The Scrapbook

by Lynnette Kent

Book Overview

Anyone looking at the photographs in Celia's scrapbook would see a portrait of a wonderful marriage, from Celia and Mack Butler's beautiful white wedding--the beginning of her life as a Navy wife--to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373654111
• ISBN13: 9780373654116
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

The Scrapbook: a romance of a Navy family

The Scrapbook celebrates the story of a Navy marriage with its ups and downs through an alternation between descriptions in a scrapbook that celebrate the heights and an accompanying narrative that reveals the depth and hidden stresses behind those moments. Celia finds herself pregnant as her boyfriend is just about to start his Navy career. This romance follows their marriage and Matt Butler's Navy career through chapters that begin with snapshots and scrapbook items that portray the events of their lives. The images and items depict the triumphs and stages of their marriage such as their children and getting a new home while the story tells the reader all the conflicts and disappointments as well friendships and bonds that the scrapbook marks. Matt, swearing to himself never to hurt his family as his father hurt him, throws himself into his Navy career hook, line and sinker. Celia feels the pressure to live up to the image of the perfect Navy wife and yet she just cannot be 110% Navy. She wants a husband and a marriage --- and a father for her children who is present. Constant relocations bring stress to their marriage. Always a doubt, current and past, lingers over her marriage. Can Matt and Celia be true to themselves, family and job and still find love in their marriage? The Scrapbook uses the innovative romance form of the new Harlequin Everlasting Love line particularly well. The combination of descriptive image and narrative, adds a level of depth of emotional conflict and breadth of time to this romance. Readers may feel a certain sadness along with the happiness of the romance genre but at the same time an appreciation and joy in this glimpse of married life as a romance that grows in the midst of all those moments one would not label automatically label as romance or even romantic --- but moments that can be romance and is romantic. This romance, in allowing a glimpse into a fictional Navy marriage and its stresses, shows a side of the military that is not often discussed --- the extra stress that takes its toll on the family. This novel honors the families of military personnel by showing some of the everyday heroic choices made my those families surrounding each service member.

Insightful tale

Celia Monroe marries US Navy aviator Mack Butler, not realizing what she signed up for when she agreed to be a naval spouse. Over the years as Mack's duty station changed, Celia moved the family that eventually included four children. Their marriage seems a strong one until their unmarried daughter informs her parents she is pregnant. Outraged, Mack totally blames Celia for not disciplining their offspring more. Stunned by his vicious attack, Celia retaliates by telling Mack how he would know how she raised their kids as he was never around. As their marriage splinters, the first concern is for their daughter, but Celia and Mack must decide whether it is time plug the leak or let the relationship sink. For the most part this contemporary provides the audience an insightful look at how much a military family sacrifices to the point that relationships with spouses and dependents falter. The story line realistically reflects the much higher divorce rates as it appears Celia and Mack are heading towards the dissolution of their marriage. Although the final confrontation lacks conviction and elucidation, readers will appreciate this discerning glimpse at the impact of "out of bed" deployments on the deployed person and their loved ones left behind. Harriet Klausner

True love

Military wife is not the easiest position for a young woman to find herself in, not when she is pregnant as her new husband begins his career with the Navy. Hiding her pregnancy from her family, Celia and Mack marry quickly and move to a new base to further his career. She finds herself alone many times over the years, wanting more, hiding her unhappiness as their family grows, and Mack's career becomes his life. Celia loves her husband and her children, but cannot seem to find total happiness with her life always being up in the air with the next assignment. As Celia and Mark go through life they find themselves torn apart and put back together. Their family is what holds them together, or so they think until it is stretched and the find that they love each more than they ever though possible. When Jake, Celia and Mack's son finds his girlfriend looking at his mother's scrapbook, they begin looking over the lives of his parents. His mom started the scrapbook with her wedding, and the memories it brings to light are heart breaking and uplifting at the same time. Mack stepped up the plate to be a father, and in turn becomes a man who can be relied upon. In a time when our country is at war, looking back to the days before desert storm is a refreshing breath of fresh air. Lynnette Kent is a talented author who has taken her characters and put them on pages to showcase their lives. Celia and Mack have a story worth reading, and this author has done a fine job of making them three dimensional characters whose lives entwined with the days gone by and left this reader feeling as though she was recalling a friend's life story, not a stranger on the pages of a novel. This reviewer has become jaded by life; however the Everlasting Love series by Harlequin gives a fresh look into true love and the world as it should be. The ninth book in this series is no different than the previous novels; it is a book worth savoring. As a reader, I highly recommend lovers of romance pick up this series today! Review Courtesy of LoveRomancesandmore