An emotionally layered novel about family, loss and what it means to be a military wife.
Harper Lee Wilcox has been marking time in her hometown of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina since her husband, Noah Wilcox’s death, nearly five years earlier. With her son Ben turning five and living at home with her mother, Harper fights a growing restlessness, worried that moving on means leaving the memory of her husband behind.
Her best friend, Allison Teague, is dealing with struggles of her own. Her husband, a former SEAL that served with Noah, was injured while deployed and has come home physically healed but fighting PTSD. With three children under foot and unable to help her husband, Allison is at her wit’s end.
In an effort to reenergize her own life, Harper sees an opportunity to help not only Allison but a network of other military wives eager to support her idea of starting a string of coffee houses close to military bases around the country.
In her pursuit of her dream, Harper crosses paths with Bennett Caldwell, Noah’s best friend and SEAL brother. A man who has a promise to keep, entangling their lives in ways neither of them can foresee. As her business grows so does an unexpected relationship with Bennett. Can Harper let go of her grief and build a future with Bennett even as the man they both loved haunts their pasts?
Review:
Ohmygoodness–THIS BOOK. There was ugly crying involved in the last third or so, but it was totally worth it!
I absolutely loved Harper and Bennett’s story. THIS is the widow’s second chance story that I have been waiting for! I loved that neither Harper nor Ms. Trentham felt the need to lessen Harper’s first relationship in order for her to move on and find a new one five years later. The author did a wonderful job of showing Harper’s mindset–how she was both attracted to Bennett and afraid to move on. Bennett’s relationship with her husband and the promise he made to him (literally on his death bed) added just the right amount of complication to give us an absolutely delicious story without slipping over the border into melodrama.
The side story–the difficulties that Harper’s friend Allison is having with her husband–is a heartbreaking one that is dealt with honestly and with realism and sensitivity. (Some of the ugly crying was for Allison and her husband.) Ms. Trentham definitely did her research for this one, giving readers a realistic look at a very real problem while giving us hope for the characters’ future.
When is the next book in this series coming out? Sign me up! In the meantime, how have I never read anything from Laura Trentham before? Must. Fix. ASAP. Excuse me while I go add everything she’s ever written to my TBR…
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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