Trusting a Warrior is more of an emotional journey than a romance. There is a romance between the 2 main characters, but it felt like it was kind of on the side or taking a backseat to the emotional growth these characters faced. Technically, I picked it up for the romance, but I wasn't disappointed with what I found. The author hit on some tough stuff in this one, and she did it very well. And on top of the emotional stuff, we get a bi man, who is out and proud, and his love interest is a woman. There's nothing wrong with that at all, and the gender of his love interest doesn't matter to me as long as it's a romantic couple I can root for. It just seemed noteworthy because I haven't seen that very often in M/F romances. Speaking of romantic couples to root for, I genuinely liked both characters, and I found myself just rooting for them as a whole. I feel like I would have rooted for them as they dealt with everything thrown at them whether there was romance or not. They are just those kinds of characters. This is the first in the series that I've read, so I don't know if there was something I was missing, but I will say that I didn't feel like it. The story has good pacing and flow, and the characters are the kind you want more of. All in all, a good story.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆☆
M/F Romance
Triggers: Suicide, Depression, Grief

Lani is a bartender who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. With a past she hates to think about and a future that is shaping up to be somewhat unsteady, what she can't know is that her future is going to change forever.

Geo is a K-9 handler who loves his job. But he also knows that his job comes with no guarantees. While toasting a fallen soldier, he meets Lani one night. He knows that pain – would recognize it anywhere. It mirrors his own.

This is a story about overcoming guilt, grief, and finding a new normal. It is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and makes you really have to feel the characters' grief and emotions. Get a box of Kleenex in order to read this book. There were several places that I needed to have a tissue on hand.

There is no getting around grief, you just have to get through it and find a new normal. You'll be cheering them on, wanting to hug them, and, at times, wanting to shake them. It's a very beautifully written story that will have you sighing in happiness.


Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
Triggers: Suicide, PTSD, Mental Illness

Definitely not your typical romance. George is a SEAL who's also a K-9 handler. His dog has saved many lives and gotten them both out of hot spots, alive and well. It's only when George is home and away from base that he's a bit lost. He's not sure what he wants in life – or who. He's had several girlfriends and boyfriends over the years, but his last serious relationship left a scar on his heart that will never heal. George was ready to come out to the Navy as bisexual, but his partner was not.

Meeting Lani, the bartender with an attitude, changes something in him. Listening to each other's problems that night and exchanging phone numbers is the beginning a friendship that they both need.

Lani's past often comes back to haunt her in a myriad of ways. She knows that she needs help in dealing with the pain of her past but she's just not sure how to do it. Reluctantly, she begins to see a therapist and joins a support group. As she begins to heal herself, she can see the same wounds in George's soul.

As the days turns into weeks into months, George and Lani's relationship begins to grow. Love based on friendship makes any relationship stronger.

Melanie Hansen is such an accomplished author. Her words can fuel your soul. Direct, gritty and sexy, I just love her stories and can never get enough. Her characters are strong yet flawed and always manage to capture my heart. I have devoured so many of her books and really have enjoyed her mm pairings. This book had a mf couple with the man being bi which I found to be inspiring. Ms. Hanson always embraces diversity into her tales which makes me greatly admire her.
You feel the agony these two souls carry. Geo, the Navy Seal and pregnant and alone Lani forge a tentative friendship when they share similar past tragedies that have scarred them emotionally. You feel the agony and loneliness that weighs them down. Lani and Geo become friends and their bond grows to be much more. As they become closer can they keep what they have as a Navy Seal has intense responsibilities. Another top notch story that will make remain with you.
There is definitely triggers in this story to consider especially suicide and mental illness being in the fore front.
Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for my reading enjoyment.

*4.5 stars*

Melanie Hansen should be very proud of Trusting a Warrior, which is another stellar book in the Loving a Warrior series. Though it is a very serious book about suicide and grieving, it also had a stand-out romance and an emotionally-packed plotline.

Right off the bat, I was supremely impressed that we got a bisexual male MC in a M/F romance. when I say that is rare, I mean it is rare. I can count on one hand the number of times I've read bi-men out of the context of a M/M romance. I was extremely excited, and I loved how Melanie Hansen portrayed Geo's sexuality without any bi-erasure. Geo is a bi man, and proud of that fact, and it wasn't glossed over. Beautifully done.

