Author: Jessica Scott

Review: Back to You by Jessica Scott

Posted September 7, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Back to You by Jessica ScottReviewer: Rowena
Back to You by Jessica Scott
Series: Coming Home #2
Also in this series: Until There Was You (Coming Home #3), Because of You (Coming Home #1), Back to You
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: July 29th 2014
Pages: 304
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

He's in for the fight of his life . . .

Army captain Trent Davila loved his wife, Laura, and their two beautiful children. But when he almost lost his life in combat, something inside him died. He couldn't explain the emptiness he felt or bridge the growing distance between him and his family—so he deployed again. And again. And again . . . until his marriage reached its breaking point. Now, with everything on the line, Trent has one last chance to prove to his wife that he can be the man she needs . . . if she'll have him. . . to win back his only love.

Laura is blindsided when Trent returns home. Time and again, he chose his men over his family, and she's just beginning to put the pieces of her shattered heart back together. But when Trent faces a court martial on false charges, only Laura can save him. What begins as an act of kindness to protect his career inflames a desire she thought long buried—and a love that won't be denied. But can she trust that this time he's back to stay?

I read this book for book club and was completely blown away with how good this book was. It was different from anything that I’ve read in a long while and I loved seeing two people who were very much in love heal from their broken relationship.

Back to You is the second book in the Coming Home series and it follows Trent and Laura, friends of the couple from the first book, Because of You. Trent and Laura are married with two kids and they have a wonderful marriage, or, they had a wonderful marriage before Trent is shipped off to war and comes back a completely different person from the man Laura married.

Laura knows that Trent is suffering through something big but he’s closed every communication avenue to her and when she finds out that he’s been shipping himself back out every chance that he can, she’s understandably hurt. Hurt that he doesn’t love her enough to come home. Hurt that he is missing out on being a father to their two kids. Well, she can’t fight to save her marriage for herself and she’s hurt enough that she wants out. She just wants a fresh start, with her kids and away from the man who broke her heart.

Trent is suffering from some major PTSD and he’s got a whole lot of survivor’s guilt going on with no idea how to fix himself or his family. He’s under investigation for some really serious charges and it took the job he used to escape to be stripped from him to realize what was really important. His wife. His family. He’s got a second chance to get things right, to fix the broken heart of the only woman he’s ever loved and he really hopes that it’s not too late.

My heart hurt for both Trent and Laura because their story wasn’t an easy one. They already had a foundation of love under them and their story was all about fixing their broken marriage. She wants a divorce and he doesn’t and we see them both struggle with where to go, what to do. I thought Scott did a fantastic job of putting the reader right smack dab in the middle of Trent and Laura’s story. The story was real and it was hard but in the end, their story was so worth the heartache. I thought everything was wrapped up pretty nicely and I loved the little tid-bits we got from the other couples in Laura and Trent’s circle of friends.

This book was good and I’m so glad that I read it. I definitely recommend.

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

four-stars

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Review: Before I Fall by Jessica Scott

Posted March 14, 2016 by Holly in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Before I Fall by Jessica ScottReviewer: Holly
Before I Fall by Jessica Scott
Series: Falling Series #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 1st 2015
Genres: Fiction, New Adult
Pages: 228
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Stay focused. Get a job. Save her father's life. Beth Lamont knows far too much about the harsh realities of life her gilded classmates have only read about in class. She'll do whatever it takes to take care of her father, even if that means tutoring a guy like Noah - a guy who represents everything she hates about the war, soldiers and what the Army has done to her family.

Noah Warren doesn't know how to be a student. All he knows is war. But he's going to college now to fulfill a promise and he doesn't break his promises. Except he doesn't count on his tutor being drop dead gorgeous and distracting as hell. One look at Beth threatens to unravel the careful lies Noah has constructed around him.

A simple arrangement turns into something neither of them can deny. And a war that neither of them can forget could destroy them both.

Scott is one of the few authors who write military romances that just annihilate me. They aren’t sappy, feel-good fluff pieces. That’s not to say there aren’t sweet, romantic elements, but the tone of her books is generally darker. She doesn’t shy away from looking at the problems facing the men and women who serve in the military today.

