Lavender Moon by Natalie Parker
Kaleb
I was always the bad boy.
The kid from the broken home and the wrong side of the tracks.
But in her eyes, I hung the moon.
The girl from my summers who I thought I’d never see again.
Finding her now right before I’m due to deploy is like a gift, one I’m not going to waste.
She was always meant to be mine and I’m going to make it official.
My silly girl is now my spirited wife, giving me someone to come home to.
Little do I know I won’t be coming home – at least not as the same man.
Luna
I never thought of myself as a good girl… but he does.
The boy I used to see every summer has grown into a brave soldier that I now get to call my husband.
Getting married so quickly was supposed to be a way to protect us both and keep us together for good.
But we both take on demons while he’s away, and when he comes home, it’s his that try to tear us apart.
Someone has to fight for us while he’s weary and wounded.
And now it’s my turn to go into battle.
- File Name:lavender-moon-by-natalie-parker.epub
- Original Title:Lavender Moon: A Small Town - Military Standalone
- Creator:Natalie Parker
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B0CFT46GG1
- Date:2023-12-03T16:00:00+00:00
- File Size:673.879 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Title
- 3. Copyright
- 4. Contents
- 5. Playlist
- 6. Foreword
- 7. Content Warning
- 8. Prologue
- 9. Chapter 1
- 10. Chapter 2
- 11. Chapter 3
- 12. Chapter 4
- 13. Chapter 5
- 14. Chapter 6
- 15. Chapter 7
- 16. Chapter 8
- 17. Chapter 9
- 18. Chapter 10
- 19. Chapter 11
- 20. Chapter 12
- 21. Chapter 13
- 22. Chapter 14
- 23. Chapter 15
- 24. Chapter 16
- 25. Chapter 17
- 26. Chapter 18
- 27. Chapter 19
- 28. Chapter 20
- 29. Chapter 21
- 30. Chapter 22
- 31. Chapter 23
- 32. Chapter 24
- 33. Chapter 25
- 34. Chapter 26
- 35. Chapter 27
- 36. Chapter 28
- 37. Chapter 29
- 38. Chapter 30
- 39. Chapter 31
- 40. Chapter 32
- 41. Chapter 33
- 42. Chapter 34
- 43. Chapter 35
- 44. Chapter 36
- 45. Chapter 37
- 46. Chapter 38
- 47. Chapter 39
- 48. Chapter 40
- 49. Chapter 41
- 50. Chapter 42
- 51. Chapter 43
- 52. Chapter 44
- 53. Chapter 45
- 54. Chapter 46
- 55. Chapter 47
- 56. Chapter 48
- 57. Chapter 49
- 58. Epilogue
- 59. Bonus Epilogue
- 60. Also by Natalie Parker
- 61. About Natalie Parker
- 62. Acknowledgments
WOW...I put off reading this, but glad I finally did. It kept me hooked with the storyline. Loved the characters, and the ups and downs they faced. Great book.
CONTENT WARNING: This book contains themes that some may find triggering including domestic violence, addiction, and PTSD episodes. Please read cautiously.
Lavender Moon was about 21-year-old Luna (Conlin) Isaaks (her stepfather had adopted her), an artist, and 21-year-old Kaleb Shane (Dominic? Luna called him that in Chapter 5), a former corporal in the Army.
Kaleb and Luna met at summer camp when they were both ten years old. They quickly became fast friends, and they each returned to the camp every summer for the next 8 years. Although they lived far apart, they kept in touch with each other through written letters.
