Review: Realistic Love
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2012
3.5 starsEvan Loehr is a West Point trained officer who plays by the rules.  Claire Montoya was an enlisted who went to officer school and never met a rule that couldn't at least be bent.  After arguing their way through deployment in Iraq, can Captain America and Captain Most Likely to Screw Up call a truce and accomplish their current Hail Mary mission training unprepared troops for deployment to a war zone?One of the most appealing aspects of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU is the realism. No flights of fancy or MacGyverish exploits, just the reality of two people serving in the military.  Two soldiers who've made it their lives and their family because it was all they had, until now.I think UNTIL THERE WAS YOU is the perfect balance of love and reality. Taking into consideration the characters and their profession, hearts, flowers, rainbows & unicorns would never appeal to Claire.  Someone who sees HER, scars, foibles, and all the ugliness she feels makes her somehow less a person and unworthy; to truly see that and still want to be with her, that's love.  Claire's non-verbal communication that Evan is so adept at reading is a barrier that speaks volumes about Claire.  Evan is more open and willing than Claire belying her "anal retentive a******" characterization of him.  Claire's the runner not Evan.  I like that.  Ms. Scott has all the army life aspects down, as expected, but UNTIL THERE WAS YOU is also highly emotional.  I don't mean drama queen emotion.  This is painful gut wrenching emotion.  Evan and Claire's progression from antagonistic to potential lover's forces each of them to face demons they've tried to keep buried.There are some memorable secondary characters but the one who stood out and I hope most to see again is Sgt. Reza Iaconelli, Claire's best friend.UNTIL THERE WAS YOU isn't a romanticized love story, it's a love story you can truly envision happening. A real "day in/day out" love we can all aspire to.  If that's the kind of love story you're looking for you won't want to miss UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.Reviewed by IvyD for Manic Readers