The Nearly Reader

From Goodreads: Frankie Byrne Tennyson stunned everyone when she decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Now-after bravely serving her country in Iraq-she's finally come home. Home to a husband whose lingering feelings of abandonment make her wonder if their lives can ever be the same. Home to a daughter whose painful encounters with bullies can only be healed by a mother's love. And home to a father who still can't accept his daughter's decision to serve in spite of his own stellar career as a brigadier general. But the most difficult part about coming home lies within Frankie herself. To save everything she holds dear, she must face the toughest battle of her life . . .

A moving portrait of a modern American family, WHEN SHE CAME HOME reminds us that some things-honor, acceptance, and, above all, love-are truly worth fighting for.

 

I picked this title up blind from the library. I had not heard of the book, nor the author but I liked the synopsis and figured it would be nice to read something brand new.

Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this title and instead of getting a well written, well researched novel about a soldier returning from The Gulf...I was treated with a Lifetime novelization of a soldier returning home from The Gulf. 

I think the biggest problem is that the novel makes such a huge deal out of how much Frankie has changed during her time away...yet, aside from an opening chapter where she is 12 years old and a few very thin references of the before time...the audience has NO idea what exactly is different and therefore there is no way of being able to sympathize...like truly sympathize. The most the book goes into Frankie's past is when the book delves into her time in The Gulf and her friendship with her interpreter and certain situations that she witnessed. Yes, those situations were impactful to the story...but neither one was written well enough for me to grab hold of. 

The supporting characters of this are weak, and no one in this book actually seems like real people, they are just characters in a story who are there strictly to move the plot along. They aren't there for any relationship building purposes, that's for sure. 

When I finished this book, I felt very little except relief that I had finished it and I have no desire to read anything else that Drusilla Campbell has written. Shoot, I think I've seen better watching Army Wives.