So, the blurb for this story never really caught my attention - that's why I put off reading it for so long even though I really enjoy reading Amy's work. I honestly have no idea what I was expecting the story to be, but it wasn't this. And I wish I hadn't put off reading it for so long now. 
 I love to read the stories that take place over longer periods of time, in which characters have to overcome obstacles in their relationships before things finally work out in the end, and that's exactly what this was. It's not really about Crick's being in the military so much as it is about his being apart from Deacon and what it does to both of them. You see them grow (or fail to) as people over an extended period of time. 
 But it's not just those two. It's a whole cast of characters that is involved in this story, and how they rely on each other (or don't when they should, or finally learn to). It's heart-warming, touching, gut-wrenching in a few places, and about a true family, blood-ties or not. 
 Even though the grammatical/typographical errors were an annoyance, and even though I'm not sure it has the re-readability that I normally require to give out 5 star ratings, it's too good to not give it 5 stars. (Or maybe 4.5 stars, rounded up.)