Bingeworthy Books

Tag: Jessica Scott

  • Review: Homefront by Jessica Scott

     

    The truth was he was a better soldier than a husband or father, and he always had been.  Hell, there was a reason why he worked so hard.  He was good at the army.  It wasn’t a job to him.  It was who he was.  It was what he was good at. He knew how to lead soldiers, how to get their confidence up to be the first man in the stack.

     

    As far as I’m concerned, Ms. Scott always manages to bring something different and interesting to the table.  Of the many books she has written where soldiers come back home, she has not tackled this particular subject so thoroughly as she does in Homefront.

    Gale screwed up.  He knew he was screwing up when he was doing it but he really didn’t know what else to do.  The army was easy and leading his men was his calling.  Being a father and husband is a whole ‘nother ball game.  Gale and Mel were very young when they married, throw in a baby and being separated from each other and it just made for a very bad combination.

     

    He hadn’t been a good enough man to hold on to her.  And when he was honest with himself, everything he’d done over the last decade and a half had been to make himself a better man.

     

    Mel has her hands full with a teenage Jamie who has some pretty serious issues of her own on top of just being a teenager.  It’s a lot for two parents to handle, much less a single parent.  Mel is tired and barely holding it together.  Enter Gale.  He’s been wanting to get closer to Mel and Jamie for years, in an effort to be involved in their lives and just maybe heal the rift between he and Mel.  Gale TOTALLY loves Mel still. To her credit, she realizes that she may have made some hasty decisions due to her own immaturity.  Even though fifteen years have passed, their feelings for each other were very close to the surface, so close that they couldn’t keep their hands and lips off of each other!

     

    She wasn’t sure where things were going but it was such a departure from the way things had been.  A good one. Gale the man not Gale the memory of the boy he’d been.  There was power in his hands now, confidence in his touch.  A smoothness in the way he stroked her body that left her breathless and shaking and wanting more.  So much more.

     

    Gale dealing with a teenage girl was touching and downright hilarious at times.  It was like diffusing a bomb. Ha!  I loved the way Gale waded in and proceeded to mediate between Jamie and her mom.  Jamie really needed her Dad, she needed his love, affection and guidance.

    This was a touching and raw depiction of second chance romance and I really enjoyed it.  I’m definitely looking forward to more from this series.

     

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  • Review ~ Before I Fall by Jessica Scott

    Jessica Scott continues to amaze me as she branches out into new genres.  I have a love/hate relationship with NA and I am SUPER picky when it comes to reading.  To be honest, at the end of last year, I’d almost given up on it all together.

    Then something interesting happened, a couple of well-established authors that I love, released books in the NA genre.  I guess I felt like there was a certain amount of security in reading their attempts at NA.  So much of the NA genre is entrenched in the first person POV and at times, that can be very annoying (to me).  I’m not up for the woe is me, self -introspective inner monologue.

    That being said, Before I Fall is first person POV and so not annoying.  In fact, it’s the opposite of annoying.  I mean, come on, it’s JESSICA SCOTT, people.  If she is writing it, it’s going to be spot on.

    Ms. Scott always manages to deftly combine the reality of military life and it’s challenges and how it impacts a person on every level.  On top of that she always writes one hell of a love story and I LOVE that.  After I’ve read one of her books, I feel like I’ve been informed on an important and timely issue.  This book is about fathers and daughters, warriors and caregivers, friends and lovers.  There are so many soldiers/veterans coming home needing care RIGHT NOW and it’s such a huge and heavy responsibility being taken up by family members and loved ones.

    In Before I Fall, Beth has such an incredible load on her shoulders.  Her father suffers from back pain and is basically addicted to pain pills because frankly, that’s the only way that he can cope until the VA can fit him in. ( The dichotomy of addiction vs. dependency)  What happens when the meds are gone and the next available VA appointment is in two weeks?  Your choices are to medicate with alcohol and/or go to the ER.  This book really brings home the reality of how messed up the VA system is. On top of taking care of her father, Beth works and goes to school and barely makes ends meet.  The girl just needs to catch a break somehow because she barely keeping her head above water.

    Enter Noah.  Ohhh Noah.  He has a lot on his plate too, coming home and trying to resume a somewhat normal life while coping with his own demons from his deployment.  Even with his own problems, Noah is an escape for Beth.  She doesn’t have to take care of him and he makes an effort to make her life easier. It’s like she can actually take a breath and experience life on her own terms for a little bit.  But let me clarify, Noah is not without his own serious problems and those problems directly impact his relationship with Beth.

    “Are you okay?”

    Genuine concern in his words,  Noah is nothing like a former soldier to be- nothing like my dad’s friends before he got hurt.  They used to come to the house and drink and play cards and talk endless amounts of trash.  If not for that stupid bravado, my dad might not have gone on his last Airborne jump.  He might not have destroyed his back trying to prove he was still high speed and low drag.

    Noah is nothing like the men my father used to call friends. There is no arrogant bravado, no need to cross the line between hoah and stupid.  He is… he is just a good guy.

    In a nutshell, this is another incredible book by Ms. Scott.  This is book #1 in the Falling series and I CANNOT wait to read more!

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