Title: Full Measures
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Publisher: Entangled
Publication Date: 2/10/2014
Source: ARC from publisher through Netgalley
She knew. That’s why Mom hadn’t opened the door. She knew he was dead.
Twenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn’t know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mom falls apart.
Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her ov er and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their intense attraction.
Until Josh’s secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he’s worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.
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Rebecca Yarros is a mom, military wife, blogger, and author of Young Adult and New Adult fiction. In addition to raising an absolute gaggle of somewhat-noisy children, she draws inspiration for her fiction from her favorite authors like Mercedes Lackey, Gayle Forman, and Gena Showalter.
She’s a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but is still holding out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding military life that have helped shape her characters, who are strong in the face of odds and meet challenges with courage, tenderness, and grace.
When she’s not writing, she loves to travel with her husband, always seeking to ink up that passport a little more and discover new settings for new novels. Her favorite destinations include Paris, Scotland, Istanbul, Mykonos, Capri, and her home state of Colorado. She’s a guitar-player when no one is watching, and a cake-decorator when everyone is eating.
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I went into this book having never heard of it or the author. I really didn't know what to expect and was very skeptical as I started reading. FULL MEASURES surprised me in the most amazing ways.
I was immediately drawn in by the depth of emotions in the first few paragraphs. The lead character, Ember, was completely devastated by the death of her father, but had to hold things together for the sake of her family. When her mother went went into shock and became a recluse, Ember steps up, changes her future plans, and begins to take over parenting responsibilities in her family.
When ex-schoolmate/crush, Josh Walker spots Ember attempting not to fall apart while buying a birthday cake the day she finds out that her father won't be returning from war, he knows that he has to do something to help. Josh is the coach of Ember's little brother's hockey team and he has known her father for a few years. He feels a kinship and a responsibility to help this broken family get back on their feet again.
The love and friendship that grows between Ember and Josh is sweet and strong. I love their interactions and how he is able to help her when she tries so hard to do everything on her own. Too bad the choices that he has made in his life cause Ember to have to face some tough decisions of her own.
And here is where I throw in a spoiler or two. At the beginning of the story, Ember has a boyfriend who isn't very supportive or helpful or even loving. But then Josh drives Ember to see the boyfriend at a party and they find him in bed with Ember's roommate. I really felt like this part was not necessary to the story and just made it try to fit in a certain formula. I loved the story without the added heartbreak of a cheating boyfriend. Call me crazy, but I am all for leaving out drama just for the sake of drama.
In spite of that, I thoroughly enjoyed FULL MEASURES and look forward to reading more from Rebecca Yarros in the future.
4 out of 5 STARS
Warning by Incubus
The song is my pick. It is a warning to not let the good things life has to offer pass you by. Life is fleeting, and Ember learned this by losing her dad. The last thing she needs to do is to let fear stop her from getting what she wants out of the one life she has to live.
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