy so it may not be comfortable for everyone. The writing is crisp and the characters are well defined, even for a novella. There are supporting characters that appear to have stories destined for their situations too. I’m not sure I would want to read a lot of this type of story but I am glad I read this one and can recommend this story, and the author, to those readers who like emotional trauma with their romances.[I received this title through NetGalley for review.]