Just Once

by Rebecca Brooke

This isn’t a book that takes its subject matter or characters lightly. And as a reader I think you should be prepared to do exactly that, I’m not saying feel sorry for them but please don’t skim through their story, they have so much to say and real depth to the way they feel not only towards the situation that they find themselves in but towards themselves that it would be cruel to skip your way past their pain and heartache, it is what makes them, them and they are fabulous characters.

Colin and Joey meet in a bar, yep heard that before so nothing new there but with the two of them having not just jobs but careers that put their lives on the line, they were a onetime only deal in their own heads and so were a little economical with personal details. Now that might have been ok in civvie street but when it comes to the military, well all bets are off because knowing where you are going to lay your head one night to the next is often a crap shoot – so when Colin, the Army Ranger gets deployed…imagine his surprise when Joey the Army Pilot rocks up on base!

Well this should be interesting.

I liked the elements of the military romance, the details that they were able to coax from each other and the way that they could have their own special brand of courtship so to speak. The author pitched the details of what they were experiencing to absolute perfection, she gave credence to their situation and allowed them every opportunity to flex their emotional muscle but she pulled out the big guns when she tackles the devastation that is PTSD.

The events that surround them both being wounded are awful but it was the psychological scars that looked likely to do them more damage.

Of the two of them, Colin is the more severely injured and when he is left facing an uncertain future with regards to his career it is that thought alone that almost forces him back into his shell.

Because while he is dealing with that prospect he has little room in either his head or his heart for anything or anyone else and is on a path to almost self-obliteration.

Facing up to what his whirring around his head is a task that Colin really isn’t in a good enough space to undertake but it is his biggest hurdle, I only hoped that Joey was prepared for war because her fight had only just begun and the first hurdle to overcome was Colin himself.

Colin wasn’t the man she fell in love with but that didn’t mean she loved him any less, it just meant that things were different, they were different and that meant they had to find a new together. Easier said than done but was it achievable?

I liked Joey, I liked the woman she was and the spirit that drove her. She was every inch the military woman and held nothing back but Colin, as much as I could have kicked his a** on more than one occasion, he broke my heart.

His torment may have been an internal one but it was completely real and dealing with those consequences were shattering for them both.

The author has a writing style that I find so easy and engaging and gives voice to characters and situations that carry both weight and emotion.

Bravo Ms Brooke.