Full Measures

Get your tissues and buckle up! This one is not for the weak. The book starts with gut punch: Ember’s military father who is away on leave…dies. His death sends everyone reeling, each in a different way. For the main character, Ember, it means she is making all the decisions that her mother normally would if she wasn’t so grief-stricken. Trying to keep afloat, Ember runs into Josh Walker who was a hot, flirty guy she went to high school with only now… he grew up. And he is willing to be there for whatever she needs.

Military romances are not usually my thing, so I was a little surprised that I ended up liking this one. I will say there were a lot of elements that had me rolling my eyes (the miscommunication trope is STRONG in this one), but I did enjoy it despite that. I think the romance, while a little angsty, did have some swoon worthy moments. I mean, if a cute guy who plays hockey, hung out with my younger brother, and said he would be “whatever” she needed… I’d be sold.

Somethings that I liked about this book:

- The twist. I don’t know how Rebecca Yarros does it, but she can turn the smallest little information into this big twist that leaves you rethinking all the past conversations. I won’t say what the twist is (NO SPOILERS HERE, YA’LL!), but I did go, “Wait a dang minute…!” Even though it is a twist, it is really believable in the realism elements. It isn’t shock for the sake of shock.

- The romance - I will say it again, the “whatever” nickname and storyline had me swooning. It was kind of dreamy, let’s be real. I found myself yelling at Ember to just get with the man already.

Somethings that I did NOT like about this book:

- This book needed way more of a plot. Outside of the initial shock of her father dying, I feel like the book is a lot of the same. She goes to class, runs into Josh, tries to fight her feelings for him, and has an emotional overthinking session about her feelings. I felt like it could have had a bit more in terms of events and still had the emotional element.

- The Angst and miscommunication. It was kind of CONSTANT. She was always pulling away and it got old after a while. I would have liked if I could have seen them happy for a good part of the book.

- The ending. I won’t put any spoilers, but it felt…. like a cop out. I didn’t feel like any other their issues necessarily got solved. I will say, I saw that there is a later book in the series where we return to these characters again. I assume that is when things will be solved, but it just felt a bit… unresolved and I didn’t appreciate that.

The book did deal with a lot of tough subjects like grief and what it means to be in a military family / relationship. If those subjects are sensitive to you, I may advise caution. There were several moments where I was a bit taken back, and I don’t have those ties.

This is the first of the series, and while it isn’t my highest rated book ever, I did enjoy it. I will be reading the next one to see how it ranks. If you enjoyed any of Yarros’ other contemporary romances, you will probably like this one. If you miss the Nicholas Sparks movies from the 2010’s, this book is also for you.