The book started with Kaleb's POV in the present-day prologue, then it went back in time in Chapter 1, also written from his POV, to when he and Luna were ten and met for the first time at camp. Chapter 2 jumped ahead 8 years, and they were 18, returning to camp as counselors. This chapter was split between Kaleb's and Luna's POV. While they had continued to exchange letters, Kaleb had hooked up with a girl named Cheyenne, with whom he had been intimate for several months. At first, his inner monologue said it had been nothing more than her providing him with a "distraction", (a placeholder is what he called all his past hookups later in the story), and that "she gave good head", he later admitted (again to himself) that it had been a lot more than that. When he was packing his things to head to camp, Cheyenne was angry that he had chosen to spend his summer being a camp counselor rather than spending it with her. She tried to push his buttons by admitting she had read his letters from Luna, which pissed him off enough to (vaguely) tell her it was over between them. When he arrived late at the camp, Luna noticed how much he had changed in the year since she'd last seen him, including all of the tattoos he sported.
At first, I was somewhat disappointed that the author had a ten-year-old talking like an adult, using words that most kids didn't even think about. But when I read Chapter 3, it put the whole thing in a different light because, from Luna's POV, it was as if she were 18 and thinking back to when she was 10. That made a strange sort of sense, but it didn't last long before it reverted to the past.
It was during their final year at camp that Luna's and Kaleb's feelings for each other started to veer off from mere friendship into something more, although for Kaleb it was irritating, especially when another male counselor started showing interest in her. When things took a slightly intimate turn on their final night together, neither knew what to do afterward (they did everything without going 'all the way"). But Kaleb made a tactical error when he told her "it was no big deal". He knew instantly from her reaction he'd erred and tried to backtrack, but the damage was done. Unfortunately, he made it worse by drinking beer and Jack Daniels. When he tried to draw her out, Luna said she couldn't talk about it because she didn't want things to change between them. They both did the push/pull with neither of them wanting to reveal too much. With Kaleb more than a little drunk, the conversation turned heated, and when she pushed him too far, he finally told her about his abusive childhood. His confession eventually became ugly, venting hatred and worse at Luna. However, she had a few home truths to spew right back at him, and then Kaleb made a fatal error, bringing their friendship to a sudden, but definite end. Luna threw some more truths at him, confessed her love for him, and then walked away. The following morning, she packed her car and drove away from camp without seeing or talking to Kaleb. What she didn't know was that Kaleb, having left already, had turned around and had gone back to the camp to fix things between them. But she was gone when he got there.
It would be three years before they saw each other again. Kaleb was leaving from summer camp and heading for boot camp in South Carolina. Luna had made a deal with her parents that she'd spend a year in college and, if she didn't care for it, they would help her choose an art school instead.
Two years after their breakup, and at the age of 20, Luna and her grandmother were packing up Luna's things when her abusive, narcissistic, soon-to-be ex-boyfriend arrived home. When he tried to prevent her from leaving, she stood her ground, backed by her grandmother, until he had no choice but to let them leave.
Another year passed and the book flipped to Kaleb being promoted in rank to that of an Army Corporal. He and his friend Alex would be shipping out in three weeks' time. He would be spending the following year pulling his first tour of duty. They were granted leave to return home before being shipped out, and some of their old friends from school had invited them out to celebrate before leaving. Unknown to Kaleb, he would see Luna there and it would change their lives once again. Once they were reunited, their relationship took the next step into intimacy. Then Kaleb invited her to visit his home after she offered to watch over it and his late grandfather's motorcycle garage while he was fulfilling his one-year tour of duty. The day after they arrived at his home, Kaleb's regular hookup found them. While it wasn't a nasty meeting, Kaleb didn't verbally acknowledge his relationship with Luna. He pushed Cheyenne away, took Luna by the hand, and walked away. The following morning, he proposed to Luna. Two days later, they were married. Three weeks later, Kaleb left for his year-long tour. The next several chapters were devoted to the two of them exchanging emails and video chats as often as they could. Both withheld the worst of what they were experiencing from the other. Kaleb hid from her the things a soldier goes through in a war, and Luna didn't share all of the bad things that were happening with her ex-boyfriend.
