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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Thank you NetGalley and Simone Gorrindo for the chance to read and review this book.
I went into this book totally blind and was happily surprised to find it was about Simone’s life as an Army wife. I can totally relate as I am an Air Force wife (retired) and the mom of 2 sons currently serving in the Army. She speaks my language.
As the story opens we find Simone and husband Andrew in Columbus Ga standing outside their first house together. Andrew is fresh out of basic training and AIT (technical school for his job) starting their new life at Fort Benning. Andrew is part of an elite, rapidly deployable combat unit, and Simone (left her job in New York City as an editor) is currently unemployed. But this is a new adventure for them both.
Quickly Andrew assimilates into his new unit and they are invited to many unit activities including barbecue’s designed to foster the brotherhood. Simone is not welcomed with open arms but start to make
friends with the other wives, slowly. As the first deployment approaches she starts to see a shift in Andrew’s demeanor as he focuses on the mission. Sadly it affects their relationship as well and over time she learns that there are 2 Andrews, the one at home and the one on mission.
Deployment is another adventure. Infrequent communication makes it imperative that Simone leans on her fellow wives as she grows closer to them, they’ve become sisters. Learning this new life and learning to live with uncertainty every day, dreading that phone call or seeing a government vehicle parked in front of your house is always a worry. But these women had lives before they were wives and moms and this is how they all weave together to get through.
This story is a gritty portrayal of one woman’s big life change and how she learned to adapt to it. It’s not all pretty and definitely not easy but she made it her own and at time of printing, was still living it.
Simone was me, (except for the fact that I married a man who was already in the military.) Every unit activity, ball, deployment, home coming, and change of station I lived and relate to. I hope that in reading Simone’s story you’ll get just a glimpse of the military life.
I rate this a 4 star read
I went into this book totally blind and was happily surprised to find it was about Simone’s life as an Army wife. I can totally relate as I am an Air Force wife (retired) and the mom of 2 sons currently serving in the Army. She speaks my language.
As the story opens we find Simone and husband Andrew in Columbus Ga standing outside their first house together. Andrew is fresh out of basic training and AIT (technical school for his job) starting their new life at Fort Benning. Andrew is part of an elite, rapidly deployable combat unit, and Simone (left her job in New York City as an editor) is currently unemployed. But this is a new adventure for them both.
Quickly Andrew assimilates into his new unit and they are invited to many unit activities including barbecue’s designed to foster the brotherhood. Simone is not welcomed with open arms but start to make
friends with the other wives, slowly. As the first deployment approaches she starts to see a shift in Andrew’s demeanor as he focuses on the mission. Sadly it affects their relationship as well and over time she learns that there are 2 Andrews, the one at home and the one on mission.
Deployment is another adventure. Infrequent communication makes it imperative that Simone leans on her fellow wives as she grows closer to them, they’ve become sisters. Learning this new life and learning to live with uncertainty every day, dreading that phone call or seeing a government vehicle parked in front of your house is always a worry. But these women had lives before they were wives and moms and this is how they all weave together to get through.
This story is a gritty portrayal of one woman’s big life change and how she learned to adapt to it. It’s not all pretty and definitely not easy but she made it her own and at time of printing, was still living it.
Simone was me, (except for the fact that I married a man who was already in the military.) Every unit activity, ball, deployment, home coming, and change of station I lived and relate to. I hope that in reading Simone’s story you’ll get just a glimpse of the military life.
I rate this a 4 star read
Great and honest depiction of being married to a soldier and the community around those who are home. I thought constantly of my friends, Stacy and Keri, who were The Wives for me during one particular deployment. Moral? We’re all capable of more than we think
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was terrible and I say this as a military spouse. Mostly I found this author’s whining narration of her time at Ft Benning to be grating page after page. She was never happy. She was always the Victim in every situation she found herself.
Audio book is not for me. Unfortunately the author’s voice isn’t easy for me to listen to. I’ll likely read the physical book.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I don’t remember why I had placed this book on a hold with the library, but I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed hearing Simone’s story and getting insight into what it is like being married to a military spouse. The way she told it made it easy to put yourself in her shoes and understand what she was going through. I found myself saying “I could never do that” repeatedly as I listened. I also really appreciated how she discussed her internal struggles of being raised anti-war and disliking the idea of war in general, but still wanting to support her husband and his decisions. It must have been such a shock to her world, but she handled it with grace and hearing her story was very eye opening. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.