If you've read the other books in the series, you'll remember Lani. I don't think you need to have read the previous books, but it helps you know the side characters' backstories. I really liked how Lani was portrayed in this book, and I enjoyed seeing all of her relationships evolve though the course of this story. Lani is hurting from both the loss of her brother and the loss of her long-time relationship, plus an unplanned pregnancy, and the author unpacked her trauma with grace. I felt like I got to know Lani very well, and I loved how her relationship with Geo grew organically.

Geo was going through an equal amount of trauma. His backstory was no less difficult, and I liked how he also got the page-time to unravel his web of emotions. Parts of his story were difficult to read, and I'll admit that I cried at times, but it's not truly a Melanie Hansen book if my emotions aren't put through the ringer.

My only criticism would be that the romance took a slight backseat to the emotional journey that both characters were going through, but I still think that Melanie Hansen did a remarkable job juggling everything. If I'm being perfectly frank, nothing will ever hold a candle to Point of Contact for me from Melanie Hansen, but I think this book was pretty outstanding. It felt personal, to me, like Melanie Hansen had a deep connection to this storyline.

A very moving story in the Loving a Warrior series, Trusting a Warrior was another win for Melanie Hansen.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

I apologize for the late review!

I was a bit surprised by the subject of suicide being a strong one in the story. It's very important to write about it, I just wasn't expecting it to be so big in this. I expected a lighter romantic suspense novel and this is a heavier one.

This book was so not what I was thinking it would be. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it hard for me to get my thoughts straight enough to write the review...especially when the misleading synopsis is partly to blame.

Newly pregnant bartender Lani Abuel is having a bad day when she meets customer George Monteverdi, who is in the bar to toast the memory of his Navy SEAL teammate, mentor, and friend on the first anniversary of his death. Little do they know the night they met, Lani and Geo share similar tragedies in their pasts, and the key to healing is working through their pain - both on their own and together.

There is a lot to unpack in this book, so get comfy. I have lots of thoughts.

First off, as I said, the synopsis is misleading. Lani’s fiance was no longer Lani’s fiance when he fell in love with another woman. She wasn’t done wrong by the ex, who is actually a really decent person (and so is the new lady in his life - incidentally, the second book in this series is about them, but I haven't read it, so maybe it was more messy than this book made it seem 🤷). Lani even knows the end of that relationship was for the best, even if she is still sad the close relationship is over. It was actually refreshing to see how this part of the storyline played out without all kinds of drama and angst. I loved seeing Lani’s growth in accepting how her past affected her relationship with Rhys - and it was good to see it evolve into a healthy relationship with him, along with becoming friends with his new girlfriend.

The next thing I want to bring up is that this story went in a direction I didn’t see coming...at all. I was prepared for the talk of war and PTSD, the difficult topic of suicide. What I was not expecting was the story to start out with the hero being involved in a relationship with another man. Which I just want to be clear here, isn’t an issue. But it was a little...confusing. There was no hint whatsoever that the hero is bisexual until the revelation is tossed out in a conversation with the heroine, and is then never discussed at all. And I can’t decide how I feel about it. Should that aspect of a person’s sexuality be treated as unceremoniously as the color of their hair? Or, does being in a relationship with a bisexual person involve nuance and unique challenges that deserve to be a more integral and developed part of the storyline/relationship? Had I done some research on the author (or read the other two books in the series) I may have seen this coming, but alas, I did not. So mentally I wasn’t prepared to have these kinds of jumbled thoughts.

Which brings me to the romance part of this book. I loved how Lani and Geo started out as friends and their relationship developed organically. It was so sweet to see Geo check in on Lani when he was away, and that when Geo’s walls started to crumble he turned to Lani for comfort.

But I really feel like the romance was a secondary storyline, taking a backseat to descriptions about military training, Geo’s job as a K9 handler, and then the therapy both Lani and Geo need to deal with the traumas in their pasts. And while I’m always a big fan of a book that shows the importance of mental health and treats therapy in a positive light, it was disappointing to only see Lani doing the hard work. We know Geo finally got to a place of peace and acceptance with his past, but I would have liked to see it happen.

Sometimes writing my review helps me sort things out in my head, helps me solidify what I think or feel about a book. But it hasn’t this time. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that while I enjoyed the characters and their story, I was here for the romance. I was here for a story where a hurting woman needed to learn to trust a warrior. Instead, I feel like we got a good story about a woman who learned to trust herself, and led another hurting soul along on her journey to healing. Which is not a bad thing...it’s just not what I was expecting. Throw in several different storylines and some topics that left me feeling unmoored, and you have a recipe for a muddled, rambling review.

