Book Review: Homefront by Jessica Scott

Homefront (Homefront #1)by Jessica Scott 

War, Military, Contemporary, Romance

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"Beautifully Written" JoAnn Ross - New York Times Bestselling author of the Shelter Bay series He's always loved her...
First Sergeant Gale Sorren waited a war and half a lifetime for a chance to get stationed near the ex-wife who left him years ago. When he finally musters the courage to see her, the life he imagined she was living was nothing close to the reality.
She's never stopped loving him...
Melanie never stopped worrying about Gale each time he headed off to war. But he's never been there when she needed him and she's had fifteen years to steel her heart against him.
But when Gale moves to Fort Hood, he finally has a chance to make things right with Melanie and the daughter she raised without him.
Can Mel trust her heart to a man who has always let her down?
Books in the Homefront Series
Book 1: Homefront
Book 2: After the War
Book 3: Face the Fire
And don't miss the Coming Home Series
Book .5: I'll Be Home for Christmas
Book 1: Because of You
Book 1.5: Anything for You
Book 2: Back to You
Book 3: Until There Was You
Book 4: All for You
Book 5: It's Always Been You
Book 5.5: All I Want for Christmas Is You

What makes a good romance story for me are the moments when characters have to make decisions and take the risks despite the unknown. Also any story that has a military aspect to it is definitely on my to-read list. I guess it's because the emotions between the characters are more intense and the risks of losing the other is high. But Homefront does not only tackle the loss of someone's life but something akin to it: the loss of someone's love.

For First Sergeant Gale Sorren, the military has become his life. He lives and breathes military to the point that the war became his wife and Melanie became the mistress. 

Melanie's first love and high school sweetheart was Gale. Upon being married right out of graduation, Melanie centered her life around Gale's even when he was immediately drafted and is to be shipped out of the country. What they never planned on is the little girl that they'd be having and should be raising together right before Gale's first deployment. 

Melanie's struggles were real and very raw. Imagine that at a young age, she has a kid that she needs to nurture along with an absent husband whose life began to revolve around the military. Being early 20s at that time and truly needing the support of Gale then found none, Melanie did the only thing that would help her cope. Years later, her daughter's life spirals down and at that moment when Melanie was at her lowest, the one that lifts her up again is the person she never expected to see anymore: Gale.

This story is not just about love but also of redemption.
It's about building one's life back and redeeming yourself to the ones who have loved and still loves you.  
It's a story that shows the spins, stumbles and falls that the characters have gone through to find themselves back in each other's lives. It does not only show the happily ever after but also the hard moments that Gale and Melanie had to go through and back to each other's arms once more.

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About Jess
USA Today Bestselling author Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats and three dogs, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon and someone liked some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

She's also written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View Regarding War, and IAVA. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of OIF/New Dawn and has had the honor of serving as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas twice.

She's pursuing a graduate degree in Sociology in her spare time and most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.

Learn more at http://www.jessicascott.net

Book Review: Before I Fall by Jessica Scott

Before I Fall (Falling #1)

Jessica Scott

NA, Romance, Military

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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. 

***Actual rating is 3.5***
 
Noah might have gotten out of the war,
but the war has never left him.
Will he let the effects of it destroy him and the people who loves him most
Or will he succumb?

Noah's and Beth's story are two separate worlds brought together by the very thing that separates it: war. Beth already has an experience of what war can do to a person and letting in another (mentally and physically) wounded soldier into her life was not part of the plan. But she did.

I like both Noah and Beth. They complement each other really well. Beth is driven by the need to provide for herself and her father who's suffering from wounds he got from the war. Because of its severity, Beth works three to four jobs a day just so she can keep up with the bills, the mortgage and her dad's medical care. She's also really smart. Noah on the other hand goes on with his life post-war. He tries to survive and move on through his own means.

The progression of the story and the love between the two is very real. It showed how Beth came to love Noah and later on deal with the problems he has, together. And yet, there was an instance that they had to be apart. That time was the crux in their relationship that determines if it would survive or not.

Before I Fall shows the effects of war on the person and those around him. It shows how a person can be strong and survive not only by himself but also by the love of the people he has.  

USA Today Bestselling author Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats and three dogs, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon and someone liked some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

She's also written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View Regarding War, and IAVA. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of OIF/New Dawn and has had the honor of serving as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas twice.

She's pursuing a graduate degree in Sociology in her spare time and she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.

Jessica is also an active member of the Military Writers Guild