And Throw Away The Skins

Thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book really drew me in. The main character is seeing her life dissolve: trying to get back on her feet after cancer treatment, her husband fleeing into work with the military (and the attendant long absences) and not willing to engage with her as his wife, particularly after her illness, their family finances down the drain, questioning her belief system as a pastor's wife and finally turning her back on that world. This is interspersed with scenes from her childhood, with an overbearing and violent father, and a loving mother.

The characterization, both of the main character and the supporting players, is excellent - authentic and real, and the author's prose is a true pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book!

Goodreads review here (direct link not possible): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2824128697

I started this book without looking at the author's name. Realizing later that it was a man telling a woman's story but actually rather well I was conflicted. The life trials of Bec are well placed in good descriptive writing. We can really imagine the hard scrabble life in the woods. I do think it needs a better cover. Anyway I have to be ok with the aspect that the story shows the will of a strong woman even though some plot points were not resolved.

“And Throw Away the Skins” is set in New Mexico, 2009. It is the story of a military chaplain’s wife who is recovering from chemoradiation after a double mastectomy. When he is assigned back overseas, she sells their home in Dallas and moves to a small cabin in New Mexico that was built by her maternal grandfather a century previously. She is broke – financially and emotionally. Her husband cannot stand the sight of her surgical scars and she desperately needs his touch to reassure her and to boost her own self-acceptance.

Although she and her mother would vacation at the cabin with cousins, grandparents, etc., Rebecca, called Bec, had not been to the place in years. Their time there was always spent with family, so she had no ties to the area, no circle of friends. However, she quickly makes a place for herself and gradually builds a family of friends. Ironically, her relationship with her husband is unraveling. Every step forward for her in New Mexico seems matched by her husband William’s increasing satisfaction with his chaplain duties in Kandahar. Their emotional distance mirrors their geographical locales.

When Bec agrees to help a veteran named Tony open a retreat/recuperation center for returning recovering vets, William is highly skeptical though not entirely unsupportive. Bec knows it will invade her privacy but it will also provide her with a job as center manager and it gets off the ground with four veterans who literally build the place from ground up on the land in front of her cabin.

Then the story takes what I feel was an unnecessary detour as Bec lets herself be drawn into a relationship with the most psychologically damaged of the four veterans. I have no idea why on earth a woman who is supposedly the salt of the earth would let herself be exploited but that is the road the writer chose. The writing itself is quite good. He does use flashbacks, taking the reader back to Bec’s early childhood and other periods of her life. So, if you prefer books that written in chronological order, this will not be your cup of tea. My rating of four stars is based primarily on the excellent writing. Mr. Jones is very skilled at description of his characters as well as the other elements of storytelling. His character development earns high marks as well. I could not give it 5 stars because I just felt the Michael/Bec relationship did not ring true.

Good read, kept my attention to the extent that I finished it in two sittings. 4 stars.
Thanks to Net Galley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It takes pushing through the first couple chapters to get the rhythm and into the main characters' 'head" so to speak. Well written emotional and physical conflicts of she,her husband and a very troubled Marine vet. I would like to have seen more resolution of her own conflict of her own past or how she and her husband came together. It took a bit to figure out Seemed the backstory of her childhood abuse was only briefly touched on in many places but never expounded upon and never discussed with her husband even prior to the marriage. Interesting choice that a Minister couldn't deal with body disfigurements. There is a lot going on under the surface with this book if you look beyond the words. I was not satisfied with the ending either, felt there could have been more inner conflict resolution . Has all the makings of good classic literary fiction.
Thanks to the author and publishers for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I liked this story but parts of it were very grim, much like today's world. Bec is recovering from a double mastectomy and watching her husband leave for another tour in Afghanistan. He's an Army Chaplin and can't bear to look at her since the surgery. She sells their house and heads to the old family homestead in New Mexico. There is now a VA half-way house for vets recovering from PTSD. They want her land to build an additional dorm. Life is complicated for Bec and I was cheering for her the entire book. Many would have been beaten down and give up but she's a fighter. I hope there is another book that continues her story when things can right as rain. The vets are very real life and cope with real life problems. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Bec has been managing her breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment while her husband's job as a preacher with a mega-church begins to lose its appeal for them both. Her husband finally resigns his job and joins the military as a chaplain, ending up being sent to Afghanistan. When Bec loses their house, due to their significantly reduced financial situation, she moves from Dallas to her mother's old cabin in New Mexico. It is run down and needs lots of work, but it affords her the privacy and space she desperately needs. When she flies to Europe to meet her husband, she is deeply disappointed in his inability to get past her surgical scars. Life proceeds in a number of positive and negative ways for Bec and she does her best to manage.

This was a well written and utterly absorbing story which stayed with me after I'd finished reading it. Not a light or happy-go-lucky read, but intriguing with all its ups and downs for a strong but vulnerable and utterly human main character.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author Scott Archer Jones, and the publisher Books Go Social, for an ARC which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. This is my honest opinion of this book.

This was a difficult book to read but very well written and realistic. The characters are flawed and true, the story thought provoking.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

When we meet Bec, she is in many ways a broken woman. Her move to New Mexico seems to be a fresh start, and not just because of the move. New people, new relationships, and new opportunities. The story is real, raw, and at times emotionally hard to read. I really enjoyed reading Bec’s story, and watching her reclaim her life just when she thought she had lost everything.

Mr. Jones presents a very captivating story that grips the reader and holds. The many diverse characters help to build unique and realistic relationships that evolve, twist and turn throughout the novel. The descriptive writing paints vivid pictures and allows us to envision the scenery. In other words, it does just what we hope for in a novel, transports us to another place and provides us with the ability to experience and hopefully sympathize with some of the realities we all face in the 21st century. Not only did I enjoy the book, but I felt like I experienced a unique, albeit tragic, aspect of the modern world.