Click on cover image to purchase a copy
MWSA Review
This memoir is a loving tribute to the author’s deceased husband, as well as to their relatively short marriage. Widowed while pregnant with her third child, Ashley Bugge guides the reader through her romance with Brian. We get a glimpse into their life from dating, to marriage, to the birth of children, long separations, and ultimately, to Brian’s unexpected death. Along the way, the reader is deliciously infected with their enthusiasm and zest for life.
The author provides the uninitiated with a view into some of the challenges of a military family—especially the military spouse. Learning about Ashley’s experience is enlightening and makes one realize that that it is not just the deployed person who serves our country. The spouse who stays at home also serves.
So critical for marriage success, Bugge regales the readers with tales of how she and Brian helped each other achieve their dreams. It was a pleasure to read how eagerly they embraced life and supported each other.
This memoir is funny and exciting, and it is also poignant and heartbreaking. Come to it with an open heart and be prepared to cry in both sorrow and joy.
Review by Patricia Walkow (March 2021)
Author's Synopsis
Always Coming Back Home uses heartfelt stories and real-time emails sent from a deployed sailor to his bride, readers quickly become invested in this young family. The couple takes readers on adventures of sailing and scuba diving throughout the world. They also keep readers laughing as the couple becomes first time parents, anxious with them during military deployments, upset with them through miscarriages and family loss, and finally, heartbroken as it all comes to an end with a single phone call. Always Coming Back Home is a candid and raw account of two ordinary people coming together to accomplish extraordinary things.
ISBN/ASIN: 1642799084, B088LDMQNL
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 274