Review: Touching and emotional
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2014
This is one of those books that defies the old adage “you can’t go home again.” In Her Summer with the Marine, we see two high school rivals returning home for different reasons both after being chased out of town by demons they’d dealt with for a good part of their lives. Now facing off for business in this small town, these two must deal with their teenage actions that left one feeling used and the other comforted; one parent in a health crisis and the other trying to regain her life, and the undeniable chemistry they have for one another in what seems an impossible situation. This book is not a light and fluffy romance, it deals with some real issues and while the hero and heroine do manage to find their way to one another it’s not without a lot of stumbling along the way.My heart is breaking for Ellie McDermott, the heroine, as she returns home to find that her father has been battling Alzheimer’s on his own for no telling how long. Forced to place him in a care facility and run his mortuary business because he’s asked her to and he wants her close, she finds herself back in the town where she never quite got over her mother’s betrayal and the gossip that followed her death. On top of that the boy turned man she’s competed against from elementary school through high school is also back after a stint in the Marines and has opened up his own mortuary business that is direct competition for her father’s business. After taking her virginity all those years ago he’s now out to ruin her father’s business and while she can’t let that happen she also can’t deny the attraction she feels for him.Finn Donovan feels like his life is finally on track. He’s back home, he’s opened a business that while isn’t booming is beginning to make a name for itself, and he’s finally gotten his mother out of clutches of his abusive father. Then she comes back to town; the one girl that knows his secret, the one that challenged him his whole life and made him a better Marine because of it, the one woman he find himself utterly attracted to, and the one woman he should stay far away from after he gets her father’s business.I found this book so very interesting because the hero and heroine had such a different view on their past life together and their one sexual encounter. Ellie always saw Finn as an adversary and then as the boy who used her and left. Finn appreciated the way their competition kept his mind off his horrific home life and made him want more. He remembered their one night together with fondness and the feeling that someone actually cared about him. Over the course of their book, they began to see each other in all kinds of new ways and not all of them good but all of them very real. They both are forced to deal with things in their past that have hurt them and through it all they manage to build a friendship that turns into more.This book touched my soul as I too have a loved one stricken with Alzheimer’s and the way it robs you of the person you’ve loved all of your life. I appreciate the way it was handled and felt the heroine’s actions and feelings were very well written. I enjoyed this story despite the many tears I shed because if anything this disease teaches us it’s to live each day as it’s your last, let go of the past, and make memories now while you can.Review copy provided for an honest review.