Rowena’s review of Because of You by Jessica Scott.
Hero: Shane Garrison
Heroine: Jen St. James
From the war-torn streets of Baghdad to the bittersweet comforts of the home front, two wounded hearts navigate the battlefield of coming home from war in this explosive eBook original from newcomer Jessica Scott.
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.
Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: This Fierce Splendor, Spellbound, and Tender, Loving Cure.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a military romance and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read one because I enjoyed jumping into this one. The last military book that I tried reading was Izzy’s book in the Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann and I never finished that book. For some reason, I just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t hard for me to jump right into this one though because every time Shane came into the picture, I’d picture that sexy beast on the cover and I’d want to know more.
It was easy to fall into this story because Scott jumps right into it from the beginning. We meet Shane and Jen and then they’re at the bar and the sexual chemistry is humming in the air. What made this book unique to me is Jen wasn’t your normal romance novel heroine, she wasn’t perfect and she wasn’t a geeky bookworm or shy plain jane. She had physical scars that she was having trouble dealing with. She doesn’t let men get too close because she knows what they’d think. She has a huge scar and only one breast and we saw her struggle with it and with the intimacy between her and Shane because of it.
Shane is having his own struggles throughout this book. He’s the man in charge (well one of them anyway) and when he gets sent home from Iraq after almost getting blown to pieces, he struggles with being back home, broken while his men are out in the war zone, without his guidance. He worries about his men and I really admired that about him. His marriage ended because he was married to his job and while being married to him would have been extremely hard, it was understandable why he took his job so seriously.
From what I’ve written so far in my review, you’d probably think this was one of those deep, dark and tortured stories and while the book deals with heavy stuff, there’s still quite a bit of humor in it.
My favorite quote from the book is this one:
“He accused me of dereliction of duty. Hell, I’m not even supposed to be on duty.” Carponti snorted. “He can derelict my balls.”
LMAO, oh man Carponti cracked me up. Carponti is one of Shane’s best friends who was injured in the same blow up that sent Shane home. While Shane turns into a terrible beastly bear over being home and in pieces, Carponti tried to keep things on the up and up by cracking jokes at every turn and doing everything in his power to piss off the guy that was investigating their team.
This book was a good read. I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters and it made me curious to see if any of the other couples mentioned in this book have their own books out or coming out. Carponti and his wife were great additions to the story as well as Trent and Laura. I’m happy to see that this book is the first book in Jessica Scott’s COMING HOME series, so woo freaking hoo!
Shane was a great bear of a hero. Solid and strong but in need of some tenderness. He’s not really sold on the whole marriage thing since he made a mess of his first marriage. What I liked about him was that he wasn’t blinded to his faults. He knew that he shared a huge deal of the blame in why his marriage didn’t last and I liked that about him. It helped matters that he was dead sexy and fell in love with Jen, warts/scars and all. I loved the way that he struggled with his relationship with Jen. He fumbled his way to that happy ending and I loved watching him fumble time after time before he finally gets it right.
Jen was a solid heroine, one with a big heart and one that I would totally want as my friend. Her struggles with her inner demons (with the scars) and her determination to get Shane to realize that life is about a whole lot more than missing a few limbs made me admire the heck out of her. Her imperfections were on the outside but on the inside, she was a really great woman. I enjoyed getting to know her and even when she was being a bonehead about her body image, I loved her.
Overall, this story was good. It’s one of those stories that had me laughing and sighing all over the place. The characters were charming, the secondary characters were engaging and I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of military romances and contemporary romance in general. This was a good one.
Grade: 4.25 out of 5.
This book is available from Loveswept. You can buy it here in e-format.
GAH!!! Please tell me that this book will be released in print form eventually. I do not have an e-reader nor do I particularly want one.
We’re hoping to release in print in a few months but nothing is solid. If I get some print copies, I’ll be sure to swing through Book Binge to offer some as giveaways! You don’t have to get an ereader, though. Do you have a smartphone? Or you can read right on your computer.
I know it’s not ideal but with all the changes going on in publishing, it’s really a strong method to launch a debut author. Hopefully, we’ll have print copies soon, though because I do understand that so many folks don’t have ereaders. When my local paper in Maine did an article, they asked specifically how to read it b/c so many people up there don’t have ereaders.
I wish there was a better answer.
Jessica–Thank you so much for your post. ‘Because Of You’ is the type of book I love to read and it heartens me to learn that it may be released in print.
When it comes to reading, I am a traditionalist; I enjoy curling up with a paperback and a cup of tea. The thought of doing so with an e-reader, tablet or smart phone does not conjure up the same sense of comfort. I think I lost my way in the 90’s technology-wise!
I wish you great success with the release of ‘Because Of You’ and I look forward to reading it one day. Congratulations!