Readers briefly met Lani in Keeping a Warrior, but since that was Rhys and Devon’s story, I didn’t remember much about her. The more I read, the more I remembered though.

This isn’t my first Melanie Hansen read, and although I’ve liked all the Loving a Warrior books so far, Trusting a Warrior held more of an emotional punch than all the others combined. Not quite as much emotion as I experienced when I read Point of Contact, but that book was an exception that would be hard to repeat.

I’m not sure which of their stories broke my heart more. There’s a lot of judgement that goes with suicide victims and those that are left behind. This story pulled no punches trying to downplay that. Part of the reason why Lani didn’t seek help in dealing with her grief was because of that. Devon’s grief was a lot fresher (Lani’s 10 years compared to Devon’s year.) He was also dealing with a whole different mentality surrounded by service men who considered suicide even more of a coward’s way out. The guilt that both Devon and Lani carried didn’t help either.

Which all brings me to the fact that Trusting a Warrior was so much more than a romance. It was a story of trust, love, honor, pain, recovery and hope. Lani and Devon found each other at just the right time, but they also had a strong supportive group of people who had their back.

Trusting a Warrior also got readers caught up on previous characters from the Loving a Warrior series. A lot of them came full circle and it was nice to see where they were years after their stories began.

Trusting a Warrior is the third book in the Loving a Warrior series and the first I have read by this author. This was one of those books that felt like it could be someone’s real-life story. I cried through the entire book but loved every minute of it. Maybe because as a veteran myself, I have experienced the long deployments and the stress military life has on families so this was near and dear to my heart. I admire the way the author approached the touchy subject of suicide and the loss of everyone in a person’s life experiences. She was able to show through the characters the emotions and doubts that friends, spouses, siblings, and children have after losing a loved one to such a tragedy. In this book, both the hero and heroine were struggling to get past the pain, anger, and “what ifs” from losing someone very close to them to suicide. They were each in different phases and were able to help each other over time. I enjoyed meeting all the characters from the series and the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What an incredible book!
This was so different than what I expected!

This is the story of Lani and Geo, two people coming together very slowly, each with a very big heartache, both on a different level of handling their grief after losing a loved one to suicide.

There is so much beauty, on so many different scales, in this book. The love story feels secondary as the main character here is really the way people get to survive and learn to live with this kind of pain.

Along with this main character, there are different layers that make this story a celebration of the complexity that is our humanity. The fact that the hero is bisexual, the no judgment and the space the heroine holds for this and for his grieving process is just wonderful. The heroine herself has to deal with a pregnancy, the aftermath of her last breakup and handling the presence of her ex boyfriend's new lover. There is the way the hero comes back into the family of his departed friend, the different approaches team guys have when they relate to the suicide of one of their own, so, so many different aspects that make the story have such a "real feel".

Written down and summarized these are such intriguing story lines but the writing is so round, so well proportioned, so encompassing, with key scenes so well timed it all comes together in such a heartwarming, empathetical way. A book that literally opened my mind and my heart to understand better this kind of pain and the people who learn to live with it. And more than this, the book is a perfect view of what healing one self can bring to the others. When one heals, a small part of the world heals as one gets to set an example and help and hold space for the others. What a gift of a book!

I know I will like Trusting a Warrior, but this copy doesn't allow me to read it. I am having major formatting issues with it. Sorry.

What an amazing tribute and emotional story!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really wasn’t expecting the depth of emotion that this author was able to achieve. But when I read her bio I completely understand how she was able to convey that level of understanding and balance.

I found myself smiling one minute and tears rolling the next. The author beautifully depicts a budding romance that starts with a true friendship. Both main characters are struggling with the death of a loved one; learning how to manage their emotions and feelings plus acceptance of not only death of a loved one, but how to live again.

Yes, this book deals with some dark subjects, but it’s not like it isn’t what people deal with on a regular basis. I commend her for taking a touchy subject and building not only awareness but passionate and deep romance out of it as well.

Written with a deep understanding of pain and grief but with lightness and clarity to accept happiness, find joy, plus grow and heal within those feelings is passionate storytelling. Hansen nailed it with this emotionally charged story that balances military service, deployments, PTSD, love, friendships, growth, and tenderness.

