I loved the way this book was written. The narrative flowed so well
The different characters stories linked together so well
However there were elements of transphobia in this book

This book covers some very intense topics and does so very well, it was a powerful and gripping read and I would recommend it

This is the third novel I’ve read by this author. I loved them all. This time around she is flexing her writing muscles by trying something quite unique and innovative. Chapters end mid-sentence and the next chapter picks up with the last word or two of that last sentence and continues on. Sometimes the new chapter is set in a different time period from the last one, sometimes the new chapter features a different narrator. Sounds a tad bizarre… but it works!

The story itself features ordinary families, all putting one foot in front of the other to get through what life throws at them. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Told with a brutal honesty, the story covers some serious subjects such as PTSD, war trauma, gender identity, caregiver’s burnout, parental love, and much more.

There are two timelines in play. The timeline when Frank, Jane and ten year old Liam spend time at a cottage near the sea. And… the present day timeline which features a grown and very damaged adult Liam who returns to this same cottage with his eleven year old daughter in tow.

The title is absolutely perfect. Liam Wright was a ‘soldier boy’. Though he was a tough, physically strong man, he was also as vulnerable as a little boy inside.

The multiple points of view means you empathize with every character and want a happy resolution to the many trials they face. But life rarely provides a happy resolution…

Highly recommended to readers who enjoy realistic literary fiction.

Thoughtful crafted book that starts in an unusual way. The thought behind it must have been considerable to make it work.it’s not an error in the formatting but an interesting method to approaching the beginning of each chapter. This book had me thinking about it for a long time after my initial read and it’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read from NetGalley. Looking forward to reading more worm by this author in future.

There was so much to think about and digest within Soldier Boy that I was unsure my review would do it justice, but i have had a go.

I will start with the characters. Liam, husband, father, son, two years out of the army, struggling with PTSD, life in general and in a suspended state of denial, unwilling to seek help.

Emma, wife, mother, the one left at home to get on with it, the one who tried to hold it together, as she threw herself into a swirl of superstitious rituals to keep Liam safe and poured all her love and energy into daughter Alannah.

Alannah, the young girl, the one stuck in the middle, obsessed with body image, with ballet, with the way she looked, her feelings hidden, her parents oblivious.

It was not until Emma walked out the door that Parkin unleashed a myriad of simmering emotions, and psychological trauma’s that commanded you attention.

Perhaps the most shocking was that of Alannah, one very mixed up young girl, who grappled with not only body image but gender, impending puberty a real fear. I so admired Parkin’s ability to understand her thought process, her utter torment that shocked but also educated, Alannah’s ultimate act of defiance one of pure anguish, one that I will never forget.

Whilst Alannah’s issues were an important part of the novel, it was Liam’s that cast a shadow, that had an impact on the family. Here was a proud man, drafted out of the army with PTSD, a man in total and utter denial. Parkin once again dug so deep within Liam, that you became immersed in Liam’s battle with himself. You felt his overriding need to control absolutely everything within his world, the obsessive tidying, the need to control his own emotions and those of others. You watched as he shifted the blame for the family break up and his daughter’s issues to wife, Emma, you felt immensely frustrated as you looked for chinks, glimmers of hope that he would finally accept defeat and seek help.

Emma was the absent one, the one who got away from it all, took herself to a hotel to have that freedom to think, to work out exactly what would make her life better. Did she find the answers? Of course not, it merely opened up the years of having to cope, of supporting a young child, of accommodating a largely absent husband, of making space on his return, turning her routine upside down to fit in with his wants and needs. Yet Emma knew it wasn’t enough, his permanent presence an ever increasing dark cloud, that suffocated and pushed her to the edge.

Before we could catch our breath, Parkin delivered a punch that shocked, not only us but also the characters and she cleverly turned their thoughts outward, to a realisation they would have to emerge from their own personal dramas and concentrate on the one thing that really mattered, their daughter.

You truly wanted that happy ending but Parkin wasn’t writing a novel to make it comfortable for the reader or necessarily to give us what we wanted and this was what I truly admired. She was immensely brave, but also brilliantly skillful in navigating such a complex novel of difficult and controversial themes, and her ability to turn it all into an utterly awe inspiring piece of writing.

