Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE:   Semper Fi

AUTHOR: Keira Andrews

PUBLISHER: KA Books

LENGTH: 320 pages

BLURB:

As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children. Knowing Jim could never return his forbidden feelings, Cal hoped time and an ocean between them would dull the yearning for his best friend.

But when Jim’s wife dies, Cal returns to help. He doesn’t know a thing about apple farming—or children—but he’s determined to be there for Jim, even as the painful torch he carries blazes back to life. Jim is grateful for his friend’s support as he struggles with buried emotions and dark wartime memories. Then Jim begins to see Cal in a new light, and their relationship deepens in ways neither expected. Can they build a life together as a family and find happiness in a world that would condemn them?

Note: Contains scenes of violence and post-traumatic stress. 95,000 words

REVIEW:

Wow… this is really two stories in one book. Cal and Jim in WWII and Cal and Jim post WWII.

Cal Cunningham and Jim Bennett meet on a train in 1942 on their way to basic training at Parris Island South Carolina. They could not be more different. Cal is from New York City, from a wealthy banking family, attended Princeton, and is bored with his life. So he joins the Marine Corps. No as an officer, but as a grunt. He seems like he’s all about the adventure and excitement, his attitude coming out in his misbehavior in basic training. He spends time cleaning toilets with a toothbrush, doing pushups in the mud, running in boots and shorts in the rain, and standing all night with his rifle held over his head. Jim Bennett is an apple farmer, from a small town in the Hudson valley. He has a wife and child at home, having left them with his father and a worker as he goes off to Parris Island. He’s calm and shy, and isn’t sure what to make of Cal Cunningham. He stays out of trouble and the pair make it through basic training and become Marines. They end up in the same unit and ship out to the South Pacific. We follow their harrowing experiences through the war in flashbacks. It is not pretty.

The other half of the story occurs years later after the two men have gone home. Battered, but alive. Cal back to New York City and London to work for his father’s bank, Jim back to his apple orchard, wife and child. Tragedy strikes Jim, and he loses his wife. He’s left with two small children and a struggling business. He calls Cal for help. Cal quits his job and moved to Clover Grove to help Jim, his best friend. Jim has more issues than it appears at first, as we follow their story back and forth between the present and the past. Jim has been deeply emotionally scarred by the things they witnessed in the war, and struggles with nightmares and the occasional flashback. His other issue is his deeply buried homosexual feelings.

This is a beautiful story about men living a hard life, in a hard time. They form a very close bond in the war, but it is so much more than that. They fall in love, but neither knows it. Cal knows he’s gay, he uses the word queer, which has taken on a negative tone now, but was used freely at the time this story is set. He hides it well, never telling Jim, sneaking away to find some companionship when he needs to, but he’s been all about Jim since the day they met. Jim is so far in the closet, he doesn’t even know he’s in there… So they bumble along, Jim not knowing about himself or Cal, Cal knowing himself but not knowing what is in Jim’s head and heart. There’s drama and stress, happiness and freakouts over their time together, as they fall in love, and Jim is yanked kicking and screaming, out of his closet.

I wish I knew enough about writing to say what it is about Keira Andrews writing style that I find so fantastic, but I don’t know how to describe it. I’ve read several of her books now, and she just writes wonderfully. This plot is excellent, I haven’t read many stories with gay men set in this time, it feels like a very authentic story to me. It seems very realistic, I can see men struggling with feelings like Jim does, his heart and body telling him one thing, his mind telling him another. It was not an easy time to be gay, at least in a rural setting like he’s been raised in. Keira gives us wonderful characters, not just Jim and Cal, but Sophie and Adam (Jim’s kids), Mrs. O’brien his housekeeper, and the men in their unit in the war. They all added so much to this story. Then there is the jumping back and forth between the past and present. That is a hard thing to make work, I’ve seen in done badly, but not in this case. It works so well. It flowed smoothly, I wasn’t jarred when we went back and forth. It just worked. The emotional and physical connection between Jim and Cal was perfect. Friends and lovers, they form their own family. Keira writes an amazing story, I can’t wait to read more from her!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Amazon UK