Book Review: Gooseberry Island by Steven Manchester

David McClain is an Army Ranger who's about to ship out to Afghanistan. He's a nice guy who would love to find a woman to keep in touch with while he's overseas. Then he meets Lindsey and the chemistry between them is instantaneous. They spend an entire night together, sitting on a bench at the beach, talking. But then David heads to Afghanistan, and although they communicate often while he's away, David returns a changed man.

Gooseberry Island by Steven Manchester is a contemporary romance novel that explores the effects of war on relationships, and the trauma that many soldiers face with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We get to see the war from David's perspective, from wanting to get into the action, to experiencing the horrors of war up close and personal. As the war changes David, his interactions with Lindsey change as well.

The characters seem realistic throughout the entire novel, although the romance itself is a bit sappy at times. Those who love romance novels will enjoy that! I liked the fact that David was a cross between a macho man who volunteered for the toughest military duty and an emotional, gentle man around the woman he loves. Lindsey is also a complex character who has a great responsibility dealing with her father, who suffers from PTSD as well.

Overall, Gooseberry Island is a realistic story about war and PTSD, wrapped up in a sweet, honest romance. If you enjoy contemporary romance, I highly recommend this one.

My Rating: 4/5

Read my reviews of other books by Steven Manchester:
Pressed Pennies
The Rockin' Chair

This review was written based on a copy of Gooseberry Island that I received from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Getting back to blogging

It seems that blogging has dropped to the bottom of my list for the past year, and was pretty low for the year or two prior to that. I love to read, and am continuing to do so, but as my regular readers know I haven't been around much. My last blog post was almost a year ago!!

There are many things that have taken me away from blogging. Work has been much more challenging and interesting these past few years, but that means I really don't want to get back on the computer when I get home at night - or on the weekends.

Family life has been more busy with kids having multiple activities in the evenings, leaving little time to just hang out and write about the books that I read.

I will admit to a bit of a Facebook addiction, which means way too much time spent scrolling through my newsfeed instead of doing something more productive. This is one of the things I'm working on and hoping that this will free up some time for getting back to the blog.

Overall, life is good. Work is …

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop

I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Mundie Moms are hosting the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop in honor of Independence Day in the United States, and I've decided to participate.

To stick with the theme of Independence Day, I'm doing what I did last year for this hop:

I'm giving away a book of your choice that is written by an author from the United States.
It can be any genre as long as the author is from the United States. You choose the book (up to $15), and I'll order it and have it mailed to you from Book Depository.

The contest ends on Thursday, July 5th at midnight Eastern Time. The winner will be notified by e-mail. If they do not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Happy 4th of July! I hope you have a safe and fun holiday!

Enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now check out all of the other giveaways you can enter at the links below!

Freedom Giveaway Hop

Simply Stacie and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer are hosting the Freedom Giveaway Hop in honor of Independence Day in the United States, and I've decided to participate.

To stick with the theme of Independence Day:

I'm giving away a book of your choice that is written by an author from the United States.
It can be any genre as long as the author is from the United States. You choose the book (up to $15), and I'll order it and have it mailed to you from the vendor of my choice.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite U.S. author (this doesn't have to be the author of the book you choose if you're the winner). Include your email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian mailing addresses only. I've decided to open this up to international entries as long as Book Depository ships to your address.

For extra entries:
Leave a separate comment if you follow My Book Retreat through Google Frie…

My Book Retreat

Search This Blog