I really did put myself through the wringer when I chose to read this book. It’s a novel based on a road trip, but is a brilliant dissection of family life and the struggles of military personnel to adjust to normal family life, especially when struggling with mental ill health. My partner spent 22 years in the RAF, so I understand how bewildering it can be to go from every moment being structured to having to make your own choices. Ex-soldier Liam takes his wife Emma and daughter Alannah on a journey, but it becomes an inner journey for all three of them. Running parallel is a story of Liam’s childhood, and how his parents Jane and Frank relate to their son and their granddaughter.

Emma has been struggling to adjust to Liam being at home. He is also finding it hard to cope with a life without orders and is showing some obsessive compulsive tendencies - such as getting irate when a mug is on the wrong place at the the table. He has left the military under difficult circumstances, and I could see elements of PTSD in his behaviour. Emma has always done her best as the military wife, coping when he is away from home, almost like a single parent. So, his presence at home every day feels almost intrusive. While she’s very good at putting up a front, there is so much going on under the surface. Their daughter Alannah is much the same, keeping all her worries buried under the surface. She wants to be a ballerina, but worries they she may not have the right body for it. When Emma goes away for a break, Liam takes Alannah on a trip to visit his parents, so their story starts to unfold; the past informing and illuminating the present. As with many families, different roles bring out different aspects to their character. Jane is a great Grandma to Alannah, but hasn’t always been a brilliant parent to Liam. She is a woman more concerned about what others think than what her child might need. In her mind there is a set way to behave that’s correct, anything outside of that is the wrong way to live. Her husband Frank is a likeable rogue and reminded me a bit of my own father. Yet, as events unfold, he proves himself a good support to his granddaughter. It seems that he has learned from the way he was earlier in life. We often find that parents act very differently as grandparents - they listen, are more lenient and accepting.

There was an interesting structure to the book, it felt like you’d started in the middle of a sentence at first, but the author has started every paragraph with the end of the last one. This isn’t just done for effect, I felt it was a comment on how much stories intertwine and also how the generations in our families have such complex links with each other. Every character felt real, no cardboard cut outs here, each one was complicated and interesting, I also felt the author had a good grasp of the difficulties within military marriages. I would definitely look out for her work again.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A strange and usual book that might split the readers. It wasn't really for me.

This story was difficult for me to get into and more difficult to stay in. The writing style is unique, but did work for my enjoyment. The story itself was poignant and well done.

Soldier Boy is a powerful read that will leave you thinking long after the book ends, however I don’t know if perhaps it tries to achieve too much. This book follows a number of characters, all going through their own turmoil, ultimately yes, that’s important in a story about mental illness as everyone, no matter what you personally are going through, is also going through something, and it’s important to remember that. Sometimes people can’t give you their all because they don’t have it to give, either through their own battles or supporting others, and this book does address that, which I’ll repeat is important. That said, it does make for an intense, disorienting read that almost reads as 2 books, if not more.

Liam, the father in this story, is a former soldier, sent home with PTSD. After an argument with his wife Emma, who walks out for an unexpected 2 week break away from him, he takes their daughter Alannah and drives , with no plan but to keep his daughter. Alannah also has her own turmoil, and I’ve been hesitant using these pronouns so far as Alannah actually identifies as Alfie, something he has kept to himself in fear of disappointing his parents; his angry father and his perfectionist mother who loves dressing her ballerina daughter. We also follow Emma, the mother who has been been saving for a spa a holiday because she feels beaten down by Liam who cannot appreciate the life she has lived while he was away, preparing for the pain of being a widow, and the life of living with him so volatile, including his nightmares that keep her awake all night. On top of this you also have Liam’s parents who divorced decades ago, Liam has been estranged from his father and yet turns up at his house with Alfie and you have this father-son dynamic on the page also.

I say this with full respect for mental health issues (as a survivor myself) but these characters are infuriating at times to the point this book is hard to read, and I don’t actually think it’s necessarily MI causing it but stubbornness and ego, so backed into their own corners. You can tell Parkin has down a lot of research, particularly for PTSD, and the flashbacks helped in understanding him better, a lot of the pages are him bullying his child, his wife and thoughts of hurting, even killing people, but in these flashbacks we understand truly what PTSD is doing to him. I do feel like perhaps his part of the story resolved (or rather, stepped forwards) a bit too quickly but I say this as someone with no experience or knowledge in the area so i could be wrong. It did at least make way for a satisfying, beautiful part of the book.

