Some of us bear continual hardships that others might never encounter. Marleigh Mulcahy is one of these people. Both her parents are addicted to alcohol, and she was raised in a boxing gym by her grandfather. She is working through school to be a dental technologist, but has to work several jobs to make ends meet. Her grandfather fades into dementia and eventual death. Life seems stacked against her.

While in the gym, she meets a young Navy EOD specialist named Jace. (He disarms bombs while deployed.) They quickly fall in love and desire to found a family of their dreams. At first, it seems that they are succeeding in these hopes, but life’s challenges again seep in. Jace struggles with understanding his experiences in a combat zone, and Marleigh is understandably overwhelmed by being a new navy mom. Questions and doubts loom: Will they be able to fulfill their dreams or will they encounter more hardships to forestall their progress?

That much of the story I just described makes this book seem like a simple romance. That plot-line, however, spans only the first half of the book. The story evolves over and over again and becomes not a tale of simple love but primarily of resilience and human dignity. It speaks especially to women whose lives might not match up with their earlier dreams. Marleigh continues to try to live up, again and again, to the dreams that Jace and her aspired to when they started.

Sometimes, Sokol makes Marleigh seem to lose her focus and all hope. The despair of pressing on with the present seems to overcome the narrative. Marleigh is so used to encountering bad things in life that she forgets that life can bring positive developments as well. When these good things happen, she rekindles her spirit and her family’s spirits, and her story becomes one of perseverance and of one woman’s strength.

People – especially women and especially those affiliated with the military – recalibrating their life aims will benefit from reading this book. It presents a nice combination of adjusting to reality while continuing to press on in hope. Life is not easy, and Marleigh’s story is not easy. Nonetheless, her determination and adjustments make her a noble character who saves her life and her family’s lives through maintaining dignity amidst oppressive circumstances. The old adage, “You can only control your choices, not your circumstances,” proves true here, and Marleigh reminds us to dig for strength deeper and deeper within. ( )

In a simple context, I believe this is a book about the meaning of love and identifying with that person. Beyond that, it looks at how emotionally traumatic experiences affect those serving in the military making it more likely that they may have an issue with re-entry into civilian life.

Page one of this well-written book mentions what happens when we are sleeping and sets the stage for us to recognize that clearing away damage is essential for us to survive and thrive.

The very first chapter of the book draws us into this love story with the protagonist Marleigh meeting Jace and stating she'd be able to sense him somehow, even if she couldn't see him. Interestingly, many people believe that body odor is more important for attraction than appearance and that people put off a natural scent that may or may not attract different people.

Marleigh and Jace hook up at a traumatic time and together they go on to create a family. Sokol related how previous experiences tied into Marleigh's and Jace's perception of life's events and I must state that I felt Sokol's description of the Holt family unit seemed very true to what one might expect.

This carefully crafted love story points out the positive and negative effects of traumatic experiences and I appreciated how the Sioux legend tied into the story as well as the italicized communications while Jace was deployed.

This story made me think about the statement “ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain,” being used as a description for more than just innovative material choices as people often express emotions in terms of weight - such as a "heavy heart".

There are many things you can learn from this book. I felt the most important takeaway was that we connect with others when we share experiences. In the process of sharing trauma, we learn to, cope with mistakes or changes in our environment and we learn to appreciate life, see new possibilities, and set new goals.

I received a copy of this book from Michelle Fitzgerald, Publicity Director at FSB Associates ( )