Review and Giveaway: Home Front

Home Front by Kristin Hannah


Publication Date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: Hardcover, 400pp
ISBN-13: 978-0312577209

ISBN: 0312577206

(Received for an honest review from St. Martin's Press)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound


Kristin Hannah on WEB: website, blog, facebook


Excerpt from Home Front


Trailer: 



   

Synopsis:

 

In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets of mothers. Now she explores the inner landscape of a marriage - with the provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife. In love and at war...

 

Like many couples, Michael and Jolene have to face the pressures of everyday life - children, careers, bills, chores - even as their twelve year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm's way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, struggling to care for their children. At once a profoundly honest look into a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic exploration of the price of war on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and - ultimately - hope.

 

Thoughts: 

 

This is one of those timeless novels that you know from the first page is going to touch you in a special way! In Kristin Hannah's latest book, Home Front readers get an up close and personal view into an ordinary military family and the sacrifices they make for our freedoms. Hannah's writing always brings out the emotion, but this one is particularly stirring and current. With many of our soldiers still overseas it is perfect timing for a novel with this kind of theme and presence.

I have been a Kristin Hannah fan for a long time, having read several of her books. One of the reasons I keep coming back to her writing is because of the honesty and forthrightness with which she writes. Her books always seem to strike a cord with me no matter what the subject is. There are few families in the US today that have not been impacted in some way by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So many families have been torn apart by deployment and the issues that result from war and it's affects on the soldiers themselves. I thought Hannah treated this subject with respect and understanding and I'm sure fans of her writing will find Home Front one of her best.

I really enjoyed the role reversal in this novel. Usually it is the husband that's going off to war and the wives and mothers are left behind to hold down the fort, to make it work, to keep everything together. But in Home Front Michael is the one left at home, while Jolene, a Black Hawk pilot is deployed to the front. Michael learns a lot about himself and the wife he was willing to throw away by taking the reigns and trying to keep his family together without her. He learns a lot about what she does everyday and the sacrifices she makes on a daily basis to keep things running smoothly.

But truthfully, Jolene was the star of this book. Her character was just amazing. Readers will identify with Jolene and her struggles. As it becomes apparent that this deployment will completely change her life, she begins to question everything. It was amazing to see her journey and how she is able to grow and change. She goes through some of the very lowest moments of her life and yet there is always hope. Hannah has created probably my favorite character from her writing with Jolene and that's saying a lot since Hannah is one of my favorite writers.

If you are looking for a book that is more than just fluff, that has a deeper feel to it, then Home Front is definitely for you. It explores what our military families face on a day to day basis. It's so much more than we hear on the news "in country" and so much harder than we ever thought possible for those who are left waiting to news, hoping for a miracle, that the person who went off to war will come back untainted or unchanged... if they come back at all. 

Easily one of my favorites of the year so far!

Home Front is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

 

 

 

 

 

Kristin Hannah was born in September 1960 in Southern California and grew up at the beach, making sand castles and playing in the surf. When she was eight years old, her father drove the family to Western Washington which they called home.

After working in a trendy advertising agency, Kristin decided to go to law school. "But you're going to be a writer" are the prophetic words she would never forget from her mother. Kristin was in her third-and final-year of law school and her mom was in the hospital, facing the end of her long battle with cancer. Kristin was shocked to discover that her mother believed she would become a writer. For the next few months, they collaborated on the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for three copies of Home Front by Kristin Hannah.

 

~ You must be a GFC follower or E-mail subscriber to participate.

~ US and Canadian addresses only.

~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST February 17th.

 

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