The Military Wife by Laura Trentham – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

The Military Wife by Laura Trentham – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

 

 

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Description:
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:

The Military Wife by Laura Trentham is the first book in her new Heart of a Hero series.  I am a fan of Trentham and her wonderful small town romances.  The Military Wife is a departure from the pure romance genre, though there is a romance.  Trentham knocks it out of the park with this book, as it was an emotional and wonderful story about military wives and those who have lost their spouses either by death or suffering from PTSD.

Harper Lee Wilcox, our heroine, is still unable to move on after the death of her husband, Noah, 5 years ago; she has a young son (Ben), and lives with her mother.  Harper decides to visit her friend Allison, who is married to Noah’s SEAL teammate, Darren.  When she arrives, Harper can tell that Allison is stressed out, and after pushing her to reveal what is wrong, she learns that Darren is suffering from PTSD, and it is taking its toll on her and their three children.  Darren was one of the men who saw Noah die, and can’t sleep at night due to nightmares about losing many of his men.  Allison confides to Harper that Darren refuses to get help.

Bennett Caldwell, our hero, is also a former teammate and good friend to Noah, and also watched him die.  Bennett has been able to curtail his own nightmares and work hard on his business.  In his promise to Noah, Bennett said he would watch over Harper, but he gave her a large check saying it was for bravery.  Harper will find out that Bennett, whom she only met the day he gave her the check, was falsifying that claim, and use his own money.  She goes to visit him, trying to give him back the money, and also find out more information on how Noah died.  Bennett cannot and will not reveal anything, and they start off on the wrong foot.

In a short time, Bennett and Harper will become friends, especially when Harper asks him to help Darren, who is mentally suffering. The more time Harper spends with Allison, and meets other women , she realizes that there is a need for those wives and widows to have a better support system, and find things for them to do, to keep them happy and active.  She comes up with the idea of using some of the money Bennett gave her to start a coffee shop on the base, with those wives actively working.  This also works in Harper favor, as she starts to come out of her 5 year rut.

Bennett and Harper see each other often, as he also wants to help start that business, as well as help his follow soldiers that need support.  A slow build romance begins, with them both beginning to fall for each other.  Bennett feels some guilt at falling for Harper, his best friend’s wife; and Harper is determined to learn more about Noah’s death, before she allows herself to become serious.  I loved Harper and Bennett together.  They made such a wonderful and very real couple trying to get beyond their grief. Harper was a fantastic heroine, who was strong, caring, independent and savvy.  Bennett was also great, and it was wonderful to see him feel love for the first time in his life.   I also loved many of the secondary characters, such as Allison, Ben (her cute son), YaYa (her mother nicknamed that by her grandson), and Bennett’s cute lovable huge dog, Jack.

There was so many emotional and tense moments, especially with situations with Darren and Allison, and with both Harper and Bennett doing what they can to help them. Also the flashbacks were done well, as we learn more about Noah; how he met and fell in love with Harper, and how he died.  Laura Trentham has written a fantastic story focusing on military wives and the life they live with their husbands on deployment, unable to cope, or just loneliness with no support.  Very well done.

The Military Wife is a wonderful story that is very emotional, heartwarming and at times tense.  You need to read this book, as it is that good.  Bravo to Laura Trentham for writing this fabulous story.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

