Poignant reunion romance between young, military spouses
Matt and Olivia have been together since they were 14. They married when they were only 18, so that they would not be separated when Matt joined the Marines. They were blissfully happy until Matt was shipped to Afghanistan, where he was wounded in the arm during a bloody firefight instigated by betraying Afghan soldiers, who were living inside the US military compound. His best friend Brooks was wounded much more seriously than Matt and nearly died, but Brooks did not get PTSD as Matt did, which Matt has been ashamed about ever since. While living with Olivia after getting out of the hospital, Matt completely terrified himself when he abruptly woke from a gruesome dream, which was a reenactment of the battle where he was wounded, and instinctively leaped threateningly toward Olivia. Though she got out of the way, and he didn't actually touch her, Matt decided it was not safe for him to be around her, because he was convinced that he would inevitably harm her. As a result, for the past seven months, Matt has walked away from their marriage and had no contact with Olivia. Until the weekend getaway at the beach, where two other military couples, who are their closest friends, including Brooks and his wife, play matchmaker. They trick Matt and Olivia into staying simultaneously in the large, rental house that the three couples reserved months ago, before Matt left Olivia, in hopes it would get the two of them back together.
Matt and Olivia previously appeared in the book just before this one in this series, in which they were on the verge of getting married. They are an adorable couple, and this is a well-written, sex-free, reunion romance. It's not typical in "sweet," non-religious romances for the authors to even bother to motivate why two healthy, attractive individuals, who are on the verge of getting married, barely even kiss each other. In the case of this particular novel, the foregoing of sex between these two people, who are actually legally married and, by any moral standards free to engage in sex, is well motivated. Both Matt and Olivia refuse to restart their sexual relationship until they feel secure that Matt is truly going to give their marriage a second chance.