Audiobook Review: Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Just for the Summer
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Christine Lakin & Zachary Webber
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 2, 2024
Print length: 452 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 43 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

Interesting marketing — based on its Goodreads listing and the synopsis, I had no idea that Just for the Summer is not, in fact a stand-alone, but is the 3rd book in an interconnected world that includes Part of Your World and Yours Truly. Both of which I adored, by the way (you can see my reviews here and here). That said, Just for the Summer can absolutely be read on its own, but you’ll miss some of the meaning of the names, places, and relationships that factor into this compelling story.

Based on the synopsis, I was not quite prepared for how deeply serious and emotional many parts of this story are. At the outset, the tone is upbeat and humorous: Emma reads a Reddit AITA thread that is both hilarious and strikes a chord: The writer, Justin, realizes that every woman he dates goes on to find her soulmate right after they break up… and Emma has the exact same experience! She contacts Justin, and they exchange funny texts comparing their situations — and from the start, they just click.

Before long, they’re in regular contact, and have progressed to video chats and phone calls. Justin has a brilliant idea: What if they date, and cancel out each other’s curses? They’ll be guaranteed to find “the one” just as soon as they finish with one another. They even figure out the general parameters: Based on past experiences, they’ll need to go on at least four dates, text or talk every day, and kiss (more than a peck) at least once. Easy!

The complication is, Emma is a traveling nurse, and she and best friend Maddie never stay in one place for more than a few months. They take turns picking the destination for each new contract, and next up is Maddie’s pick — a summer in Hawaii. Justin is in Minnesota, and due to some family complications (more on that later), he can’t travel to date Emma. Their master plan seems like a no-go, until Emma convinces Maddie to swap Hawaii for six weeks in Minneapolis. Maddie’s more than a bit reluctant, but when Emma shows her the adorable cottage on an island in a lake — with its own boat! — where they’ll be living, she agrees, and the dating plot can move forward.

There’s much more to the story than initially meets the eye. Justin is about to assume guardianship of his three younger siblings and is soon to become a full-time parent. Emma is dealing with a lifetime of trauma due to severe neglect and abandonment by her narcissistic mother. Emma bounced in and out of foster care throughout her youth (meeting Maddie when Maddie’s parents provided Emma with the most stable and loving home she’d ever had). Emma’s trauma response has been to wall herself off and get “small”, isolating herself, refusing connection, never putting down roots, and never letting herself truly get involved emotionally with anyone but Maddie.

As Justin and Emma spend time together, their chemistry is powerful, but Emma’s unresolved trauma doesn’t allow herself to fully connect — and the fact that he has children in his life raises the stakes even higher. When Emma’s mother intrudes on her summer and her life, a series of clashes and crises ensues, and Emma’s well-being is severely challenged. Her flight instincts are never deeply buried, and this experience with her mother threatens to cause her run once again.

Just for the Summer is an absorbing, engaging read (and listen — the audiobook narrators are terrific). I was completely caught up in Emma and Justin’s stories. We get chapters narrated by each of them, often offering competing perspectives on the same events, allowing us to see the characters’ hopes, fears, joys… and understand why what they’re experiencing might not be the same for both of them.

I don’t think I was prepared for how painful Emma’s experiences would become over the course of the book. Based on the cover and synopsis, a reader could reasonably expect a romantic comedy (also, kicking through the waves at the beach, which is not a thing that ever happens). Still, expectations aside, I was thoroughly drawn into this novel and the characters’ lives, and got to the point where I almost couldn’t stand to read about one more obstacle to their happiness.

I loved the connection to the earlier books. As I mentioned, Just for the Summer could work fine as a stand-alone, but I strongly recommend reading the previous two books, which will make this one a much richer reading experience.

I did feel that the ending (happy, of course) came a little too quickly and easily, based on what we’d learned about what each character was dealing with. For Emma especially, I don’t know that I feel the timeline provided would truly allow a person in real life to progress as far as she does. Still, given the conventions of the genre, these two absolutely do need to get together, and it’s lovely when it all finally works out.

These three interconnected books all feature characters dealing with the fallout of mental health challenges, past traumas, and emotional scars. Listening to them all in such a short time period (for me, almost back to back) can be a lot. I think I might have appreciated Just for the Summer a little more if I’d had more of a break from the other books.

Still, Just for the Summer is powerful, and manages to infuse quite a lot of humorous moments into the much heavier content. I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend reading all three of these terrific books.

