Xavier Edwards

This was a deep look into what takes place after combat, with stress on what the soldiers face and what the family. It felt mostly very honest and intimate.

I do not agree with the other comment that soldiers would be too hardened to throw up. It is an established fact that many soldiers, even the most battle-experienced would "relieve" themselves in a variety of ways right before or during the first harsh moments of combat/stress. Just vomiting is a mild reaction indeed, a lot of them completely lose their continence, urinating or even defecating without a means to stop that. It's referred to by e.g. Grossman and also by Holmes and Dyer as a normal, rather than abnormal reaction.

I absolutely bought the soldiers, they were well-described and the behaviour was quite well painted and cleverly written.

I had a few criticisms mainly with the females in this story and as it's also spoilerish only read on if that's okay for you.

I didn't really buy those women. Firstly I can't see how any woman would try to go for sex when she clearly sees and senses that her man is very deeply troubled. That's quite beyond me, and not just me, I don't have any female friend who would show such a behaviour. It baffles me and as it baffles me so profoundly, it mars an otherwise very well written story.

The other ties in with this. Any woman married to/living with a soldier (or anyone else bound to encounter such enormous stresses) would have developed a clean sense of what is to be expected. Would know how to field certain behaviourisms, would become understanding and would relatively early on either decide that sort of life is for them or isn't. So again, Susan, like Florence, also comes over as a curious sort of woman.

The reaction of the men, and how they tried to cope with it, what it did to their minds is spot on. I'm just reading [b:On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society|78127|On Killing The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society|Dave Grossman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177455444s/78127.jpg|804474] and Grossman explains the causes of PTSD/CSR being strong in those who have to decide over death or life while directly watching the results of their decisions.

I actually would have liked a longer story, maybe a novella, not necessarily erotica, instead more of a contemporary romance including war/combat and its aftermath, with less stress on the couples sex-life and more on their inner lives and how they cope with what happens. Where the author writes about the men this sounds extremely authentic, I'd love more of that!

RC provided by the author.
… (more)