Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Waves Break My Fall
AUTHOR: Kendall McKenna
PUBLISHER: LNA Press
LENGTH: 165 Pages
BLURB:
Kage is a Marine, struggling to adjust to life after combat. He tries to decompress with a quiet trip to Puerto Vallarta. Zach just graduated from college. He’s facing the realities of adulthood, and a new career.
They meet in Mexico, and their erotic vacation fling leaves them both wanting – and hoping for – more, once they’re home. Zach enters the police academy, Kage reports to Camp Pendleton, and they settle into daily lives as a new couple.
When Kage’s post-combat issues nearly destroy everything he and Zach have built, can they find the right help? Can they hold on, even if they do?
REVIEW:
I liked this book, although I will admit that I liked the first half (the original story) more than the second half.
In the first half of the book we are in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where we meet Kage, a Gunnery Sergeant in the US Marine Corps who has just returned from a tour in Iraq. Kage witnessed some awful things while there and is suffering signs of PTSD when he meets Zach, a recent college graduate who is starting the police academy once his vacation is over.
Kage and Zach hook up on the beach, both thinking it is a one time casual hookup. But neither can get the other man out of their mind, and by the time their vacations are over both have fallen for each other.
In the second half, we jump ahead 9 months or so (I think), and things have gotten difficult. Kage is suffering full PTSD symptoms including severe paranoia and has become a cutter. He drinks heavily, refuses to leave the house except to go to work and refuses treatment. I liked the interplay and details surrounding Kage’s flashbacks and paranoia. I thought that the MC’s were well written and both were very likeable. The things they go through in the story seemed to mirror the things we hear from actual military members with PTSD and the way Zach stays and supports Kage is commendable.
My only issue with this story was that it seemed that everything related to Kage’s PTSD wrapped up too easily. There were no details of how Kage’s treatment was done, or even what he was doing for work during this time. The reader might assume, as I did, that he is still in the military, but that info seems to be missing. Having had a close friend lose her son to suicide as a result of Post-Iraq PTSD, I know that it isn’t always fixable, and not usually as fast as it seemed to happen in this book.
Overall though, I liked the book. I thought it was a good story and would satisfy most people who don’t have my need for excessive detail! It was a comfortable afternoon’s read and I would recommend it.
RATING: 
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