Book Review | Full Measures – Rebecca Yarros (Flight & Glory Series, Book One)

Full Measures
By: Rebecca Yarros

Series: Flight & Glory
Book # in Series: 1 of 5
Genre: Angst/Romance
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Publication Date: February 10th, 2014
My Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
My Reading Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

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 over 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.

My heart wasn’t prepared for this one! THERE WERE SO MANY TEARS! Rebecca Yarros is a rockstar for writing such a beautiful novel! I will remember this one for the rest of my life.

In My Own Words:

Ember’s worst nightmare has came true and all it took was three knocks on the door. She should have never opened that door. She should have listened when her mother begged and pleaded for her to not open the door. But Ember opened the front door, revealing two soldiers with grief stricken faces carrying the bad news that Ember’s father was killed in combat in Afghanistan. Now, Ember’s faced with the daunting task of trying to keep her family from crumbling under the grief. Her own grief, she shoves down into the deepest part of her heart. Being the strong one, can also lead you to have the most weaknesses.

Enter Josh Walker. Josh’s reputation wasn’t at all reliable or promising in high school. Now, he’s back in their sleepy little town and his number one goal is to be the person Ember needs in her life. Whether it’s as a lover or a friend. He’ll be whatever she needs. After all, you only give your heart away once in a life, and Ember unknowingly stole his heart back in high school.

The closer Josh and Ember get, the closer Josh’s truth is to being uncovered. The love the two share is as bright as the stars in the night sky, but what happens when Josh’s truth and the secret he’s been hiding to protect Ember, is too much for her….

My Thoughts:

I don’t know what it is with the week, but each book I have read this week left me an emotional mess! I have to say, Full Measure by Rebecca Yarros took the number one prize with the most tears shed. I wasn’t even through the first chapter and I was already a blubbering mess. When I thought the tears would finally dry and I would be able to see Ember finally come to terms with what life threw at her, BAM, another round of tears would hit me full force!

So let’s talk about what this novel is about. First off, this novel comes with a pretty hefty content warning. If you’ve recently had a parent pass away, especially a father, I highly recommend you hold off on reading this book, unless you have the strength of an ox. Having lost my father a few years ago, I can honestly say, this book crushed my heart and crushed my spirit… I felt the pain Ember felt, I drowned in her misery and swam in her self loathing. I never felt this connected to a character before. I shared her grief. The tears I cried were true and raw. But somewhere around the halfway point, I started to feel like my heart was healing. There’s moments in a person’s life where something unexpected and monumental happens. Yesterday would have been my dad’s 63rd birthday. And yesterday, this book randomly drew my attention sitting unread on my bookshelf. I knew nothing about the contents of this book and I knew nothing about the heartbreak that was awaiting me. Honestly, I like Rebecca Yarros and I thought this cover was beautiful so I picked it up at a local used book store. What I do know and what I found out very soon while reading Full Measures, was this book was exactly what I needed to get through yesterday. This story was tragic, but the pain and the survival was told in such a beautiful way. Is it possible for a novel to help a person heal? I felt not only connected to Ember, but also connected to this story. My heart feels a little bit lighter than it did the day before. Wow! It’s a crazy notion when you realize a romance novel isn’t just a story told by an author. And I just made this review all about me…

Anywho.. Back to my review…. As I was saying, Ember has the heart and the strength of a warrior. This woman carried her family while battling her own grief, attending college classes, became and ex-girlfriend to her douchey ex-boyfriend, lost a best friend, caught her younger sister in a few sketchy scenarios, all while trying to give her little brother as normal of a life as possible and making sure her mother survived her own heartbreak… That is A LOT for one person to take on. She is a warrior in every form!
And then we have Josh Walker. This man had my heart swooning and my tears flowing. I loved the gentle approach her took with Ember. I also loved the fact that he brought Ember back to life and kept that smile on her face… We’ll he kept that smile on her face most of the time. What’s not to love about a man who makes a woman hiding her grief his main priority.

I mostly loved watching Josh and Ember grow as friends and fall in love. I loved that he was a huge factor in her healing process and brought a sense of normal to her abnormal life.

I gave this novel a 5 star rating because there has never been another book that has made me cry as many tears as I shed. I’m telling you, I felt every single moment of this novel. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad.. Every moment! Rebecca Yarros wrote one hell of a love story!

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Peace Love and Happy Reading,