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.
Shane Garrison and Jen St. James meet the night before Shane and his team are deploying to Iraq in 2007. They share a bit of talk, some attraction and eventually a kiss.
When Shane is hurt in the line of duty and ends up with Jen as his nurse 4 months later he’s angry and closed off and though Jen wants nothing more than to help him through this difficult time he pushes her away. Jen manages to break through his tough outer shell but Shane is dealing with more than his injury, he’s dealing with the guilt of not being there for his men when they need him.
Jen is a fighter. She survived breast cancer and is stronger for it. She makes a huge difference in Shane’s life but even Jen, for all of her strength, still has feelings of worthlessness because of her partial mastectomy. She can be strong for others but when it comes to herself she’s not quite as confident.
This story started out strong for me and just continued that way until the end. I picked it up and read it all in one sitting because it was so compelling I just couldn’t put it down.
Shane and Jen, from the very beginning of the book, were very real to me. They were just average folks and we were reading about their lives. Some readers might not like the reality of the story but I loved it. Shane was a fun and funny guy who was damned serious about his career. He felt an enormous responsibility toward the men on his team and felt it was his job to take care of them. When he’s wounded and sent back to the states he really has a hard time dealing with life in general. He’s stuck in a hospital room, not able to move and certainly not able take care of his men and it’s just killing him emotionally. Jen is there for him but even she can’t make things right.
Jen is amazing. She’s an incredibly strong woman who has a heart of gold. She survived cancer and some family stuff (which I wish we would have learned a bit more about) and came out with her head, for the most part, screwed on correctly. She really was great for Shane and together, though they sometimes rubbed each other the wrong way, they made a wonderful couple.
Along with the romance in the book we get to see a little bit of combat, a skeevy Lieutenant, loyal friends, and so much more. There was a portion of the book that had to do with a couple of friends of Jen and Shane’s (Laura and Trent and their marriage) that I wish was resolved in this book but I can only hope that we’ll get more info on them in future books. The book is extremely emotionally charged and something that I wasn’t really expecting but was so good in so many way I would definitely recommend it.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
I really liked this one too. Very angsty 🙂 Can't wait for the next
Mandi – I wasn't expecting so much angst but I really liked it – it all fit together so nicely.