31Jan2024

Book Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Women
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: February 6, 2024
Length: 480 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

I’ll put it simply: Kristin Hannah’s new book is a stunner. In this dramatic story of a young woman’s experiences as a nurse during the Vietnam War and the wrenchingly difficult life she comes home to, we live through hell and then some with the sympathetic, compelling main character.

Frances McGrath is a child of privilege, a lovely young woman fresh out of nursing school, the daughter of a wealth family living on San Diego’s Coronado Island. She comes from a family of military heroes — her father even has a “hero wall” in his study, with framed photos of the generations of men who served their country. That’s right — men. It’s not until her beloved only brother ships out to begin his naval tour, after a fancy family party, that Frankie realizes that women can be heroes too. Feeling a bit lost without her big brother and wanting to share some of her father’s admiration, she joins the Army Nurse Corps — the only branch that will allow a nurse with so little real-world experience to head to Vietnam.

Frankie is in for many rude awakenings, starting with her parents’ reaction. It turns out, she’s misinterpreted everything. Military service is something to be proud of only in the case of sons, not daughters. Frankie is an embarrassment, nothing more.

Still, she excels at basic training, but finds herself completely out of her depth when she arrives in Vietnam, where she quickly realizes that her quiet hospital rounds back home did nothing to prepare her for the horrors of Vietnam’s reality. Fortunately, she’s taken under the wings of her two roommates, Barb and Ethel, women whose experience and guidance help Frankie survive her first few weeks of war. Eventually, Frankie rises to the occasion, becoming a skilled, brave, and compassionate surgical nurse.

Vietnam also provides Frankie with romantic entanglements, and suffice it to say that the outcome is as tragic as you’d expect in a war zone. Frankie’s time in-country comprises the first half or so of the book. It’s harrowing, tragic, upsetting, and yet, gorgeously written. It’s so visceral that we feel we’re there with Frankie, and she herself is given space to grow, feel, and experience everything around her. Readers will walk away feeling that they truly know this person.

Frankie’s return to the States is yet another awful shock. As we know from history, returning vets were spat at, reviled, and called baby killers. Frankie is emotionally drained, distraught, and has nowhere to turn. In low moments, when she seeks help at the VA and tries to join a veterans’ “rap” group, she’s turned away by male vets who inform her that, despite what she tries to tell them, there were no woman in Vietnam.

Her downward spiral is awful, compounded by some shady people in her life, but even with the love and support of her close friends, she’s mainly alone in a very, very dark place. Frankie’s experiences are heartbreaking. Even as we see her making terrible decisions and using very bad judgment, we can sympathize and understand how hopeless and out of place she feels.

It’s probably obvious that The Women is not an easy book to read, but it’s absolutely worth the emotional investment. The writing is fantastic, descriptive and personal while also plunging us headlong into the scenes of wartime hell — but what really elevates this book is the in-depth look into the heart and soul of such a fascinating and complex woman.

The Women is also quite informative, relaying the experiences of women serving in Vietnam in a way that doesn’t often get the spotlight. The author’s notes at the end are very helpful, as are the reference books and additional sources she lists. (In fact, one of the books she recommends is A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam, which I read many years ago, but am now tempted to read again.)

The book also brought back memories of the TV series China Beach, which I loved… and which (sadly) does not appear to be available to stream anywhere. Bring back China Beach!

But back to The Women: It’s a beautiful, sad, disturbing, powerful read. After finishing the book a few days ago, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Another don’t-miss book from a talented author — highly recommended.

26Oct2019

Book Review: Today We Go Home by Kelli Estes

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Seattle, Washington
Larkin Bennett has always known her place, whether it’s surrounded by her loving family in the lush greenery of the Pacific Northwest or conducting a dusty patrol in Afghanistan. But all of that changed the day tragedy struck her unit and took away everything she held dear. Soon after, Larkin discovers an unexpected treasure—the diary of Emily Wilson, a young woman who disguised herself as a man to fight for the Union in the Civil War. As Larkin struggles to heal, she finds herself drawn deeply into Emily’s life and the secrets she kept.

Indiana, 1861
The only thing more dangerous to Emily Wilson than a rebel soldier is the risk of her own comrades in the Union Army discovering her secret. But in the minds of her fellow soldiers, if it dresses like a man, swears like a man, and shoots like a man, it must be a man. As the war marches on and takes its terrible toll, Emily begins to question everything she thought she was fighting for.

Today We Go Home took my breath away.

