Bookworm: The Soldier's Wife by Joanna Trollope

The Soldier's Wife was leant to me from my Mum. I looked at the cover and wasn't too eager, but as always thought I'd give it a go!

In this fictional tale the reader gets taken into the world of being an army wife and the complications involved when soldiers return from service and are on breaks. 

I'm not married to a soldier and don't really have experience of those living with someone in the army or working in that field. 

However if the author's story is to be believed it makes for a sad tale - lots of lonely time on your own (expected and what is imagined), but moreso a very traditional and old fashioned life in favour of the soldier and traditions and non stop restrictions for the wife/girlfriend. A life of feeling trapped and taken for granted.

The key focus of the book are Alexa and Dan, their twin daughters and Alexa's daughter from a previous relationship. Add to that a male best friend and two sets of concerned parents/grandparents and things get a bit complicated. Not least when the soldiers try to get back into normal life and have just faced such awful sights and events.

I found I enjoyed the book in that it was an easy read, wasn't taxing on your journey to and from work when you want to unwind and I did want to read more and what happened next. 

However, in terms of a story and what happens, I can't help but feel not a lot if I'm honest. 

I felt like I kept on reading and kept on waiting for something to happen of importance and nothing that much did.

Characters were well described and you could imagine them and their situation and I felt the frustrations of the wives. The way the story dawdles on and the ending left me feeling a bit 'so what' in attitude.

There were parts with some drama and a guessing as to how things would turn out. Yet there was nothing major that made you gasp in shock or feel like the turn of events was unexpected. 

Yes I did want to keep reading on to find out what happened, but more because I was looking to see if something big would occur overall!

Good points

Easy read

Feel good read overall 

Good descriptions

Not so great

No real story or plot I felt, which is a pretty major part of a book! 

All in all not one of my favourites as I'm sure you can tell, but not offensive or particularly unpleasant just a bit 'non'.