Thursday, August 16, 2012

Because of You by Jessica Scott Review and Author Interview

Because of You 
by 
Jessica Scott
Review copy provided by author for review. 



Be sure to read past the review for my interview with Jessica Scott

Synopsis:
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.

Review:
Because of You is a wonderful novel. I cried, I laughed, and I ached for the characters throughout the book. Being an ARMY wife myself I understand what the wives are going through. I also learned a lot from the characters in this novel. My husband was injured in Afghanistan in "08" and medically retired in "09" at the age of 29. He won't talk to me about his experience in Afghanistan and I never understood why. This novel brought things to my attention that I never thought about and now I understand that my husband more than likely thinks that he's protecting me by not talking about his deployment. Being an ex-ARMY wife, I feel a real connection with the characters and I can't wait for Laura and Trent's story! 

 
I really wish that I had a higher rating that I could give this novel. It truly deserves more!

Hi Jessica Scott, Thank you so much for allowing us to take up a little of your time to ask you questions about yourself and your novel.

First of all let’s get to know you a little better.


1. We know that you are a soldier in the United States Army and you are stationed at Ft. Hood in Texas. From reading the "About the Author" page in the back of your novel we also learned that your husband is an NCO. Is your husband also stationed at Ft. Hood?
Thanks so much for having me here today! My husband is stationed with me and our kiddos, fur babies and hamsters at Fort Hood. Despite that, we’ve spent more of the last decade apart than together because of the war.


 2.  Do you always get stationed together? 
We’ve been very very fortunate that the army has left us at the same home station. It’s required some maneuvering and he’s deployed a whole lot more than if he’d moved somewhere else but it’s better to have the years when he wasn’t deployed spent together than not.


3.Would you please share with us your rank and how long it took to achieve your title in the Army?
I’m currently a captain in the army and I kind of took the long route to captain. Normally, you pin on in 3-4 years but I went through officer candidate school and didn’t commission until I had 12 years in. So I’ve been in all told 17 years as of mid August.


4. How many different countries have you been to as a soldier?
I’ve been assigned to Germany, Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq with pit stops in a few others. Germany and Korea were awesome assignments and Fort Hood will always be my home. Iraq, well, Iraq was a learning experience.


Now that we have the really personal questions out of the way let’s get to the novel.



 5.When was your first novel published?
My first book BECAUSE OF YOU was published in 2011 by Loveswept. It has the honor being the debut Loveswept when Random House decided to launch it as a digital first imprint.


 6. Was your novel rejected by any other publishers before it was published?
Oh yes. Many, many times.


  7. When did you start writing romance novels?
I started writing back in 2007 when I was away from my family the first time at Officer Candidate School and well, I never stopped. I kept going until I found that one yes.


 8. What inspired Because of You and the war setting?
Shane was inspired by several of the senior enlisted men I went to Officer Candidate School. They didn’t have patience for dumb stuff and they wanted to train. Everything else just got in the way. And I wanted to explore who that man was when he no longer had the rank on his chest. As far as Jen, I needed a heroine who had her own strength but who’d been wounded as a result of something outside of her control. I chose breast cancer because for a young woman, it’s a particularly aggressive illness and she had to chose between her beauty and her life. Her strength in that choice helps get Shane through his darkest hours.


    9.When writing Because of You was it your intention to help others understand the trials of a soldier’s life?
Not to be arrogant but yes, it was. I wanted to take normal soldiers who I worked with to my left and to my right and bring them to life as only romance readers could appreciate. I wanted to give soldiers a happily ever after because far too often in real life, that’s not what soldiers get.

      10.When can we expect to see the sequel to Because of You available to purchase?
My next book UNTIL THERE WAS YOU is available on October 8th. It’s not the sequel per se as it’s a stand alone novel but Laura & Trent’s book BACK TO YOU is tentatively scheduled for early summer 2013.


11.   How can interested readers acquire a signed copy of Because of You?
I don’t have hard copies right now but keep checking back to my website because I love giving them away when I do get them!

Thanks so much for having me here today! I hope readers who enjoyed Shane & Jen’s story in BECAUSE OF YOU will pick up UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.

Jessica Scott returns with an all-new contemporary eBook original romance, following last fall’s release of her sizzling debut novel Because of You.
He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .
A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.
Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye.
He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.


 You can order UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold!

B & N | Amazon | Powell's| iBookstore


BIO:
Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats, three dogs and two escape-artists hamsters, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She has commanded two companies, served in Germany, Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq, and been lucky not to get fired. She is a terrible cook and an even worse housekeeper, but she’s a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

You can find her online at






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