My review is not based on the quality of the writing which is great, rather my emotions on reading the story. This is a well written book, that is very very sad in places. It is dealing with a very diversive and emotional subject regarding the nature of war. There was a love story but oh dear it was generally too sad for me. If you can cope with this then it is a very good read. I loved the way the author dealt with Ray's hospitalisation and that of Carries sister. Ray was such a great guy and his and Carries love story was wonderful, but personally I think he should have kept quiet, no one was going to win in that situation. I read A Song For Julia some months ago which I loved, this is another story set within the same family. The family dynamics are very interesting and I would definitely read another book by this author. I have never rated a book this low before. I think the writing is great, but found myself skipping through some of the war parts. I loved Ray and Carrie, but the ending ruined this book for me. I won't go into details or spoilers, but I can't rate this book any higher because I hated the ending. I was looking for a resolution and it never came.. I loved JRTB and thought this would be a continuation of that, but I was very wrong. If the ending hadn't been so depressing, I could and would have given 5 stars...