While He Was Away

by Karen Schreck

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Karen Schreck pens a poingnant and inspiring story of love and war, trials and tribulations, and finding oneself. While He Was Away is brimming with a storm of conflicting emotions wide enough to open the flood gates of fear, pride, sadness, and love so deep and beautiful that it will leave reader's breathless. The vibrant cast of characters with their own unique personalities and fascets are sure to tug at their heart strings.

Penna was a delightful character to read about. She was both strong and fearful for David in her love and unwavering support, as he made what he thought was the right decision to serve his country by enlisting in the Army and going to Iraq. There was an overwhelming surge of pride that rose up inside of me, when she finally stood up to ber mother enough to find out more of her family's history. It was endearing to see Penna pick up and choose to have a relationship with her grandmother after all this time not really knowing her at all or much about her.

The love and stability of Penna and David's relationship was breath taking and beautiful to see unfold. Their level of trust, committment, and support despite the short amount of interaction or communication they were given was absolutely awe inspiring. These two truly share a love that is rare to younger couples where most young adult fiction is concerned. They have such a shared sense of understanding between the two, that it's nice to see how real and honest their relationship was. There were moments that I wanted to cry, because it was so beautiful.

While He Was Away is a beautiful tale of love that will take reader's on a journey through the highs and lows along with the difficulties of maintaning a long distance relationship. It isn't an easy thing to do, but sometimes if you truly love something then you're presented with the difficult task of letting that something go. It is a story that does a brilliant job of illustrating that sometimes bits and pieces of life cannot be wrapped up so neatly all nice and pretty. Life and relationships are just not that containable. They are messy, complicated, complex, and filled with so many overwhelming emotions that are raw and burn to the core.

It is a wonderful book full of self-discovery, love, and sacrifice that I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoy's contemporaries. This isn't your happily ever after, but sometimes the greatest love stories of all don't have happy endings.