Because of You
by
Jessica Scott
Review copy provided by author for review.
Be sure to read past the review for my interview with Jessica Scott
Synopsis:
Keeping his men alive is all that matters to Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison. But meeting Jen St. James the night before his latest deployment makes Shane wonder if there's more to life than war. He leaves for Iraq remembering a single kiss with a woman he'll never see again- until a near fatal attack lands him back at home and in her care. Jen has survived her own brush with death and endured its scars. And yet there's a fire in Shane that makes Jen forget all about her past. He may be her patient, but when this warrior looks her in the eyes, she feels - for the first time in a long time - like a woman. Shane is too proud to ask for help, but for Jen, caring for him is more than a duty -it's a need. And as Jen guides Shane through the fires of healing, she finds something she never expected - her deepest desire.
Review:
Because of You is a wonderful novel. I cried, I laughed, and I ached for the characters throughout the book. Being an ARMY wife myself I understand what the wives are going through. I also learned a lot from the characters in this novel. My husband was injured in Afghanistan in "08" and medically retired in "09" at the age of 29. He won't talk to me about his experience in Afghanistan and I never understood why. This novel brought things to my attention that I never thought about and now I understand that my husband more than likely thinks that he's protecting me by not talking about his deployment. Being an ex-ARMY wife, I feel a real connection with the characters and I can't wait for Laura and Trent's story!
I really wish that I had a higher rating that I could give this novel. It truly deserves more!
Hi Jessica Scott, Thank you so much for allowing us to take
up a little of your time to ask you questions about yourself and your novel.
First of
all let’s get to know you a little better.
1. We know that you are a soldier in the United States Army and you are stationed at Ft. Hood in Texas. From reading the "About the Author" page in the back of your novel we also learned that your husband is an NCO. Is your husband also stationed at Ft. Hood?
Thanks so much for having me here
today! My husband is stationed with me and our kiddos, fur babies and hamsters
at Fort Hood. Despite that, we’ve spent more of the last decade apart than
together because of the war.
2. Do you always get stationed together?
We’ve been very very fortunate that
the army has left us at the same home station. It’s required some maneuvering
and he’s deployed a whole lot more than if he’d moved somewhere else but it’s
better to have the years when he wasn’t deployed spent together than not.
3.Would you
please share with us your rank and how long it took to achieve your title in
the Army?
I’m currently a captain in the army
and I kind of took the long route to captain. Normally, you pin on in 3-4 years
but I went through officer candidate school and didn’t commission until I had
12 years in. So I’ve been in all told 17 years as of mid August.
4. How many
different countries have you been to as a soldier?
I’ve been assigned to Germany,
Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq with pit stops in a few others. Germany and Korea
were awesome assignments and Fort Hood will always be my home. Iraq, well, Iraq
was a learning experience.
Now that we
have the really personal questions out of the way let’s get to the novel.
5.When was
your first novel published?
My first book BECAUSE OF YOU was
published in 2011 by Loveswept. It has the honor being the debut Loveswept when
Random House decided to launch it as a digital first imprint.
6. Was your
novel rejected by any other publishers before it was published?
Oh yes. Many, many times.
7. When did
you start writing romance novels?
I started writing back in 2007 when
I was away from my family the first time at Officer Candidate School and well,
I never stopped. I kept going until I found that one yes.
8. What
inspired Because of You and the war
setting?
Shane was inspired by several of the
senior enlisted men I went to Officer Candidate School. They didn’t have
patience for dumb stuff and they wanted to train. Everything else just got in
the way. And I wanted to explore who that man was when he no longer had the
rank on his chest. As far as Jen, I needed a heroine who had her own strength
but who’d been wounded as a result of something outside of her control. I chose
breast cancer because for a young woman, it’s a particularly aggressive illness
and she had to chose between her beauty and her life. Her strength in that
choice helps get Shane through his darkest hours.
9.When
writing Because of You was it your
intention to help others understand the trials of a soldier’s life?
Not to be arrogant but yes, it was.
I wanted to take normal soldiers who I worked with to my left and to my right
and bring them to life as only romance readers could appreciate. I wanted to
give soldiers a happily ever after because far too often in real life, that’s
not what soldiers get.
10.When can we
expect to see the sequel to Because of You available
to purchase?
My next book UNTIL THERE WAS YOU is
available on October 8th. It’s not the sequel per se as it’s a stand alone
novel but Laura & Trent’s book BACK TO YOU is tentatively scheduled for
early summer 2013.
11. How can
interested readers acquire a signed copy of Because
of You?
I don’t have hard copies right now
but keep checking back to my website because I love giving them away when I do
get them!
Thanks so much for having me here
today! I hope readers who enjoyed Shane & Jen’s story in BECAUSE OF YOU
will pick up UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.
Jessica Scott returns with an all-new contemporary
eBook original romance, following last fall’s release of her sizzling debut
novel Because of You.
He
plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed
army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .
A by-the-book captain with a West Point
background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for
an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of
redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at
odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is
asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is
in for the fight of his life.
Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain
Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire
sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his
people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there
is more to Evan than meets the eye.
He’s more than the rank on his chest;
he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan
and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.
You can order UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these
ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold!
B & N | Amazon | Powell's| iBookstore
BIO:
Jessica
Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats, three dogs
and two escape-artists hamsters, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all
things stuffed and fluffy. She has commanded two companies, served in Germany,
Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq, and been lucky not to get fired. She is a terrible
cook and an even worse housekeeper, but she’s a pretty good shot with her
assigned weapon. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband
still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.
You can find her online at