In this case, Noah got out of the Army and started college almost right away. He’s been struggling with PTSD. Beth is assigned as his Stats tutor and he’s drawn to her right away. Unfortunately for him, Beth has seen what the war can do to an individual, and she wants nothing to do with a former soldier.

Beth’s father is a Vet who suffers from a severe back injury. Between broken appointments and lack of funds required for surgery, he’s become a painkiller addict. She manages their lives and juggles school as best she can, so she can hopefully graduate and get a job with benefits that will help him get what he needs.

She isn’t even remotely interested in starting something, especially not with a soldier. But she can’t help her attraction. When Noah puts on the full court press, she can’t resist him. Until she finds out what secrets he’s been hiding, she really thinks they have a chance. But those secrets are threatening to destroy him, and they just may take her down, too.

I struggled a bit with Noah’s addiction. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but it didn’t seem like he was as bad off as it turned out he was. His addiction to sleeping pills and anxiety meds wasn’t a surprise, but when it was revealed that he had trouble with painkillers, too, it took me by surprise.

On the one hand, I liked that Beth walked away from him, but on the other I struggled with how easy it was for her to walk away. As the sole caregiver to an addict, it was easy to understand why she wouldn’t want to stick with Noah and watch him spiral. Yet, it was obvious they cared for each other and Noah had a very serious and real reason to need sleeping pills, anxiety meds and painkillers.

One thing Scott excels at is looking at both sides of an issue. Just when I was getting frustrated with the narrow view of one character, another would arrive with a conflicting point-of-view.

Though I struggled a bit with some of the content, I can’t deny this was an engrossing read. I didn’t finish it with a happy sigh in my heart, but rather feeling introspective.

3.75 out of 5 

three-half-stars

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Review: Before I Fall by Jessica Scott

Posted February 11, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Before I Fall by Jessica ScottReviewer: Rowena
Before I Fall by Jessica Scott

Publication Date: March 3rd 2015
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 300
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars

I thought I could do this. I thought I could leave the war behind.

I was wrong. I can’t do this. I can’t go to class and pretend like everything is normal. That I’m normal. I’m not. I’ve lost everything that matters to me. But I made a promise.

And if I’m going to keep that promise, I have to focus. I have to pretend that I belong on this southern campus that drips with old money.

And I have to pass stats. That’s where Beth comes in.

I’m terrified she’ll see through me. That the careful lies and easy smile won’t be enough to convince her that everything is fine.

That she’ll see how broken I really am.

But there’s something about her that draws me closer. A sadness in her eyes that am powerless to resist. I should walk away. Protect her from the broken, darkness in me.

Before we both fall into something neither of us can control...

Stay focused. Get a job. Save her father’s life.

Beth Lamont knows far too much about the harsh realities of life her gilded classmates have only read about in class. She’ll do whatever it takes to take care of her father, even if that means tutoring a guy like Noah - a guy who represents everything she hates about the war, soldiers and what the Army has done to her family.

Noah Warren doesn’t know how to be a student. All he knows is war. But he’s going to college now to fulfill a promise and he doesn’t break his promises. Except he doesn’t count on his tutor being drop dead gorgeous and distracting as hell. One look at Beth threatens to unravel the careful lies Noah has constructed around him.

A simple arrangement turns into something neither of them can deny. And a war that neither of them can forget could destroy them both.

It’s been a while since I read anything by Jessica Scott but I knew that I was going to like this one because she hasn’t ever let me down before..and I did. I really enjoyed this one.

This is the first book in the Falling series and the series follows three ex-Marines (I think Eli is an ex-Marine) try to make a life for themselves outside of the Marines. Learning how to live as civilians after being so used to living in the midst of war for so long.