Five months after Kaleb shipped out, Luna was on her way to her art classes when she ran into his former hookup, although it wasn't the first time. While it didn't play out too well, Luna managed to inform the girl of their marriage and, when she took a dig at her, Luna verbally knocked her back down with more truths that sent the other girl on her angry way. Because she was struggling in her pottery class, Luna got permission from her professor to stay late in the studio to come up with something that would allow her to achieve a passing grade. After managing to create something simple that satisfied her, she decided to crash at her apartment for the night rather than make the nearly two-hour drive home, only to come face-to-face with her ex. The encounter wasn't pleasant, turning violent not long after he arrived at her place, and ended with her in the hospital. Knowing it would only give him more worries, Luna refused to tell Kaleb what had happened. He had already told her that she was the only thing keeping him sane while he was "fighting the good fight. As for his part, he didn't tell her he was dealing with the issues of war, worrying about the changes he sensed in her, and fighting not to lose himself in the process. But he knew something was wrong.
When she arrived home after spending doing a self-defense class at the gym, Luna found a bouquet of purple roses from Kaleb. It was their first Valentine's day together as a couple, even though they were separated by an ocean. But it wasn't all pleasant, because she quickly received a call she had dreaded. Kaleb had been seriously in an explosion while on petrol. The only good news was that they would be sending him home, and he would arrive in two weeks. When they were at last reunited, they both sensed the changes the other had gone through, and they were each uncertain how to cope with it. After all, they were in unfamiliar territory and had been apart for more than 8 months. Needless to say, the trip home was uncomfortable. Once home, they had their first fight over his pain medicine. He needed the prescription meds, but Luna argued that he should give the OTC meds a chance. Kaleb blew up at her. This reaction she had to opioids went back to when her birth father was an addict, her mother was a recovering addict, and Kaleb's father was pretty much the same, with the added alcoholism. Her attitude was way OTT, and she acted like her husband was a recovering addict, but Kaleb had never had a drug problem in the past, nor had she. However, she got the meds but still turned her back on him after getting into bed with him and turning out the light. Two weeks later, the town held a funeral for his best friend, Alex, who died on the same day Kaleb was injured. When it was over and they were back home, Luna allowed Kaleb to vent his frustrations with angry intimacies. However, things got out of hand and she had to use her safe word. That led to Kaleb making a solo decision. He suggested they divorce. When she refused, they fought until she told him she wasn't giving up. His words to her were, "I'm going to f*cking break you, Luna!". She responded in a way that floored him. She dared him to give their relationship two more months, to make it to their first anniversary. But she gave him an out. She said if he wanted to fold, to not take the dare on the spot, she would give him the divorce he said he wanted. She did, however, move into a different bedroom to "give him space". Not long after the dare, Kaleb was given the all-clear to drive again, giving him a bit more freedom and less dependency on Luna. Exactly two months later to the day, Luna was served divorce papers.
This story had it all. The angst, the drama, the passion, and the heartbreak. The added PTSD, nightmares of war, assault, fear, and flat-out anger towards all who had wronged them along the way. The emotional rollercoaster hit all of the emotions one can handle, and then some. The push/pull between the main characters, while frequent, was done in such a way as to be realistic.
The way the author handled the issue of PTSD and what happens when a soldier returns home changed from the person he/she was before deploying was well done. Knowing each returning soldier has a different level of PTSD, this was done in such a way that it allowed the reader more than a little insight into how a couple struggles to reacclimate when they are reunited.
The two main characters were well-developed and mature, with a ton of room to grow, and oh how they grew! It was difficult reading their struggles, but when they succeeded, it was a pleasure. This author knew how to write a successful story, and I can't wait to read more by her.
I gave this book a five-star rating, mainly because I loved both Luna and Kaleb's characters. It definitely earned every one of them, and I will not only be adding this book to my Keeper for the Shelves collection online, but I will also be purchasing one that I can have on hand to read whenever I want to. Oh, and there was a surprise awaiting the readers in the second epilogue, so be sure to find out what it was!! :)