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Jessica Scott

Until There Was You by Jessica Scott

By Barb Drozdowich Leave a Comment

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel

shapeimage_3Blurb: 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.

Why you need to read this book?

You need to read this book because Claire Montoya kicks ass! And Evan is a man who can appreciate that.

 

 

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE

Fort Hood, Texas
 July 2005
Captain Evan Loehr was having a bad day. Granted, it could have been worse. Itcould always be worse. But as he pulled his Stetson out of its carrying case and dusted itoff, he contemplated the consequences for blowing off the mandatory fun of tonight’shail and farewell. He was not in the mood. Not in the least. Not when he was eight weeksout from leaving on his third deployment and was up to his neck in maintenance issuesand, well, other issues that he’d never in a million years thought he’d have to deal with asa company commander.
There were things he simply did not want to know about his soldiers.
But his battalion commander said they were going to the hail and farewell, so Evan was going to the hail and farewell. The brutal Texas summer sun blazed overhead,baking the earth and melting the asphalt beneath his shoes. He hoped like hell there wasair-conditioning in the bar.
More, he hoped none of his more illustrious soldiers decided to attend tonight’s shindig. He’d been in command for less than a month, and so far at least one of histroopers had spent a night in jail every single weekend.
Stepping into the bar, he walked into a blanket of darkness, tinged with cigarette smoke and a bouncy country song blaring at him from all sides. The dance floor wassurrounded by a low wall and illuminated with flickering strobe lights. He couldn’tbelieve they were having a military function at a bar where there would be civilians.Normally military functions like these were in separate rooms at somewhat classierestablishments, not in rowdy country bars. He wasn’t entirely sure it was a good idea, butthen again, he wasn’t in charge of planning the event. Evan made his way to the bar,needing something a hell of a lot stronger than a beer to get him through tonight.

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Because of You by Jessica Scott

By Barb Drozdowich Leave a Comment

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

 

shapeimage_3Blurb: 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.

Why you want to read this book:

I love the characters in this book – Jen and Shane are AWESOME!!

Because of You can be purchased at Amazon

Excerpt:

 

