This is a series of loosely connected short stories all dealing with the emotional issues of being the partner or serviceman who has been deployed in war. Normally, I am not a fan of short stories but the loosely interconnected weave of these men and women did not need a prolonged plot. Her writing was superb; I felt the pain and grief of these characters long after I finished it (read in one sitting). It also sensitized me to others who have been deployed, making me look at them in a whole new way. I would run to get this book.

A glimpse of military life in Fort Hood...dedicated women waiting patiently and fearfully for dedicated men to return, and dedicated men and women wondering what it will be like when they do return.

Will things be the way they were before, will it take a while to get back to the routine before separation, or will what they had be completely gone? Unless you have been there, you never know what others endure and what feelings grow or get lost when there is an extended period of absence from a loved one .

As the book's individual stories unfolded, you could sympathize with the appealing characters and the difficult, but real situations. The reader will undeniably appreciate what military men and women have to endure away from home and what their loved ones deal with as they wait.

Siobhan Fallon is an exceptionally talented storyteller. I am confident this will be a very popular book once it is published because of the subject matter and the focus of each section.

The interest-rich stories kept you absorbed, but my preference is a connected story with similar characters throughout; therefore, I am going to rate the book 4/5 simply because of my personal obsession with the connectivity of a book's plot and its constant characters.