Promo for For His Country by Denisea Kampe
Synopsis
Twenty-seven
years, more than a dozen deployments, five kids…and one missing
wife.
After
twenty-seven years of marriage and service to his country, Gavin
McIntyre returns from what he hopes will be his last deployment
before either reaching the highest attainable enlisted rank in the
Marine Corps or retiring. But what he returns to leaves him flat
aback with a busted mast and broken rudder. His wife is a no show for
the homecoming. Using the ages old adage of improvise, adapt, and
overcome, he makes his way home only to discover, she hasn’t simply
forgotten to pick him up from the bus, she’s gone. In her wake,
Gavin finds his home set up boot camp style and twenty dollars in the
cookie jar, but any evidence he’s ever had a wife or five children
with her is deplete.
Pregnant
at sixteen and married to a marine in a less than romantic ceremony
courtesy of the local Justice, Raylyn McIntyre has spent almost three
decades playing the dutiful patriotic wife, catering to the whims of
the military. She’s lost track of how many places she’s lived,
how many deployments she’s endured, and how many tears she’s
shed. But most of all, she’s lost track of herself. With a husband
who’s so wrapped up in saving the world he can’t see he’s
losing his family, Ray resorts to the one tactic he might
understand…a full frontal attack with extreme prejudice, which
proves to get Gavin’s waning attention.
Nothing
good ever comes easy, though, and just when her choice of battle plan
seems to be working, tragedy befalls their family. As Ray and Gavin
struggle to find center, they also struggle with the notion that
forgiveness of self is often the only path to forgiveness of another,
and that path is not only bumpy but filled with pitfalls.
Review
If you’ve ever lived the
military lifestyle then you can completely relate to this story. I met my
husband a couple years before he got out of the military so I didn’t have to
really go through much of the trials and pains of being a military spouse. However,
his sister is in the military as well and I’ve had to watch her leave her
family on several occasions so, although I may not have real close experience
with it, I’ve watched it second hand.
Gavin and Ray have been
married for 27 years with Gavin being in the Marines for the same amount of
years. For more than half of those years Gavin has been gone. As with anyone
going through this it eventually started to take its toll on Ray. Gavin comes
home after another deployment to find his house empty and his wife gone. The
last he heard everything was fine and dandy.
What happens next are Gavin
and Ray having to completely relearn themselves. Ray feels like she’s not a
good enough military wife so therefore tries to accommodate everyone, which
exhausts her. She also feels unappreciated for all she does because Gavin was
never there for her or their children. Gavin realizes his mistakes and tries
desperately to win Ray back and prove to her he has changed.
To watch Gavin and Ray
struggle through their problems is heartbreaking. Denisea Kampe did an
excellent job capturing what a military lifestyle entails. She showed us the
problems that come with the lifestyle, the fears, the feelings of
accomplishment, the heartbreak, and so many other aspects. Her perception of
family, whether it be through blood or friends, is spot on. People that live
the military lifestyle really do band together like they do in this book,
especially for those occasions that you need family the most. I truly enjoyed
this story and really look forward to reading more from this author.
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Teaser
The
only thing in the front room was his well-worn American Leather
recliner Ray had purchased from Cabot House as his welcome home gift
two years ago and his fifty-two inch flat screen which still hung on
the opposite wall. Everything else was gone. No rugs, no couch with
Ray’s sewing basket sitting at the end, no family portraits on the
walls. Gone. It was all gone.
Stark
realization raced through Gavin’s veins as a ball of ice formed in
the pit of his gut. His wife wasn’t just UA.
Ray
had left him.
With
his mouth hanging open, Gavin spun a couple of circles. How had he
missed this? Things were fine the last time he talked to her. Weren’t
they? She seemed fine. She was her usual chipper self, all happy
news, no tears. He could hear the smile in her voice.
How
had they gone from that to this?
“Hey,
I don’t have all day,” the driver’s voice snipped from the
doorway. Still in a daze, Gavin turned to stare at him. “Kind of a
big house for just you and your chair, ain’t it?”
“Yeah,
it is,” Gavin ground out.
“Look,
I can see you’re having one of those days, but I need my money. I
got other fares.”
“Right.”
Sliding his pack off his shoulder, Gavin let it hit the slick
hardwood floor, which was usually polished to a fine hue but now lay
dull and dusty, with a hollow thump. How long had she been gone?
Gavin
made his way down the hall which led to the kitchen and dining area
to find those rooms in the same condition as the front room, nearly
empty. Where their heirloom oak table which would seat twelve in a
pinch used to sit was a fold out card table and one metal chair. The
kitchen counters were bare save his Bulldog DI cookie jar which was
set in the middle of the island with a note tucked beneath. Snatching
it up, Gavin scanned it with one thought in mind. Maybe it would
reveal Ray’s whereabouts.
Your
Oreos are inside along with forty bucks to cover your cab.
Giveaway
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