 Prologue
Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison knew that life wasn’t fair. But after thirteenyears in the army, it still surprised him what a relentless bitch reality could be sometimes.He stood outside the tactical operations cell in the middle of the California desert andstudied the legal-sized envelope he held in his hand. Everything out here was supposed to be a training exercise to prepare his men for their upcoming combat tour in Iraq. No onewas supposed to get hurt. But they did anyway, and just like in Iraq, the wounded weresent on to the nearest hospital while their buddies were left behind to worry.
Noise raged around him—shouts, the constant crunch of boots on gravel, and therumbling of the generators that powered the servers, radios, and—most important—thecoffeepots that kept the war running at all hours of the day and night. There was noescape for him, not from the noise or from the fact that sometimes, life just sucked. Heturned the envelope over in his hands. He didn’t need silence to guess what was inside.
A shadow passed in front of him and Captain Trent Davila heaved himself up ontothe hood of one of the command-and-control Humvees next to Shane. By regulation,when Trent had been commissioned as an officer several years earlier, they shouldn’thave remained friends. Relationships were prohibited between officers and enlistedsoldiers, but they’d gone through too much together over the years to let something triviallike army regulations dictate the terms of their friendship.
“Any word on Morrell?” Shane finally asked when Trent didn’t speak. The sun slid  behind Tiefort Mountain, sending the desert sinking into darkness.
“Just came out of surgery. He’s going to keep the leg.” Trent cleared his throat.“That was real quick work you did, getting him out from under that Bradley track so fast.
”Shane shrugged and spat into the dirt. “Just doing what Uncle Sam pays me for.
“Yeah, well, most people Uncle Sam pays wouldn’t have known what to do with aguy screaming under a thousand-pound vehicle.” Shadows cast by the headquarters’ floodlights cut across Trent’s cheeks as he nodded toward the envelope. “Anything goodin the mail?
“Divorce papers.
“Shit.
“Guess my wife decided not to wait for me to get back to make things official. LikeI deployed to the National Training Center just to keep her from running off with her shiny new lover.” He couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice. But he wasn’t irritated over the fact that his wife had left him for another man. He was irritated because she’d madehim feel like shit when he should have been having a cigar because Morrell was going to be okay.
He was hot, tired, and dirty from forty-five days in this California desert paradise.Before today, he’d wanted nothing more than to pack all of his soldiers off to their wivesand girlfriends, and then go home to try to save a few mementos from his dying marriage.
Funny how five years of marriage had finally ended with a whimper, and the onlything he’d spent the day worrying about was whether one of his boys would make it outof surgery alive and intact. Trent’s good news had sent that worry scrambling into the night, leaving only his failed marriage to occupy his thoughts.
Guess that had been part of the problem all along for him and Tatiana. He’d always been more focused on his men.
“Who pissed in your cornflakes?”
Shane sighed as Carponti strolled up. In any other unit in the army, no sergeantwould talk to his platoon sergeant or company commander the way Carponti did to Shaneand Trent. For some reason, though, Shane let him get away with it. He was pretty sure itwas because he’d never trained anyone who was better at infantry squad tactics at such ayoung age. Even in the middle of a firefight, Carponti would crack jokes while hemaneuvered his fire team into position. He’d had Morrell laughing his ass off today asthey’d carried him to the medical evac flight. Granted, the medics had Morrell sodrugged, he hadn’t known his own name, but still, Carponti had a gift.
“My wife.
“What, did she finally leave you? Good, now you can stop feeling bad about doingwhat you do best.
“Dickhead, I’m getting divorced. That’s not exactly great news.
“Hell yeah, it is. Your wife has made your life miserable for the last five years.She’s got her new man, you’ve got your freedom, and now I’ve got a designated driver whenever we go out to Ropers.” Carponti hopped up onto the hood next to Trent. “Andspeaking of which, Ramirez turns twenty-one when we get home. We’re christening himthe first weekend we get back and it’ll get you back in the saddle.
”Trent snorted and choked on a laugh, and Shane hid his own wry grin. He’d love togo out with the boys, but contrary to what Carponti believed, it wasn’t as simple as sign the papers, get your life back.
“He’s right,” Trent said, still chuckling.
“About which part? Christening Ramirez?
“About getting your life back. No one should make you feel guilty for leading our  boys. You’re damn good at what you do. You make a difference and you know it.
”Shane glanced over at his longtime friend. “Does Laura still understand? You’regone more than you’re home. How many birthdays and anniversaries have you missed?
“Laura gets it. She understands what we do.
”Carponti snatched the papers from Shane’s hand. “Laura sends cookies to NTC,unlike your wife, who sends this bull.
“Ex-wife,” Shane corrected, and snatched them back.“Put this crap away and let’s go smoke a cigar. Morrell’s going to be okay andthat’s worth celebrating.
“I’ll catch up in a sec.”He pulled out the papers. Tatiana Garrison, Plaintiff vs. Shane Garrison, Defendant. 

He stared at the formal letter, lit by the floodlights overhead. He knew the exactmoment his marriage had stopped being anything but a farce.
It was the first time he’d missed her birthday. She hadn’t understood that he’d hadno access to a phone or the Internet. She hadn’t understood that he’d spent that day andthe next two days in the hospital with one of his boys, who’d been on life support after  being hit by shrapnel. Oh, she’d pretended to be sympathetic, but she had never gottenover it, and Shane had paid for it every single day since.
Divorce.

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Interview & Review with Jessica Scott, author of Anything For You

By Barb Drozdowich 30 Comments

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

Today we are visited by Jessica Scott.  She’s the author of several books that I’ve read and loved, but is here today to answer some of my questions, and share about her book, Anything For You.  I also have to add my two cents to this post!  If this sounds like something you would enjoy reading, please find some buy links and pick up a copy or two.

 

Barb –  How would you describe your book in 20 words or less without using the blurb?

 

Jess – What’s the biggest thing you would give up for the person you love? For Shane, loving Jen means sacrificing something both of them want.

 

Barb – Do you keep track or write reviews for books you read?

Jess – I won’t say I keep track of reviews but I do keep an eye on them. If I’ve requested a review from a blogger and they do the review, I feel like I have an obligation to share that review because it was a time investment from the blogger, you know? And when I spot a reader review that’s really great, I pass it along to my followers. But I try not to skulk reviews and I avoid negative reviews simply because they get stuck in my head and its really hard for me to get it out once it’s in there.

 

Barb – Do you read reviews written about your book?

