Harper Lee Wilcox has been marking time in her hometown of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina since her husband, Noah Wilcox’s death, nearly five years earlier. With her son Ben turning five and living at home with her mother, Harper fights a growing restlessness, worried that moving on means leaving the memory of her husband behind.

Her best friend, Allison Teague, is dealing with struggles of her own. Her husband, a former SEAL that served with Noah, was injured while deployed and has come home physically healed but fighting PTSD. With three children underfoot and unable to help her husband, Allison is at her wit’s end.

In an effort to reenergize her own life, Harper sees an opportunity to help not only Allison but a network of other military wives eager to support her idea of starting a string of coffee houses close to military bases around the country.

In the pursuit of her dream, Harper crosses paths with Bennett Caldwell, Noah’s best friend, and SEAL brother. A man who has a promise to keep, entangling their lives in ways neither of them can foresee. As her business grows so does an unexpected relationship with Bennett. Can Harper let go of her grief and build a future with Bennett even as the man they both loved haunts their pasts?

Titles in the Heart of a Hero series include — The Military Wife –

Title:  The Military Wife
Series:  Heart of a Hero #1
Author:  Laura Trentham
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  February 5, 2019
Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press
My Rating:  4.5 stars

THE MILITARY WIFE is such an emotionally realistic story yet it’s not only about a romance with another chance at love it’s also about survival, moving forward when your heart wants to stay in the past.  It’s stunning in its message and with a past/present point of view, we get a much more complete picture of Harper’s journey to today.

I was easily caught up in Harper’s world, actually her past and her present.  We get to see the younger Harper with the challenges of the military life of her husband, and the strong woman she’s become in the five years since her husband’s death.  Her idea/plan for a way to support military families across the country is unique and I can easily see it becoming a success.  The secondary characters in THE MILITARY WIFE will touch your heart with their struggles and engage you in their stories as well.

This is a story that should be experienced firsthand for there is no way that I can truly convey the emotions that you will feel, the eye-opening truths you may discover or the way the future holds so much promise once the past is settled into place.  I completely enjoyed myself in Ms. Trentham’s world and I’m looking forward to the next book.  I would not hesitate to recommend THE MILITARY WIFE to any reader, even if Romance is not your first love – you will be touched, engaged and entertained by this story.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story.  It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

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