Hello everyone!
I had a bit of a tough time deciding which book to talk about tonight, but then after a few bumps and bruises in RL (nothing too important or even dangerous, don't worry) I figured I needed some cheering up, and what better way than to pick a Keira Andrews book?
The thing with this particular author is that while she does say there will be some trials and tribulations along the way before the main characters get it together and get together (see what I did there?) she's a firm advocate of happy endings, which means that no book of hers is going to pull a Nicholas Sparks on you!
Yes, I just did that, too.
So that being said, when you know the ending is going to be happy, why wouldn't you want to read through and see what the guys are doing?
I think I've read through quite a bit of her books by this point - because once I find an author I enjoy, I tend to devour their work, more or less, whoopsie - but this one remains one of my top two.
Onwards to a review of Semper Fi!
As I do believe I've done at least one other review of Ms Andrews, there will be a link which you can find down at the bottom of this page.
The story itself is set in three distinct parts, well, two for the majority of the book, but then the epilogue is a third sort of timeline, although it does bring everything to a very nice close and so I think it's easily added as the third part.
Instead of jumping back and forth though, I'm going to go through each part individually.
The years we need are 1942-45, 1948, and 1957.
Let's begin with the time span between 1942 and 1945.
As you can no doubt guess by the years alone, this is the time of World War II, which is actually where our two protagonists meet: Cal and Jim are on a train bound for boot camp, both of them having enlisted to help with the big war which is being fought over pretty much the whole world at this time of its duration. What follows next is their trials through boot camp, with Cal always in some sort of trouble though half the time it actually isn't his fault (but the other half, it totally is), and Jim looking out for his buddy whenever he can.
We also figure out fairly quickly that Cal fell for Jim the second the two of them met, whereas Jim had left behind a wife when he left for war.
This pretty much nixes the idea of any kind of hook-up, but we then proceed through the gruelling combat of the first three missions the guys face together, frog-jumping their way across the islands in the Pacific against the Japanese, until it all comes to a stop on Okinawa.
Neither Jim nor Cal really want to talk about Okinawa later on in their lives, but suffice to say it was pretty much bloody hell on Earth. It's also where Cal saves Jim, among other thngs.
But then the war ends, and the two of them head separate ways.
Dun, dun, DUN!
In 1948, we catch up with them again, mainly with Cal who comes to Clove Orchards, Jim's home, to help him after the death of Jim's wife, Annie, who unfortunately died in a car accident. Jim is now left to fend for himself with two children, Sophie and little Adam, and while reluctant, he actually does need all the help he can get.
Things get off to a rocky start since Sophie is unconvinced she wants Cal around, leading to him getting his head kicked by the family cow, but after that the kids sort of get used to having him stay at the house and help out.
A not-so-nice thing, however, is the revelation that Jim's form of PTSD caused him to hit his wife at least once while she was trying to wake him up from a nightmare.
This doesn't help his relationship with her parents, either, who firmly believe she never should have married Jim in the first place, and this puts a strain on everybody, even though they do, in fact, love the children.
But things really get complicated when Cal and Jim kiss in the orchard, leaving Jim confused and out of his league, and Cal on his way home since he can't stand the thought of his best friend hating him.
He doesn't leave though, since Jim admits that he simply isn't used to this, because he had always thought he was a woman kind of guy, if you get my meaning; the two of them slowly begin a relationship, but obviously have to keep it hidden because in those days, being homosexual was against the law (oh yeah ...).
Unfortunately, Sophie almost discovers the two of them and Jim stops the idea of the two of them as a couple since his kids come first, which sends Cal back to the city, but not for long.
A storm with bouts of hail goes through the Hudson river valley, and sends him right back to the orchard where devastation reigns. He manages to somehow save the day though by going into business with Jim, producing apple juice (well, apple cider, but it's juice first, so). This time around, there's no almost in getting caught: the elderly woman, Mrs O'Brien, who looks after the kids while Jim works, actually catches them, but she proceeds to tell Jim that he needs to be happy, and she will be happy for him, however that is.
This means Cal can stay for good, and another revelation which comes as a shock to Jim is when a worker returns, and reveals Annie and he had had an affair while Jim had been away.
Yeah, sucks to be a war veteran.
But hey, he found his happy ending! Sort of.
Now on to 1957.
Sophie, now in university, returns home for Thanksgiving and she and Uncle Cal share a moment at the barn, where she explains that she sits beside a homosexual boy in one of her classes - and that she thinks that's perfectly okay.
Namely, she knows her father and her uncle are actually lovers, and she's okay with it.
Cue the waterworks as the whole family sits together for the holiday.
Well, my waterworks, at leas.
Fin!
xx
*image not mine
Semper Fidelis (the United States Marine Corps motto)
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