In this dual timeline novel, we follow two separate but interwoven and related threads. The main character in the contemporary timeline is Larkin Bennett, a US Army veteran who receives a medical discharge after being wounded in action in Afghanistan, now suffering from PTSD and the tremendous guilt she feels over the death of her best friend. And as Larkin explores her friends’ personal effects, she finds a family treasure — the diary of Emily Wilson, who fought as a man in the Civil War. Through these two remarkable women, we see devotion to duty and family, as well as the toll that war takes on a person’s soul.

Larkin’s story is moving and tragic. She was never happier than in service to her country, and felt a calling to the military. Her best moments were when she and her friend Sarah were side by side, whether in college, in training, or in Kandahar. But Larkin, when we meet her, is emotionally destroyed by her experiences, turning to alcohol to numb herself and drown out the memories that haunt her every moment.

Larkin’s family is supportive (can I mention how much I love her grandmother and cousins?), and they do what they can to help, but there’s just so much that Larkin has to process on her own, and she resists reaching out for professional help. Her growing obsession with Emily’s diary gives her a purpose, and the more she reads, the more determined she becomes to both tell the stories of military women and to find out more about the real Emily Wilson.

Meanwhile, Emily’s story is equally powerful. After her father and oldest brother ride off to join the Indiana regiment heading to support the Union cause, Emily is left behind on the farm with her younger brother Ben, expected to just wait at home and be content with “women’s work”. When their father is killed and their brother takes ill, they set off to go take care of their brother, and from there, they decide to enlist. Emily is both called to serve and determined to protect Ben at all costs, and together, they join their late father’s regiment and learn to become soldiers.

Emily takes the name Jesse and poses as Ben’s brother, knowing that she must keep her gender a secret. She finds that she’s actually good at soldiering, and starts to love the freedom that comes from being seen as male — the freedom to work, to speak her mind, to not hide her skills, to pursue what she wants.

She would never again settle for a life where her every action, even her thoughts, were controlled by someone else. From now on, no matter where life took her, she would live on her own terms.

The threat of discovery is always present, and the true meaning of going to war doesn’t really sink in until the regiment enters its first battle and Emily gets a close-up view of shooting at the enemy and being shot at.

The general shook his head. “I will not send you back to the field. You can no longer impersonate a soldier, do you understand me?”

Emily had to look away from his accusing glare. She had not been impersonating a soldier. She had been a soldier. “Yes, sir.”

The author does an amazing job of weaving together these two stories. Some dual timeline books feel forced, or as if one only exists as a frame for the other. Not so here. You know it’s a well-done approach when both halves of the story feel so compelling that you hate to leave each one to switch to the other. When an Emily section would end, I’d want more… but then I’d get re-involved in Larkin’s story, and couldn’t imagine wanting to read anything else but her story.

Kelli Estes has clearly done a tremendous amount of research into both women serving in the Civil War and into the plight of today’s veterans, especially the staggering rate of PTSD and suicide among women veterans. She provides a list of reference materials as well as information on support for veterans at the end of the book, and is definitely doing a great service herself by calling attention to the issues confronting today’s combat veterans.

She set the diary aside, thinking about Emily’s struggles. They were timeless. Even now, over a hundred and fifty years later, female veterans faced many of the same challenges that Emily did: being seen as inferior because of her gender, not being able to find work after being discharged from the military, earning less than men, becoming homeless.

Some of the social commentary is really spot-on, such as Larkin’s anger over the general lack of interest and awareness she encounters once back in the US. To Larkin, she was serving in Afghanistan to protect the United States, yet most Americans seem indifferent or unaware of what’s going on there and the sacrifices being made by American service men and women. Likewise, she is understandably infuriated when a clueless man, who spots her wearing an Army t-shirt, asks her whether it’s her father or her brothers who served, failing to recognize the very real service of hundreds of thousands of women.

Today We Go Home is beautifully written and is so very powerful. I tore through this book probably faster than I should have, because I just couldn’t get enough of either Emily or Larkin and had to know how their stories would turn out. The emotional impact is strong and real. By the end, I felt such sorrow for their experiences, and yet hopeful and uplifted as well. And while Emily’s story is set in the past, Larkin’s story has an urgency to it, knowing that brave men and women are still facing the unbelievable struggles that come with serving in war settings and then coming back home afterward.

Don’t miss this amazing book. This goes on my list of top books for 2019.

Other reading resources:

For more on women in the Civil War, I highly recommend two excellent novels:

I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe (review)
Sisters of Shiloh by Kathy & Becky Hepinstall (review)

I don’t think I’ve read any other novels recently about contemporary women serving in the military, but I’d love some suggestions!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Today We Go Home
Author: Kelli Estes
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: September 3, 2019
Length: 401 pages
Genre: Contemporary/historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley