Thursday, February 6, 2020

Tour Review & Giveaway - - An Everyday Hero


An Everyday Hero
by Laura Trentham
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
 



At thirty, Greer Hadley never expected to be forced home to Madison, Tennessee with her life and dreams up in flames. A series of bad decisions and even worse luck lands her community service hours at a nonprofit organization that aids veterans and their families. Greer cannot fathom how she’s supposed to help anyone deal with their trauma and loss when everything that brought her joy has failed her.
Then Greer meets fifteen-year-old Ally Martinez, a gifted girl who lost her father in action and now hides her pain behind a mask of sarcasm. But Greer sees something undeniable that she can’t walk away from. To make matters more complicated, Greer finds herself spending more and more time with Emmett Lawson―a man with both physical and emotional scars of his own. When a situation with Ally becomes dire, the two of them must become a team to save her―and along the way they might just save themselves too.


PJ's Thoughts:

In An Everyday Hero, Laura Trentham brings readers into the lives of three people who are all in pain but, when brought together, just might be able to save each other...and themselves. Greer invested her whole life in her single-minded pursuit of a music career only to have it all spectacularly crash and burn in the midst of a panic attack. Returning home to her small town looking for solace from her boyfriend, she instead finds him pants-down with another woman. Is it any wonder she goes a little batsh*t crazy at the local bar when someone plays Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats," and finds herself before the local judge (who also happens to be her favorite uncle)? She expects a light fine, maybe highway trash pick-up, but instead he sentences her to volunteer hours at a local musical therapy center. Music. Her greatest love, greatest failure, and greatest fear. She is not a happy camper which, of course, makes her the perfect person to be assigned to two others resistant to the center's efforts: Ally and Emmett. 

Athletic and handsome, Emmett was the golden boy of his hometown who went off to war to uphold his family's tradition of service but came home severely wounded, both physically and emotionally, and is well on his way to closing himself off completely from his friends, his family, and life. I ached for him and for his parents who have no idea how to reach him. Fourteen-year-old Ally is a heart-breaker. Her father is dead, killed in service, her mother has lost the ability to cope following his death, and Ally is so consumed with anger and grief she fairly vibrates with it, the walls she's erected around herself, practically impenetrable. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and take her pain into myself but what Ally needs is something else.  

I found Greer, Ally, and Emmett all so very realistic and relatable, quickly becoming invested in each of their stories. Processing pain, and grief, are very personal endeavors and Trentham excels at creating those individual journeys on the page while, at the same time, intricately weaving them together as a whole. Greer is the catalyst that puts both Ally and Emmett on their individual paths to recovery, eventually bringing them together in a surprising way but Greer is on her own path as well and as much as she helps them, they help her in return. I liked Greer and I loved the (totally different) relationships that form between her and Emmett and her and Ally. You can feel their pain - Trentham doesn't sugarcoat it - but there's also hope, humor (especially between Emmett and Greer), heart-tugging romance, and deep friendships that form as they all sort through the fears and feelings that are keeping them from moving forward. 

An Everyday Hero is a story of second chances, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and love. Its a story of overcoming the challenges faced by wounded veterans and by military families left behind. And it's a story of healing, friendship, acceptance, and finally finding the path we're meant to travel. I laughed, I cried, and I turned the final page so grateful to have met these wonderful characters through Laura Trentham's deeply emotional storytelling. It's a book I highly recommend. 


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Have you read any of Laura Trentham's books?

Do you enjoy books with military themes or characters?

Tell me about the last women's fiction novel you enjoyed.

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, February 7, 2020 will receive a print copy of An Everyday Hero

*Must be 18 or older.
*Open to U.S. addresses only.





31 comments:

  1. I haven't read this author's novels. This book sounds memorable and special. The last women's fiction which was unforgettable and extraordinary was When we Believed in Mermaids.

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  2. I haven't read Laura's books yet - I do like stories with military characters.
    I really enjoyed Susan Wigg's Oysterville Sewing Circle (I think that would be considered Women's fiction).

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    1. This is her second women's fiction novel but she has a good back list of small-town contemporary romance as well as historicals.

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  3. Love her books, so want to read. I just finished Jill Shalvis, Almost Friends

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    1. Did you enjoy Almost Friends? I haven't read that yet.

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  4. Yes, I have read Laura's books and do like very much military romance. I also loved Oysterville Sewing Circle and The Family Journal by Carolyn Brown. I am so excited for this giveaway; it has been on my wish list for awhile.

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    1. I hadn't heard of Brown's The Family Journal. Will have to check that out.

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  5. New author to me and this book sounds good.

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    1. It's very good. So are her small-town contemporary romances.

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  6. Laura's books are profound. The Peacock Summer was captivating.

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  7. Wow--compelling characters! I would love to read Laura's book. I do enjoy military themes and characters. I recommend "Five Years Gone" and "One Year Home" by Marie Force.

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  8. I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of this book. You were spot on. So glad I have a box of tissues by me. I've read all of Ms. Trentham's books and looking forward to her Scottish one next.

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    1. I'm enjoying her Highland, Georgia series too!

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  9. I love reading books by Laura Trentham!! Please do not enter me in thegiveaway as I already won a copy from Goodreads. I enjoy reading military themes also.

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  10. I haven't read her books yet but reading the review I definitely will start with this one.
    Carol Luciano
    Lucky4750 at aol dot com

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  11. I have recently fallen in love with her Scottish guys who have come to Georgia for a time. I had never read her before and now know that she is wonderful.

    You have made this book sound like something I would love. But, then you know I am cheap and easy and love nearly everything you review. I recently read The Eternity Springs Series - The McBrides of Texas - by Emily March. Another new to me series.

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    1. I'm a big fan of Trentham's Cottonbloom series too!

      Glad to hear you enjoyed March's Eternity Springs series. I'm also a fan of the earlier historical romance and romantic suspense novels she wrote as Geralyn Dawson. I know the books of the first McBride trilogy have been re-titled (Matt, Mark, Luke) and reissued under her Emily March name. I believe some of the historical romances have too. I know The Loner has.

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  12. I have not read any of this authors books.
    I do like military related books and enjoyed Marilyn Pappano's Tallgrass series.
    I probably have read some womens' fiction but cannot recall which ones, probably Deb Macomber and Susan Mallery.
    Karen T. (Natty's Mama)

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    1. I loved Pappano's Tallgrass series. I haven't read anything by her in years.

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  13. I started reading Laura Trentham's historical novels and have read a couple of her contemporary ones. Of course, I have quite a few still on my wish list and TBR (that happens a lot with me). I do enjoy military fiction, nut can't remember the last straight women's fiction I read. . . I'll have to do something about that.

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  14. I love Laura Trentham's books, especially her Cottonbloom series and Highland, Georgia series.

    I read an ARC of An Everyday Hero. It was an amazing book! I absolutely loved Greer. She is my all-time favorite heroine.

    The last women's fiction book that I read before this one was A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan. She's one of my favorite authors.

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  15. I love, love Laura's books! I love books with military heroes. I would really enjoy reading this one. Thanks for the chance to win it.

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  16. No, I haven't Laura YET, but this title sounds really good. Military personnel are the true superheroes. They sacrifice their lives, literally for us!
    annfes@yahoo.com

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  17. I've never read Laura Trentham, but now I'm thinking I really need to remedy this. I see she has quite a collection, but your review makes me want to get to know Greer, Ally, and Emmett. Thanks, PJ!

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  18. This is a new author to me. I do enjoy reading books with military themes/characters. Thank you for offering this giveaway! lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com

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  19. I have a print copy of Laura's WHEN A HIGHLANDER WALKS INTO A BAR sitting on my to-be-read shelf and will add this because you had me at wounded military hero. Or any military hero. ;)

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