Thank you to Harlequin, Melanie Hansen and Net Galley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would never think of reading a Harlequin novel for education but I learned so much from reading Trusting a Warrior. This book was incredibly well researched and I enjoyed learning about being a Seal and what life is like for the significant other of someone who is doing such important work.

Lani and Geo met one night at the Bar that she bartends at. He quickly learns that she is pregnant without a partner and they agree to lean on each other as friends and eventually that friendship turns into a romance. There are tons of flashbacks of the death of Lani's Brother and the death of Geo's best friend, as the result of suicide. Sometimes it can be hard to read. This is not a light hearted romance. There is a lot of death and injury and both Lani and Geo suffer from PTSD. This is a slow burn romance and mostly focuses on Geo's life as a Seal and Dog trainer.

This is my first time reading this Author and won't be my last. 4 stars!!

This is my first introduction to the Loving a Warrior series, and although I found it a little hard to get into, I did enjoy it.

As not only was it extremely well-written, but it nicely dealt with some tough and sensitive issues, from survivor's guilt to PTSD, to suicide. It packed a lot in and did it very well, highlighting issues that today more than ever are extremely relevant and real.

And with likable characters who do grow as the story progresses, a somewhat satisfying romance, and a heartwarming message of hope and strength. I was engaged throughout, and I would certainly read more from the series and author in the future.

Would recommend.

Having read and enjoyed Melanie Hansen's novel, Keeping a Warrior, I was eager to read the next novel in her Loving a Warrior series, and she didn't disappoint. With great sensitivity and skill, Ms. Hansen has written an excellent novel with many deeply emotional triggers, including PTSD, suicide, wounded warriors, survivor's guilt, bisexuality, homosexuality, pregnancy with an unknown father, parental abuse, and loneliness. If any of these are triggers for you, you may want to read something else, but although I was able to relate to some of these issues, the delicacy and inherent decency with which this author handled them made this a 5-star read for me.

The main characters in this novel are George (Geo), a K9 handler with the Navy Seals, and Lani, an unwed, pregnant woman, who had a one night stand and doesn't know who the father of her child is. She also was dumped by her friend turned lover, turned fiance after a decade-long relationship, Rhys, also a Navy SEAL, who was gone on deployments more than he was present, and who then met and fell in love with someone else. Pregnant and alone, Lani is working as a bartender when she meets Geo, also a Navy SEAL, drinking alone and staring at a second drink he ordered but hasn't touched. Both of these characters have experienced major trauma in their lives. For Lani, the suicide of her beloved brother, and her inability to deal with it, and for Geo, the loss of his closest friend and mentor, Cade, who also chose to end his own life, and the guilt Geo feels for not seeing it coming, and that's just for starters.

When Lani and Geo first meet they each seem to sense each other's pain and brokenness, and find in each other a good listener, as they slowly form a friendship. As you begin to learn their individual stories, you'll be going through an emotional wringer of guilt and loss along with them, especially if you have dealt with similar experiences in your own life, but you'll also see how simply having someone else to talk to, someone who understands your grief without judging you, and shares your feelings of pain and loss, and the way in which two broken souls can help heal each other.

At the very least, Geo, who has been consumed by guilt and grief, has found his K9 partner, Bosch, to help him function and find purpose in his work with the SEALs, but his growing inability to deal with his feelings in an environment where men are supposed to be able to compartmentalize and never show weakness is slowly but surely affecting his performance. When Lani becomes his friend and sounding board, it helps, but she has as many emotional scars as he does, and is also attempting to deal with her own issues. While I'm not entirely sure why the author needed to make Geo bisexual, it certainly didn't bother me, and we do get a chance to see a wonderful and loving gay couple who we met in the previous novel get their HEA ending in this one. While not essential to the plot of this novel, their happiness was a nice change from the much of the sadness the two primary characters are dealing with.

There was absolutely nothing about this book or its characters that didn't resonate with me. My marriage to a man whose military service left him with PTSD certainly gave me insight into the emotional issues that these characters need to face and come to terms with, and having lost more than one friend to suicide helped me to understand the why of it, and the tendency to blame oneself for not seeing the warning signs. I very much liked the fact that the author understood that healing from grief and guilt is an ongoing and long-time process, and she offered excellent advice on how to deal with it and how to help those in your life who may be experiencing it too.