First up, we have Noah Warren. Noah is enrolled in college and is trying to get his degree and make something of his life, to honor his Marine brothers that have fallen. In order to do that, he’s got to take and pass Statistics so his professor puts him into contact with Beth Lamont who is going to tutor him. He’s got a lot of things that he’s trying to deal with, the loss and pain from the war that he’s trying to cope with and he’s got a bit of a problem with pills. His PTSD is keeping him up at night so he takes pills to keep the monsters at bay but those pills are messing with his head and his life. He wasn’t expecting the chemistry with Beth and he certainly wasn’t expecting the amount of feelings for her that crept up. Her life is already filled to the brim with a soldier’s addiction to pills and staying healthy, she doesn’t need his baggage…but tell that to their hearts.

Beth has about all she can handle right now in her life but when her professor assigns her a tutoring project, she has no choice but to accept. She doesn’t have room in her life for the mess that comes with having feelings for Noah. Her father keeps her busy and the VA is trying their hardest to drive her insane but the more she gets to know Noah, the more she likes and when he offers her a shoulder to help carry her burden, she can’t help but lean on it.

Jessica Scott delivered another realistic romance with characters that wrapped me right up in their story. Noah’s story felt genuine and his issues were real. I wanted to hug him close at the same time that I wanted to shake some sense into him but Scott’s delivery of Noah’s mentality felt organic and I loved that Noah wasn’t perfect. That he had a lot of shit that he was shoveling day in and day out, trying to survive each passing day. It was very easy to connect with him and his battle, even if you’re not going through it yourself. I could totally see why Beth fell for him…even when it wasn’t smart for her to be with him, Noah was a great but troubled guy. He was worth a second look.

Beth’s story was interesting because you could feel the bitterness threatening to overtake her every single day and then to find out about Noah’s issues? It would have brought down the strongest of people to battle the same battle with two different people but Beth, she just kept getting right back up and fighting the good fight. There were times when I was overwhelmed with the amount of stress that Beth was under but my admiration for her was real. She was strong and she was hard working but she was also caring and loving. On top of the way that she was with both her father and Noah, she was a great friend to Abby.

Overall, this was a great introduction into a series that I really want to dig into. I loved the romance, the conflict, the characters…It was real, it was raw and a little gritty and I want more. I had some issues with the way that Noah’s issues were brought to light (the way he handled them, not the way that they were written or anything like that) and the way that Beth handled certain things but aside from that, I would definitely recommend this book.

Grade: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Review: Back to You by Jessica Scott

Posted January 17, 2014 by Holly in Reviews | 5 Comments

Review: Back to You by Jessica ScottReviewer: Holly
Back to You by Jessica Scott
Series: Coming Home #3
Also in this series: Until There Was You (Coming Home #3), Because of You (Coming Home #1), Back to You
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July 29th 2014
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 336
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

"Jessica Scott is an exciting new voice in romantic fiction who bursts upon the scene with an unputdownable debut novel!"--Robyn Carr, New York Times Bestselling Author on Because of You
He's in for the fight of his life . . .
Army captain Trent Davila loved his wife, Laura, and their two beautiful children. But when he almost lost his life in combat, something inside him died. He couldn't explain the emptiness he felt or bridge the growing distance between him and his family-so he deployed again. And again. And again...until his marriage reached its breaking point. Now, with everything on the line, Trent has one last chance to prove to his wife that he can be the man she needs ...if she'll have him
. . . to win back his only love.
Laura is blindsided when Trent returns home. Time and again, he chose his men over his family, and she's just beginning to put the pieces of her shattered heart back together. But when Trent faces a court martial on false charges, only Laura can save him. What begins as an act of kindness to protect his career inflames a desire she thought long buried-and a love that won't be denied. But can she trust that this time he's back to stay?
(85,000 words)

 

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this story since I read the first book in the series. Trent fascinated and frustrated me in the previous books and I wanted to explore the mystery of him.

Laura and Trent have been through a lot of years of marriage and a lot of deployments together. Laura figured she’d be able to stand by Trent no matter what. As the years drag on and Trent pulls farther and farther away from her and their two children, she starts wondering if they can make it. When trouble starts brewing during Trent’s latest deployment and he freezes her out, Laura really struggles to hold it together. When she finds out he’s volunteered for every deployment and lied to her about it, then gets charged with sexual misconduct, she’s done. Though she doesn’t want to be the wife who gives up on her man, she just can’t take anymore and files for divorce.

