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Here‘s the September tally. For October, on to creepy mysteries and thrillers! #FallReading #Septemberwrapup

Eden is a soldier who has been hospitalized for three years after an explosion in Iraq, extremely severely burned and most of the time unconscious.
The narrator of the book is his best friend, who didn‘t survive the explosion. He is waiting for Eden and for Eden‘s wife Mary, to make a choice.

A sad and heartbreaking read with utterly vivid characters despite the presence of death all over the book.

Thank you so much for the surprise, Jennifer! How incredibly sweet of you. You made my day! 😊 Can't wait to read it. @Jas16

I have wanted to read this book since @Reggie reviewed it and he was kind enough to send me a copy. Eden is the most injured man in two wars and suddenly gains a level of consciousness after being catatonic for three years. He‘s watched over by his wife as well as the narrator, a friend who died instantly in the same incident but keeps a vigil from the other side. A tiny book that packs a major wallop, l cannot get these characters out of my head.

Using tight prose Ackerman deftly tore my heart out. The story is told from the perspective of a deceased friend & fellow solider of the gravely injured Eden, who survived the war zone explosion that killed the narrator, but only just, & there he remains on the precipice of death for three years. His friend keeps a careful watch on Eden's wife, Mary, & daughter who knows her father in the hospital as a burnt shell of the man he was before it all.

I won‘t give up on you again, she thought, and felt this promise like a tear in her heart ⭐️💔

Heartbreaking. ❤️

Beautiful and heart wrenching. I really felt for Eden and Mary. I don‘t know what I would do if I was put in a similar situation.

Trying to get a read in before I have to leave for the airport.

Quite excited for this stack of holds I picked up from the library yesterday. ☺️

As I began reading this book, this short book, the air began to thicken and its story permeated my being and broke my heart over and over and over again. 2 men overseas at war are blown up in a vehicle. 1 dies instantly and is the narrator of the story, the other barely survives and comes back home to his wife and their daughter. This is about how humans love, we betray, we forgive, we love harder. Such a gut punch in such a short book. Pick!!!

Short (under 200 page) novel but a complete punch to the gut. Severely wounded soldier, the description alone is brutal, back in US intensive care with his wife and an unnamed fellow solider "lucky to have died instantly" who narrates the novel.

Long listed for the TOB, deserves to make the shortlist. 5⭐

So this might be the book that stopped me from reading for awhile. It‘s a short read but it filled me with a sadness I couldn‘t shake. I generally can handle these things but when I held the book in my hand this morning I felt a shiver. So.... I‘m giving it a pick because I believe the author hits the targets sought after. And I‘m including a photo of Gracie May/Drool Face in all her glory to cheer us all up.

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman shook me to the core. I will be thinking of this story and the questions that it poses as you read for a very long time. Eden is a war hero and a lone survivor, but not really a survivor. He exists. Mary is his wife. Andy is the daughter that never met her father. Their story is told by Eden‘s friend who did not survive. It is beautifully written, and uniquely told.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Wow, this book...extremely well-written and nuanced. The subject matter is a level of sadness and loneliness that I can't imagine. It's disheartening and intense and heavy and heartbreaking, but the book is so incredibly good. An instant favorite.

A pretty intense and tragic weekend read. 💔

This is a short book on the cost of war but so much more. It will make you think about life and death, being a parent, communicating with your spouse, friendship, sacrifice and love.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book was beautifully written, not over done, not an excess of anything. It is an amazing way to tell the story of Death and the in between. This author did not waste not one, single, syllable. A definite recommendation from me.

This book is out of the ordinary, I'm rather impressed.

Well, this book is next up to bat. I'm sure I'll have it finished before end of day, seeing as how it's just over 3hrs long. So snarky review shortly 😁😁😁 #iletyouknow #quickfind

This was a short but touching story.

Yay! I totally didn‘t even know I won this until t showed up at my house! Funnily enough I had just added this book to my wish list! So I‘m taking a break from my horror novel Fear: Trump in the White House to read this. I‘m having a very sick day and of course my boyfriend is gone to LA for the day and night! So just me and the furry things to keep me company, oh and my books!

This was an incredibly well written story of a woman waiting for her husband to awaken from a coma. I loved this. 💜

Extremely touching novel. God, I couldn‘t set it down. Beautiful. Just beautiful.