Review: A absolutely beautiful military tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2013
cover35015-small Link to book: AmazonBook Description: There's nothing in the world Army Sergeant Vic Carponti loves more than his wife and his country. Smart-mouthed and easy tempered, he takes everything as a joke . . . except his promise to come home to his wife, Nicole, for Christmas. As he prepares to leave for his latest deployment into Iraq, Vic will do everything he can to shield his beautiful, supportive wife from the realities of war . . . and from his own darkest fears.As a career army wife, Nicole Carponti knows just what to expect from her husband's tour of duty: loneliness, relentless worry, and a seemingly endless countdown until the moment Vic walks through the door again. But when the unthinkable happens, Nicole and Vic's bond is tested like never before and changes everything they believe to be true about the power of love and the simple beauty of being home for the holidays.** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review**Review: 4 starsGeneral: Jessica Scott has written a wonderful holiday tale that any one who has ever had a loved one in the military will find beautiful, heartbreaking and full of painful honesty.Please note this is a novella inside of a larger series. Overall, I did not feel lost at all not having realized this was inside a larger series. There were a few moments where I realized I wasn't getting the full story but overall it did not make a difference. Also, the cover is so beautiful I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that.There were so many moments in this novel that left me breathless for Vic. My husband is military and deploys, of a different, less dangerous nature. But I could so easily feel what was occurring throughout the book for the men and the women left behind of course. Jessica used her own knowledge from her career perfectly. This novella certainly did the armed services proud and was an amazing snippet of life of what occurs and was truly entertaining because the romance element was a mere peek here and there leaving you focused on the sacrifices and terrors of the war.I am unsure if this was due to being a novella in a series or not but my only grievance is Nicole. She felt very not present and it shattered some of the moments for me. The end of the novel felt a little distant for me because she had many narration scenes and while it was still beautiful, I wasn't as involved as when the other scenes were occurring.Characters: Nicole- As i just stated Nicole didn't do anything for me. I am not sure if it was because this was within a series or not. She had some very beautiful moments both at home and the very end. But overall she didn't seem to have a personality to me - which was fine for many parts because my focus was on the soldiers but at the end it was hard for me to connect with the remainder of the story because she felt so blank.Vic - Vic is on of the most amusing hero's I've run across recently. He is so full of spunk and snark it was hard not to fall immediately in love with him. His inner turmoils and his dedication to his men, to his wife were breathtaking and I wish this could have been a full novel to see more of him.