Present Day

Winters in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, were temperamental. The sunshine and a temperate southerly breeze that started a day could turn into biting, salt-tinged snow flurries by afternoon. But one thing Harper Lee Wilcox could count on was that winter along the Outer Banks was quiet.
The bustle and hum and weekly rotation of tourists that marked the summer months settled into a winter melancholy that Harper enjoyed. Well, perhaps not enjoyed in the traditional sense . . . more like she enjoyed surrendering to the melancholy. In fact, her mother may have accused her of wallowing in it once or twice or a hundred times.
In the winter, she didn’t have to smile and pretend her life was great. Not that it was bad. Lots of people had it worse. Much worse. In fact, parts of her life were fabulous. Almost five, her son was happy and healthy and smart. Her mother’s strength and support were unwavering and had bolstered her through the worst time of her life. Her friends were amazing.
That was the real issue. In the craziness of the summer season, she forgot to be sad. Her husband, Noah, had been gone five years; the same amount of time they’d been married. Soon the years separating them would outnumber the years they’d been together. The thought was sobering and only intensified the need to keep a sacred place in her heart waiting and empty. Her secret memorial.
She parked the sensible sedan Noah had bought her soon after they married under her childhood home. Even though they were inland, the stilts were a common architectural feature up and down the Outer Banks.
Juggling her laptop and purse, Harper pushed open the front door and stacked her things to the side. “I’m home!”
A little body careened down the steps and crashed into her legs. She returned the ferocious hug. Her pregnancy was the only thing that had kept her going those first weeks after she’d opened her front door to the Navy chaplain.
“How was preschool? Did you like the pasta salad I packed for your lunch?”
“It made me toot and everyone laughed, even the girls. Can you pack it for me again tomorrow?”
“Ben! You shouldn’t want to toot.” Laughter ruined the admonishing tone she was going for.
As Harper’s mom said time and again, the kid was a hoot and a half. He might have Harper’s brown wavy hair, but he had Noah’s spirit and mannerisms and humor. Ben approached everything with an optimism Harper had lost or perhaps had never been gifted with from the start. He was a blessing Harper sometimes wondered if she deserved.
“Where’s Yaya?” She ruffled his unruly hair.
Of course, her mom had picked an unconventional name. “Grandmother” was too old-fashioned and pedestrian. Since she’d retired from the library, she had cast off any semblance of normalcy and embraced an inner spirit that was a throwback to 1960s bra burners and Woodstock.
“Upstairs painting.” Ben slipped his hand into Harper’s and tugged her toward the kitchen. Bright red and orange and blue paint smeared the back of his hand and arm like a rainbow. At least, her mom had put him in old clothes. “Yaya gave me my own canvas and let me paint whatever I wanted.”
“And what did you paint?” Harper prayed it wasn’t a nude study, which was the homework assignment from her mom’s community college class.
“I drew Daddy in heaven. I used all the colors.” The matter-of-factness of his tone clawed at her heart.
No child should have to grow up only knowing their father through pictures and stories. Her own father had been absent because of divorce and disinterest. He’d sent his court-ordered child support payments regularly until she turned eighteen but rarely visited or shown any curiosity about her. It had hurt until teenaged resentment scarred over the wound.
Noah would have made a great dad. The best. That he never got the chance piled more regrets and what-ifs onto her winter inspired melancholy.
“I’m sure he would have loved your painting.” Luckily, Ben didn’t notice her choked-up reply.
He went to the cabinet, pulled out white bread and crunchy peanut butter, and proceeded to make two sandwiches. It was their afternoon routine. Someday he would outgrow it. Outgrow her and become a man like his daddy.
She poured him a glass of milk, and they ate their sandwiches, talking about how the rest of his day went—outside of his epic toots. His world was small and safe and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Her mom breezed into the kitchen, her still-thick but graying brown hair twisted into a messy bun, a thin paintbrush holding it in place. Slim and attractive, she wore paint-splattered jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt that read: I make AARP look good. Harper pinched her lips together to stifle a grin.
“How’s your assignment coming along?” Harper asked.
“I’m having a hard time with proportions. It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure my man’s you-know-what shouldn’t hang down to his kneecaps.”
Harper shot a glance toward Ben, who had moved to the floor of the den to play with LEGOs. As crazy as her mom drove her, she was and would always be Harper’s rock. The irony wasn’t lost on her. As hard as she’d worked to get out of Kitty Hawk and out of her mother’s reach when she was young, she’d never regretted coming home.
“It’s been a while for me, too, but that’s not how I remember them, either.”
“A pity for us both.” Her mother pulled a jar of olives out of the fridge and proceeded to make martinis—shaken, not stirred. She raised her eyebrows, and Harper answered the unspoken question with a nod. Her mom poured and plopped an extra olive in Harper’s. “How was work?”
Harper handled bookkeeping and taxes for a number of local businesses, but a good number closed up shop in the winter. “Routine. Quiet.”
“Exactly like your life.”
Harper sputtered on her first sip. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I hate seeing you mope around all winter.” Her mom poked at the olive in her drink with a toothpick and looked toward Ben, dropping her voice. “He’s been gone five years, sweetheart, and you haven’t gone on so much as a date.”
“That’s not true. I went to lunch with Whit a few weeks ago.”
“He was trying to sell you life insurance. Doesn’t count.”
Harper huffed and covered her discomfort by taking another sip. “What about you? You never date.”
“True, but your father ruined me on relationships. I have trust issues. You and Noah, on the other hand, seemed to get along fine. Or am I wrong?”
“You’re not.” Another sip of the martini grew the tingly warmth in her stomach. Their marriage hadn’t been completely without conflict, but what relationship was? As she looked back on their fights, they seemed juvenile and unimportant. It was easier to remember the good times. And there were so many to choose from.
She touched the empty finger on her left hand. The ring occupied her jewelry box and had for three years. But, occasionally, her finger would ache with phantom pains as if it were missing a vital organ.
“You’re young. Find another good man. Or forget the man, just find something you’re passionate about.”
“I’m happy right where I am.” Harper hammered up her defenses as if preparing for a hurricane.
“Don’t mistake comfort for happiness. You’re comfortable here. Too comfortable. But you’re not happy.”
“God, Mom, why are you Dr. Phil–ing me all of sudden? Are you wanting me and Ben to move out or something?” Her voice sailed high and Ben looked over at them, his eyes wide, clutching his LEGO robot so tightly its head fell off.
“You and Ben are welcome to stay and take care of me in my old age.” Her mom shifted toward the den. “You hear that, honey? I want you to stay forever.”
Ben gave them an eye-crinkling smile that reminded her so much of Noah her insides squirmed, and she killed the rest of her drink. She was so careful not to show how lonely she sometimes felt in front of Ben.
“Harper.” Her mom’s chiding tone reminded her so much of her own childhood, she glanced up instinctively. Her mom took her hand, and her hazel eyes matched the ones that stared back at Harper in the mirror. “You’re marking time in Kitty Hawk. Find something that excites you again. Don’t let Ben—or Noah— be your excuse.”
Harper looked to her son. His chubby fingers fit the small LEGO pieces together turning the robot into a house. She had built her life brick by brick adding pieces and colors, expanding, taking pride, until one horrible day she’d stopped. Maybe her mom was right. Was it time to build something new?


 

Laura Trentham’s publisher is graciously offering a paper copy of THE MILITARY WIFE to ONE lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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9. Giveaway runs from February 7-11, 2019

 

 

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27 thoughts on “The Military Wife by Laura Trentham – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

  1. Thanks for sharing this book ? with us & Thank You for the chance to win ????? Please Enter Me
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    I Follow Laura Trentham on FB & I LIKE TRC on FACEBOOK and I GET NOTIFICATIONS – Linda Buzard-Moffitt
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  2. I like Li aura Trentham on Facebook, I follow The Reading Cafe on Facebook and Goodreads. I really enjoyed your review about this must read book. Please enter me in your giveaway.

  3. Military romances are so good! Looking forward to reading this one. Please enter me.
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  4. Thanks for the review and giveaway. Please enter me.
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  5. This story sounds really good. Please enter me in the giveaway.
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