When I finished this book, the only word that I could think of was powerful. This is the first book by this author that I have read, but I was very impressed witb the writing. It takes place mostly in Iraq during wartime. I would think that a book like this would be very difficult to write. It needs to be real, but at the same time, you do not want it to be depressing. Denise Kahn hit this one out of the park. It is wartime real, but at the same time, it is an uplifting romance, centered around family, and not just the family that a person shares genes with. There were many times that I was sitting in a parking lot still listening to the book, because there was no way that I could stop at that point. Then, I was also impressed that she narrated her own book. It would stand to reason, that since the words come from her emotions, it would be an advantage for her to narrate it, but it takes a special person that can do narration well, and with this book, we find that Denise Kahn is a pro at both. I also loved the music intro at the beginning of each chapter. It really adds more to the book, than you would think. I higbly recommend tbis book.