Jess – Only if I’ve requested the review from someone. Otherwise, I stay off amazon and goodreads if they’re negative reviews.

 

Barb – Do you have a day job?

Jess – I’m an active duty army officer. I’m currently stationed at Fort Hood but that’s getting ready to change as I’m prepping to move at the beginning of March.

 

Barb – Do you have any advice for unpublished authors?

Jess – Learn your craft, pay attention to the industry news, follow writers and industry peeps on twitter but don’t pitch on these platforms unless requested. Don’t be in a hurry to publish (advice I freely ignored) because then you’re writing on someone else’s schedule and its really tough to learn.

 

Barb – What’s your favorite part of writing a book?

Jess – Revising. I love revising and editing because its so great to see that rough draft start to change into something readers will enjoy. I’m a terrible self editor so when I have editor who really gets me and helps make my books stronger, I couldn’t be happier.

Barb – Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

Jess – I used to write by the seat of my pants but I often found that I had to chunk massive parts of my manuscript and start over essentially from scratch. Over time, I learned to storyboard and figure out what my characters want. Doing prep work at the outset saves me tons of rewriting time on the back side and it keeps my story tighter. I don’t mind deleting but I’d rather strategically delete than chunk the whole manuscript, you know?

 

Barb – How did you come up with your premise for your books?

Jess – Learning to figure out my premise before I  started working on specific projects has made a huge difference to my process. I’m a big fan of Alexandra Sokoloff’s Screenwriting Tricks for Writers. Reading that book was a major lightbulb for me. I sold shortly after I started applying her advice.

 

Barb – Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Jess – Shawntelle Madison (full disclosure she’s a friend of mine). Her urban fantasies are a really great mix of humor, family angst finding your place in the world. I really love Nat’s story in Coveted and Kept. She’s got a novella out currently Bitten by Deceit and there’s an excerpt from it in the back of Anything for You.

 

Barb –  How important do you find the communication between you and your readers? Do you reply to their messages or read their reviews?

Jess – I wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for readers and fans so they’re very important to what I do. I do my very best to respond to all emails, comments etc but sometimes I can’t and I hope readers understand. I’m most often on twitter and Facebook.

 

Barb – Vampires or werewolves?

Jess – Werewolves. I’m a sucker for a hairy chest and werewolves are very rough and rugged creatures aren’t they?

Barb –  How many more books can we expect in this series?

Jess – There are at least two more books in the Coming Home series. Back to You is Laura & Trent’s story. Reza’s story is probably my favorite story after Evan & Claire in Until The Was You and his story is Come Home to Me. I love a tortured hero and Reza is completely tortured. Emily is a great match for him. Both Come Home to Me and Back To You are already written, we’re just waiting on the publishing gods to determine their fate, lol!

 

I’m giving away a digital copy of ANYTHING FOR YOU as well as Shane & Jen’s first story BECAUSE OF YOU to one lucky commenter!

 

 

From the author of Because of You comes an all new Coming Home short story.

 

Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison has spent a year recovering from his combat injuries. A year spent in the arms of the woman of his dreams.  But loving Jen comes with a price: every time he touches her, he faces the uncertain fear that loving her might mean losing her forever.

 

Jen is a breast cancer survivor and with Shane, she’s found a man who loves her despite her scars. But her scars may be too much for their love to survive.

 

As their love grows, so does the risk to Jen’s life. And Shane must make the toughest decision any man can make to save the woman he loves.

 

You can buy  ANYTHING FOR YOU at the following ebookstores

 Amazon   *   Smashwords   *   Barnes & Noble

*The links for  iBooks & others should be live soon!*

Excerpt:

Fort Hood, late 2008

“Jen is going to kill you. You know that, right?” Vic Carponti took a long pull off his ever-present Dr Pepper. “I think she has first dibs on your balls. You don’t have exclusive use over them any more.”

Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison glanced over at Carponti and fought the urge to use the physical therapy ropes to strangle the younger sergeant. No matter how much time they’d spent together training Army privates at Benning or blowing shit up downrange, Carponti still managed to push all the right buttons. “You’re not helping, you know.” Shane was already having a hard enough time trying to find the nerve to talk to his fiancée about his desire for a vasectomy.
“Jen wants kids.”
“I know that,” Shane growled. He leaned down to stretch, barely suppressing a groan as the muscles in his thighs protested the daily pain his physical therapist insisted on. He’d have thought that six months after being blown up in Iraq, physical therapy would stop being a morning torture session. Guess not.
“Why are you so adamant about this?” Carponti held up his hand at Shane’s fierce look.
“I’m an expert in amputations, not women and babies, okay?”
“She had breast cancer. A really aggressive version. If she gets pregnant and the cancer comes back, the choice comes down to her life or the baby’s life…and I don’t want to have to make that choice with her. I don’t want her to have to make that choice. Granted, it might all be fine. She might never get sick again, or the hormones from pregnancy might not do anything to her.” Shane walked over to the free weights. His legs protested each step, so his next words came out slowly, one with each step. “I can’t risk it. No matter how much I might want a kid with her, I’m not going to risk her life for some selfish need to feel my baby growing inside her.”
“I realize that,” Carponti said, “but why on earth are you looking at this without talking to her first?”
“I’m going to talk to her.” Shane sighed hard. “I just haven’t yet.” He didn’t want to admit he was afraid. Not to Carponti. He’d never hear the end of it.
“Did you ever think you’re overreacting?” Carponti asked, following him.
“No,” Shane snapped. “Because I’m not.”
“You just said there’s no rule that if a woman gets pregnant after cancer, she’s going to die.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve also talked to the brigade surgeon. There’s a higher risk of the cancer coming back for younger women like Jen who had aggressive cancers. There’s a higher risk that if she does get pregnant and the cancer comes back, it could come back even more aggressive.”
Shane looked at Carponti seriously. “I want kids with her. I just don’t want to kill her.”
“So you’re going to get unmanned and tell her later?”
“This isn’t funny.”
“Vasectomies are always funny. Especially watching a big guy like you squirm over the fact.”
“It is my balls we’re talking about,” Shane snapped, grabbing the fifty-pound dumbbells.
It was one of those times he’d rather not have Carponti chirping in his ear.

“If a vasectomy is such a big deal, then why do it?” Carponti placed the bottle in his prosthetic hand. “There’s other ways of preventing pregnancy, you know.”
“We’ve talked about all of those. She had a bad reaction to an IUD. Anything hormone-based is out. And condoms scare the shit out of me.”
“Did we have a bad experience with a condom?”
Shane groaned, wishing he hadn’t said anything. “When I was seventeen, I had a condom break on me. The girl and I spent the rest of the month terrified she was pregnant.” He glanced at Carponti. “So while I appreciate that you think me getting my balls clipped is amusing, this isn’t all that funny.”
“Maybe not, but watching you freak out about it certainly is.”
“You’re so good for morale.”
“You can bitch all you want, but I still don’t see why there aren’t other options.”
Why? Shane ground his teeth and counted as he curled the weights. He’d read the literature about Jen’s specific cancer. Everything he read created a little more fear that he could lose her. Shane did not do well with fear. If the only thing he could control in the equation was his sperm, he was doing that.
Sometimes, at night, when the nightmares came, it was no longer his soldiers who’d died in the war haunting his sleep. Sometimes, it was Jen, bleeding out in his arms. He didn’t tell her that. Every time he tried, the emotion got jammed up halfway between his throat and his mouth. Jen wasn’t a random number in a study. She was his heart and soul, and while she was determined to live a normal life and not let the cancer define her, every time they made love, he was aware of the risk.
The worst part about it all? He wanted kids with her, too. But the risk was too great.
“Hello? Candyass who’s stressing about getting his balls chopped off? Why is a vasectomy the only option for you not to get her pregnant?”
Shane finished his set. “Because it’s the smart thing to do. Condoms break. Birth control fails.” Carponti was probably about to accuse him of writing country songs again. “This is the only one-hundred-percent sure option.”
“You could always be in a celibate marriage with her,” Carponti said dryly.
“Yeah, and then she bangs the FedEx guy when I’m in the field.”
Carponti snorted and coughed. “That’s just wrong.”
Shane dropped the weights, the muscles in his left arm screaming. He was nearly back to his previous strength in his upper body, but sometimes his bones liked to remind him that no, he was never going to be as good as he’d been before. It frustrated him that there were more aches and pains now. More stiffness just getting out of bed in the morning. But he was determined to heal, so he could get back to leading soldiers.
Because that’s what he did.
Beside him, Carponti finished not choking on his drink. “You’re serious about this.
You’re really going to let a doctor near your nutsack with a scalpel?”
“Will you just drop it? I shouldn’t have said anything to you, damn it.”
“What? I just want to be sure you’re making the best, most informed decision.” Carponti grinned. “You’re going to let me see the cut, right?”
Shane just shot him a baleful glare and Carponti held up both hands, the soda in one.
Funny, Shane was used to the prosthetic now. It no longer caught his eye like it once had.
Carponti was just…Carponti. The missing hand didn’t really matter.
“Hey, so have you heard what’s going on back at battalion?” Carponti asked.

