December Roses

Maybe I should start reading blurbs? Probably? but likely I won't. In any case this turned out to be a ghost story (surprise!), nominally a romance, but is primarily a story of recovery.

Sergeant Nat Brooks, British military stationed in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. After a “tip” about a bomb leads him and his unit to clear out a bar he's injured and ends up in a rehab center. The bulk of the story takes place there over the course of a year.

The romance part of the story takes up maybe about 20 or 30%, when Nat interacts with Richie, who only appears sporadically in a perpetually shapeshifting garden. The rest of the story (an I don't meant it as a criticism) is dedicated to Nat's recovery which isn't just physical but also emotional as he's suffering from PTSD. There's also the wrinkle of Nat being gay and in the military which wasn't yet legal in the 90s. Overall the story was fine but not strong enough in any one aspect or the other to make me feel passionate about it. I did like the writing and the intent so YMMV.

My issues were:
*Nat frankly seems a bit daft or incurious given the time it takes him to figure out what's going on. Once he does there's really no reaction. *The rehab center and doctors who work there don't seem to be too competent, particularly the therapist who dispenses Hallmark-like advice to get over trauma. *Besides a physical attraction I couldn't discern the basis for Nat and Richie as a couple much less how it's meant to play out in the long run. Doesn't seem sustainable, not in any healthy way.*Maybe it's my mistake but I felt like this story, besides the ghost part, was also a bit reincarnation? and it kind of got lost in the mire of who/what came first a la Terminator? I mean Richie seemed to know Nat from before etc.