A Soldier's Return

Intriguingly

Ms. Thayne seems to write heart tugging books featuring strong women. This book is quite inconsistent with time, but the characters more than make up for that little issue. One thing I appreciate is that while love is surely found within these pages, sex is not. I like that Melissa & Eli learn to love deeply without having any intimate, imaginative sexual encounters every few pages ruining a perfectly sweet love story.

This is a warm and wonderful book about Melissa and Eli, who barely knew each other in high school, and both are back home in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Melissa and her seven-year-old daughter, Skye, live in the first floor apartment of Brambleberry House, also housed by two other women on the other two floors. Eli is temporarily home to help keep his father Wendell’s medical clinic running while his father recovers from surgery. Eli is lost and broken from incidents in his military career. Melissa and Eli cross paths on the beach and at the clinic, where Melissa is a nurse. This story is healing and there is much comfort in the kindness of the characters. The descriptions of the ocean views from the windows of Brambleberry House and the sounds of the waves had me wishing I were there. The town and surrounding areas are breathtaking. I loved it and look forward to reading the previous books in this series. It can definitely be read as a standalone book.