While this novel doesn't offer much in the way of a complicated or ultra-suspenseful plot, what it did extremely well was delve deeply into the human psyche, into feelings that are hard to express or share, and did it brilliantly. It was a heartfelt read I'm happy to recommend with one warning--make sure to keep your tissues handy.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

George and Lani will make you feel all the "feels". They'll put you through the wringer, give you a breather and then do it again. These two lost and slightly broken souls are just what each other need.

Lani can't handle the guilt of being a soon-to-be-mum. She had a fiance but they were together for all the wrong reasons; missing the brother and friend they had lost, guilt at not helping him more, survivors guilt. She almost wrecked his new relationship with her stupid attempt to get back together. To commiserate she had a desperate rebound fling and now she is pregnant. Bio-dad has left her high and dry and now it's her and peanut against the world.

Enter Geo. He has his own hurt to deal with. He and his K9 partner function well enough but the scars he carries make him feel he'll never be whole again. Meeting Lani helps soothe the ragged edges. But can they make a real go of this relationship or are they doomed before they ever really take off?

These two very much grow from friendship. With the complication of Lani being pregnant and actually still being friends with her ex-fiance, their experiences with grief and trust issues. I did enjoy the emotion-filled ride. They certainly don't have an easy road to their HEA.

I was caught up in the odd but very happy friendship that Lani and her ex and his new partner find together. The author doesn't shy away from showing different loving relationships with a brilliantly written same-sex couple who are just accepted by their rough, tough, gruff comrades. Sure there is teasing but the teams just see them for them, not as something odd or to be feared or hidden. Absolutely loved that.

Bosch is a brilliant character on his own. I'm a sucker for dogs and K9's in particular. He was very much a working dog and not a pet but I still missed him in the 2nd half of the book.

Great writing and I'd say this is most definitely a read you need tissues handy for. More romance and feels than romantic suspense.

#Triggers: suicide, suicide survivors

I tried getting into this one, but it just didn’t happen. I tried pushing through... finally started skipping around in the book just to finish the story. Sweet ending...

3.5* Well written, moving and it doesn't pull its punches - read the warnings, please.

As usual with Melanie Hansen, you get a well-written, well-researched tale with an authenticity that stands out, because of her and her family's military backgrounds. There is a romance in the tale, that's a given, but at times that felt overshadowed by both leads' experience of being survivors of suicide, and by this, I mean the people left behind to mourn and grieve and try to go on living.

Both leads are damaged and both do want to do something about it, and their relationship starts from a chance encounter, turns into a friendship, then more, and ultimately the leads end up in a HEA - which isn't always a given in this series, as readers will know. In terms of the storyline, it was moving and emotional for both the leads and me as a reader, and though MF tales aren't my first choice of reading material, MH is an autobuy and I knew I'd be in for a decent read.

Despite the warning, which I would urge readers to note before diving into this tale, I didn't expect how much suicide survivors would feature in this, and I am not talking simply about the leads, but about others in their backgrounds. At times, it sounded as if Lani hated the military life and all it entailed and this was her reason for pushing Geo away. He was a mix of stubborn guy but also one who started going down the route of ruining his life before he got a well-timed, short, sharp kick where it hurts from his higher-ups, and ended up getting the help he needed. A lot of the book focused on therapy and talking about feelings, and, more than the leads' stories, I felt for the father of a woman who'd killed herself. The position he was in, the guilt that he felt over his actions/inaction, was terrible to see and I couldn't contemplate finding myself in this situation and being able to live with it. The words the counsellor used were uplifting and healing and made me think about a lot more than the storyline, and made me consider a different viewpoint on not just this issue, but many things in life where we struggle to cope. It was poignant and the timing hit hard, and I suspect most readers will feel a personal connection, whether they've experienced suicide in their lives or not. I'm not sure that the timing of the tale coming out is right, with all that's happened in 2020 and with the subject line and the time of year, so I'd urge readers to go into this with caution, and when they're in a good place emotionally.

The romance was sweet, and I liked how open Geo (he seemed more like a George than a Geo, but that's just me) was about his sexuality and how Lani was surprised but totally on board and totally secure in his reveal. I didn't see a huge attraction between them, but I did see liking and caring and unwavering support and human goodness and decency in both, and that seemed to naturally lead to more. I liked that the issue of her baby's paternity was never made into a thing and that she was never made out to be anything less than a strong, independent woman who owned what had happened to her and didn't make excuses or 'woe is me', and I did believe that Geo would love the child as if it were his own. There were fewer sex scenes than expected in most romances, but what there was was sexy and fitted the tale.