The last thing Trent wants is to lose his wife, but he has no idea how to open up to her. He can’t share the horrors of war with her, or the guilt he feels whenever he’s at home with his loving family and his guys are overseas. Which is the main reason he kept volunteering for deployments. And with each one he felt more and more disconnected from his life back home. Until he couldn’t open up at all. Now that he’s back stateside and facing a court-martial, he’s rethinking his past decisions. When his lawyer says he and Laura need to look like a happily married couple in order to help his case, he flat refuses. He doesn’t want to hurt her anymore than he already has. Until she agrees.  Then he realizes he might have another shot.

After years of deployments and months alone, the last thing Laura wants is to have Trent move back in and disrupt her new normal. But she can’t deny him the time with his kids, and no way can she let him hang out there all alone when there’s a possibility she might be able to help clear the charges against him. So she agrees to help, as long as he agrees to grant her a divorce as soon as his trial is over.  But spending time with him and watching him try to get his feet under him and find his new normal is harder than she expected. She still loves him and wants nothing more than to work things out. If only love was enough.

This was an extremely realistic look at the trials and tribulations our military members and their families face.  I admit I was bawling by page 8 and that didn’t really let up until about halfway through the book.  My heart went out to Trent. He really wanted his family, but he had no idea how to get them back. He’s felt disconnected for so long, he doesn’t even know where to begin to reengage. I was glad to see Scott didn’t just wave a magic wand and make him better. He had to find a way to deal with his near-death and the loss of so many of his men, and that included medication and counseling.

As Trent opens up and learns to be a husband and father all over again, I felt myself melting right along with Laura. Though he made choices that hurt his family, his love for them was undeniable. He may not have known how to reopen the lines of communication, but he made real effort.

I really empathized with Laura. It isn’t easy being the one left at home, especially when your husband slowly disconnects from you and your family. When the rumors started up about Trent and a female soldier, she didn’t put much stock in them. Until she found out he’d been volunteering for his deployments when he’d told her otherwise, divorce was the farthest thing from her mind. That was her breaking point. I can’t say I blame her, either. She felt betrayed by his lies more than anything else, not understanding how he could run off to war and leave her behind time and time again.

While this is a romance about a husband and wife falling in love with each other again, it’s also a hard-to-put-down look at the troubles our military heroes face when coming home from war. Scott did an excellent job of balancing the romance with the realities. It was hard to read at times, and I straight bawled at one point, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4.75 out of 5

This book is available from Forever. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

five-stars

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Review: Because of You by Jessica Scott

Posted February 28, 2013 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Because of You by Jessica ScottReviewer: Holly
Because of You (Coming Home #1) by Jessica Scott
Series: Coming Home #1
Also in this series: Until There Was You (Coming Home #3), Back to You, Back to You

Publication Date: November 14th 2011
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 200
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

A Love Story You'll Never Forget:

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...

Loveswept brings you the very best of classic romance - from treasured favourites to exciting new talent, these are love stories you'll never forget. Find out about other titles in the series and choose your next Loveswept hero at www.lovesweptbooks.co.uk

A realistic look at military life makes this a surprisingly dark and angsty novel.  Shane’s time overseas looking out for his men and his guilt when he fails were stark reminders of what our soldiers deal with on a regular basis.

Jen’s brush with breast cancer – and subsequent mastectomy – added another dark note to the story. While I think both situations were well written and realistic, I think the story would have benefited from some levity. While engrossing, it tended toward the dramatic and depressing, which didn’t make for a very feel good read.

Despite that, I enjoyed the journey both Shane and Jen embarked upon – both together and separately. The secondary plot featuring Shane’s commander left me feeling frustrated and annoyed. The cliffhanger seemed unnecessary given the bulk of the story was focused on Shane and Jen. I’m anxious for more information.

I’m glad the story was left with a Happy for Now ending, rather than a Happily Ever After. Shane and Jen still have some things to work out. I don’t know that I would have believed an ending the included marriage and babies.

Though this was a darker novel, I enjoyed it and look forward to more from Scott.

4 out of 5

This book is available from Loveswept. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

four-stars

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