Shane picked up his water bottle and flipped open the cap. “I haven’t been in to see Sarn’t Major in a while. I’ve got a meeting with him later today. Why?”
“There’s a ton of bad shit going on. Iaconelli got in a bunch of trouble up in Colorado on a mission.”
“That’s nothing new. Ike’s always in trouble.” Shane and Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli had never really gotten along, which was a shame, because Ike was a damn fine infantryman.
“Yeah, well, apparently there’s a whole bunch of crap going on down there. Maybe that’s why Sarn’t Major wants to see you. See how much longer before you’re back at work?”
“Maybe.” Sarn’t Major would no doubt fill him in when he saw him later. Shane wanted to get back to work. Badly. But if Ike was screwing up again, Shane damn sure didn’t want to get back just to clean up after him.
Carponti grinned. “So, back to the more pressing matters, are you going to gift wrap your nuts and put a little bow on them and say, ‘Here baby, for Valentine’s Day, I’ve sacrificed my manhood’?”
Shane shook his head and tried not to laugh. “There’s something the matter with you.
You know that, right?”
“Sure. My traumatic brain injury is acting up again.” Carponti turned toward the door as it opened. “Speaking of nuts, here’s my wife. I need to get mine out of her purse.”
Shane turned to see Nicole Carponti walking onto the physical therapy floor, looking polished and perfect. No one ever looked at her and thought she was a cop. It made her a perfect investigator.
It also made everyone wonder what the hell she was doing with a scruffy, red-headed sergeant like Vic Carponti, but hey, she’d stuck with him after he’d gotten blown up. And worse, through his incessant bad tricks with his prosthetic. Shane watched as Carponti kissed his wife on the cheek, then slung his good arm around her shoulders as they walked out. Shane was reasonably certain Carponti tried to pinch Nicole’s ass with his prosthetic.
Life was never dull around Carponti, that was for damn sure.
Shane finished his therapy in blessed silence and headed to the locker room to change back into his duty uniform. He took a deep breath, running his hand over his jaw. Last week, Jen had slipped her body over his, her slick heat caressing his bare erection, and Shane had almost died from the pleasure of skin on skin. No barriers. He didn’t know which one of them wanted it more—the desire painting her features had been beautiful. And she’d gotten bolder since then, driving him toward a little death each time he touched her. No matter how much he was tempted to make love to her without a goddamned condom, he would not risk her life for a few moments of pleasure.
He loved Jen. More than life itself. The vasectomy was a very real discussion he was going to have with her very soon.

 

 

 

About Jess

 

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.

 

Oprah has called her. True story.

 

Her debut novel BECAUSE OF YOU launched Loveswept, the first Random House digital imprint.

 

She’s 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 is currently a company commander stationed at Fort Hood.

 

Most recently, she’s been featured as one of Esquire Magazine’s Americans of the Year for 2012.

 

Connect with Jessica at

 Website   *   Twitter   *   Facebook   *   Goodreads

 

My thoughts:

All the readers of this blog know that I’m a bit of a sucker for anything that resembles a “man in uniform” romance. Because of this, Jessica’s series is right down my alley!

I deliberately included the excerpt above as it gives a great look at Jessica’s writing style. The story line is funny and endearing. The characters are real. The have real conversations, and at times are irreverent.  When Vic Carponti said “Speaking of nuts, here’s my wife. I need to get mine out of her purse.” I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath to explain to my husband what was so funny.

I highly recommend Anything For You. It has humor, it has romance and it had me in tears. The perfect combination for me! The fact that Jessica Scott accomplished this in 35 pages is a testament to her skill.

 

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