What made the tale for me, though, was the HEA of HEAs that we saw for my fave couple of this series, that the author got together and then took apart before cementing them forever here. Yes, they were side characters to this tale and book 2 in the series, but for me, they're the reason I read this series. There was also a HEA for another couple, but tbh, they never resonated for me, and I could have left them in their book quite happily without reading more about them.

The tale did feel the tiniest bit unrealistic by MH making friends of Lani and Devon, Rhy's ex-lover and current girlfriend; I got why she brought them together, as Rhys would always be in Lani's life, but the 'love you, girl' was a bit overkill for me. And, with Rhys in Lani's life going forward, as well as Geo, it was to be hoped that neither guy would have an issue with their commonality. There was a bit of bristling on Geo's part that suddenly evaporated, which I didn't entirely buy, but these guys needed to do something adult for all to get their HEA.

It didn't feel as if there would be more tales in the series, and I'm OK with that, as my fave couple are in a good place and hopefully will weather whatever the US military throws at them.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Carina Press, for my reading pleasure.

3.5 stars.
Addressing serious, delicate issues and featuring characters deeply affected by them, “Trusting a Warrior”, by Melanie Hansen (Harlequin – Carina Press), shows the important role friendship, love, and professional help play in the healing process.
Geo and Lani are likeable characters, both a little lost when they meet and connect. Sometimes they seem more like friends than lovers, while they both navigate through feelings of loss, guilt, remorse and sadness.
Lani’s quiet strength is the perfect answer to the nature of Geo’s fear of assuming the real magnitude of his problems.
I felt the protagonists’ relationship needed a bit more build-up in the beginning and although I liked how they bonded and were supportive of each other I found the romantic dimension was a bit lacking; I would prefer more romance and less extended sex scenes.
The fondness and affection between characters is heartwarming, even though sometimes the closeness felt too quick (Lani and Devon, for example).
Bosch is an incredible animal character and I missed him in the second half of the book, but, as the author showed so well, he is a highly intelligent military working dog, and not a pet.

Wow! Is there anything about this novel that didn’t blow me away? Nope. From the real life struggles with surviving a loved one’s suicide to the credible and alluring inclusion of bi and gay relationships, even involving the hero of a hetero love story. There are so many layers to this book and such well drawn multidimensional characters. And these true to life characters were also appealing and steamy-sexy. I would recommend this book to my patrons but I can’t wait to recommend it to my family and friends as well. I think I’ll be buying me up some copies to give away to make sure everyone can read it, too. Bravo!

This book really touched my heart in ways I never expected. This book includes a main character story line that deals with a loved one who has taken their own life. It is a difficult topic, but it was handled in a thoughtful way. I really enjoyed the insight into the K9 program in the Navy.
A chance meeting between Lani, a pregnant bartender, and Geo, a Navy SEAL K9 hander, led to the beginning of a friendship. Through their initial conversation and walk later the beach, they both found they had something in common, both had suffered a tremendous loss in their life.
Geo give Lani the courage to start to truly deal with her loss. Lani starts counseling and begins to see herself and the loss of her brother differently. Geo struggles to keep moving forward, trying so hard to put the pain in a box and continuing with training. Geo provides the encouragement to Lani to attend a group counseling session. Their friendship grows and they really start to be attracted to each other, but both don’t think that is a good idea.
When Geo finds himself in a crisis and his career as a Navy SEAL on the line, he turns to Lani for support. Will Geo get the help he needs? Will Lani and Geo get past their pain to give their feelings a chance?
“What was the deal with him? One minute he’d been talking to Lani, the next swamped by a tidal wave of grief so strong he’d almost started howling. An ambush moment, she’d called it, a like any ambush, he’d immediately fought back against it. He’d won, but it was a narrow victory, and he’d managed to wound Lani during the battle.”
“For others of you, acceptance might simply be conceding that even though your loved one’s life ended, yours goes on. There’s no right or wrong answer here, but I can tell you firsthand, there is a measure of peace that comes along with identifying it.”
Above are examples of the insights into the grieving process for suicide survivors. I found these insights to be extremely helpful in my own life.
While the topics in the story are difficult, it was well written and helped to understand the pain and suffering the people left behind face as survivors of suicide.
Thanks to Netgalley for the complimentary copy. The thoughts and opinions are my own.