I received this book from a friend of mine last week. Her boyfriend had just deployed and while I haven't been an Army Girlfriend for more than 6 years she thought I might like it.
For a young adult book this one wasn't as drama ridden or fluffy as I would normally expect. The subject is one that many are finding themselves a part of, and even if you aren't an army anything, you can relate to Penna and the anxiety she goes through over David being gone. Add in Linda, Penna's mother and all the bad history with her family and you have enough of a side story to keep you interested.
I loved every page of this book and couldn't put it down. Though I wish that things had been better resolved between Penna and David by the end of the book, I like that things were left the way they were, now I can make up my own story for the characters! ( )

I received this book from a friend of mine last week. Her boyfriend had just deployed and while I haven't been an Army Girlfriend for more than 6 years she thought I might like it.
For a young adult book this one wasn't as drama ridden or fluffy as I would normally expect. The subject is one that many are finding themselves a part of, and even if you aren't an army anything, you can relate to Penna and the anxiety she goes through over David being gone. Add in Linda, Penna's mother and all the bad history with her family and you have enough of a side story to keep you interested.
I loved every page of this book and couldn't put it down. Though I wish that things had been better resolved between Penna and David by the end of the book, I like that things were left the way they were, now I can make up my own story for the characters! ( )

The author of the book I chose is Karen Schreck. The name of the book is While He Was Away. This story is about Penna and her boyfriend, David. The story takes place in KillDeer, Oklahoma. Penna’s boyfriend, the love of her life is being sent off to iraq. The book goes through Penna’s depressive state without david. I felt sorry and empathetic to Penna because I could not imagine the person I love the most being sent away to war. I really enjoyed this book. This book reminded me of my relationship and how much I miss my man every time he is gone. The cover design is a picture of Penna and her boyfriend holding each other. I recommend this book to any young adult or adult who enjoys a romantic and dramatic novel. ( )

Okay, this was another one of those books of this reading quest for 2013 that blew my socks off...you know, if I happened to have been wearing them at the time.

Karen Schreck has created characters that you care about, who are real and involved in real situations. There was no melodrama, just emotion. Thankfully the teenage girl was not whining about material things the way that has become the trend in some YA fiction. Instead, her quests are real: trying to discover who she is, who her mother is, who her grandmother is.

This is a lovely parallel plot about her grandmother and her grandmother's first (maybe only love) that also occurred during wartime.

I cared enough about all of the characters in this book to hope that Ms. Schreck writes a sequel. Please, please, write a sequel. I want to know what happens to David and Penna and Justine and Linda and Ravi and Caitlin. There is an after-story. I just know it.

As for some of the bad reviews of this book that I have read here, I do think that these reviewers must not appreciate subtle nuances. Melodrama is for the masses. ( )

Great book! ( )