This is definitely a first where I've read about a couple dealing with the aftershocks of a traumatic event and dealing with PTSD. There's one thing to hear about the various stories with the men and women in the armed forces and then reading a book like this. To be honest, I have no idea how the reality is for someone with PTSD, but I'd like to think that Jen McLaughlin did a great job painting a picture for me. As I was reading this book, it all felt so real and completely heartbreaking to see what they had to go through separately and together.
After an accident that sent him back to that dark place that he hoped to never visit again, he had a slip that could have ruined his marriage and family, forever. Carrie tries her best to keep it all together, but wanting to help him, love him, and trust him, all at the same time. But little by little you see how hard it comes for her to fully trust him. Finn thinks he doesn't need to seek help, so he piles on the lies, which just makes matters worse. Emotions are at an ultimate high and things are said that shouldn't have been said. After everything they gone through, can they get through this? Will they be able to gain each other's trust again? Can Finn get the help he needs to be there for his wife and daughter? Will love prevail?
It's been a while where a book constantly pulled on my heart. The many moments where Finn and Carrie are yelling at each other, shouting low blow, after low blow; I have no idea how my heart managed to take it all. There's just so much pain between the both of them, but there's love that runs so deep that is nearly impenetrable.
There were so many moments that really stuck with me and one of them was when Finn had a conversation with Riley.
People grow up. They change. You just have to try to change together.
I've been married for a very short time and I can tell you that the people we were when we first said our vows are merely different now. We've gone through so many changes as time has goes by. No matter what kind of hardship you face, it'll change you in some shape or form, sometimes for better or worse. And with Finn and Carrie, they are in some hard times, nearly losing each other, but something so pivotal brought them back together again. And they worked through every single thing. They suffered through loss time and time again, but they had the will to carry on together. They never gave up and I love that about them. They were so many times they could have taken the easy way out, but they didn't. Reading the news, you constantly hear about divorce after divorce after divorce. Everyone has their own suffering and we will never know what kind of pain they go through. In Fractured Lines we get to witness that pain and we feel it right with them.
Jen, I commend you for capturing such a heartbreaking, but loving story, but also showing what it feels like to really keep things together and staying afloat, when the easy way out is so tempting. All love suffers loss, but in the end, love did indeed prevail. Phenomenal job!