My issue with this book though is the absolute lack of trigger warnings in this book and I don’t think Alfie’s storyline should have been a surprise on the page. The dialogue is hugely, upsettingly transphobic for the majority of the book, and while I fully acknowledge that isn’t the author but characters hugely ignorant, it makes for hard reading and I can only think what that would feel to read for anyone who has or is currently going through the same. Similarly, and this is a spoiler but as above, it’s necessarily imo to be warned, there is GM in this book that is truly upsetting. I have read this via NetGalley but I hope the book to purchase comes with trigger warnings and information for further advice/support. Alfie is a beautiful character and you feel everything he feels, his love for his father, his fear, his self loathing and confusion, again this is well written, I just can’t overlook the impact

The writing, as I have said, is beautiful, the subjects well researched and the way the characters chapters and viewpoints connect up, the last word following on, is very clever

This book starts mid sentence. My first thought was a publishing error, but when the first chapter ended mid sentence and the second one started mid sentence I realised that that was how the book was written. It's an interesting concept that worked for me.

Each chapter is a difference person's narrative, with the sentence construction leading from one chapter to another linking them all together well. The story of a soldier returning home to his wife and child after being dismissed from the army. It is only at the end we get to understand why he was dismissed.

He is tormented by what happened, and takes that out on his wife, who ends up leaving him for a while. He is left looking after the child. He takes the child to visit his father, who he had not seen since he was 10 - and the story of his parents unfolds.

It is unusual for me to "fall" into a book as easily as I did with this one, it had me gripped and interested from page one.

It's a story with a lot of sadness, but some hope as well..It dragged a little in parts, but overall I enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more by this author. Was a slow burn for me at the beginning, but got a lot better.

Thank you to Netgalley and Legend Press for the review copy.

This is a story of family, identity, relationships.

It's a slow burn and it made my heart hurt.

TW: self-harm, transphobic language, PTSD

If the description doesn't pull you in then let the idea of a carefully and cleverly crafted storyline rope you in instead.
Cassandra Parkin has created an amazing storyline here and as much as it's a slow burner it made my heart ache reading it.

I highly recommend that you go and read this book and then go and read the test of her work because she is amazing with words. Trust

Another excellent book by this author. I adore her work. This book drew me in straight away and amazed me until the very end

More than written, this book was carefully crafted, each chapter entwining with the next the same way those people's lives were entwined with each other.
It is not an easy book to read, and does not speak of light themes, but it is a wonderful ride through the lives and minds of people that have unimaginable choices and were dealt difficult hands to play. As in other books by this author, we are shown how people cope with mental health problems, and the impact it has on our every day life.
Recommend to all Cassandra Parkin fans, like me, but also to people that love a good story, well told, even if it touches difficult themes.

Remarkably good. Cleverly constructed, well-written and expertly paced, this was a novel I couldn’t put down. Liam is an ex-soldier with PTSD and how this plays out within his family is described with empathy and insight – and with enormous sensitivity. But he isn’t the only troubled character in the book. His daughter Alannah is also experiencing a crisis which is brought to a head when her mother goes away for a break from the unbearable tension at home and Liam reacts unexpectedly. All the characters get their say here, which adds to the complexity of the human drama being played out in front of us. We end up caring for them all. Moving – indeed heart-breaking – this is compelling reading indeed.

I enjoyed this book and this author's writing style. I am looking forward to reading more of their work in the future.

Unfortunately I just really couldn’t get into this book. I did really enjoy the narrative of the book being split between different characters, however I struggled to keep engaged with the plot and unfortunately could not finish the book.

Ok, so after nit getting into the story I was somehow in the middle and then, major plottwist and boom. What happened?
A story which goes straight into you and keeps you thinking, reflexting.
The book reminded me to make sure to look after people around me and be there for them in case they need someone.
Brilliant story, which I wish for people to discover.

I really liked that I was expecting one thing from this story, and it took a completely different and heartbreaking turn. I thought the impact of Alfie's actions on the whole family were sensitively explored, and were quite realistic.