A Battle Raging by Sharon Cullars

Note: I was given a copy of A Battle Raging by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.


There was a lot to like about A Battle Raging, yet when I reached the final page I felt a little let down. Does that mean that I didn't like the book or that I think it isn't worth reading? No, it doesn't mean that at all. In fact, to not read this book is to lose out on a story that is very well written and captivating. I honestly thought about parts of this book days after reading it. A Battle Raging is about tragedy and life-altering events that are probably more common than we would like to imagine or think about. It's about a man named Zach who lost his ability to walk while serving in Afghanistan. In the story Zach is trying to confront the demons that have been haunting him since his injury. The thing is, he isn't handling life or his feelings very well, and he is plagued by nightmares... Enter our heroine Maya Temple. Maya is an art instructor who tries to help an unpleasant Zach only to discover that he is more than she first imagined.


What I liked: Zach and Maya. Both characters seemed very real to me. Maya didn't handle Zach with kid gloves or put up with him being an a**. I also enjoyed her relationship with her sister Jada. And then there was the handling of Zach's PTSD, and the group therapy sessions... (that's all I'm gonna say about that).


What I didn't like: I can't really get into why I was disappointed by the end of this book without giving away too much. What I can say is that I felt there was a lot of story that still needed to be told. You can't write a story like this and have an ending that doesn't explore what happens next. I want to read what happens not guess or assume. This deserved a longer story and I felt a bit cheated.


My final thoughts: Basically this is a great story that I highly recommend. The story isn't a light and fluffy tale, nor does it feature a billionaire, mobster, physically perfect hero, or any of the other usual suspects that are common IR romance characters. Ms. Cullars is a wonderful storyteller who got into the heads of her characters and made you feel for them. Unfortunately, the story ends too soon in my opinion and that is a crying shame. There was so much that still needed to be told in order to get the true story of Maya and Zach. I waited a couple of days to post this because I really wasn't sure what rating to give it. I give it between a three and a half and four stars, but it's leaning pretty heavily on four stars.

Rating 3.5 Stars