Because of You (Coming Home, #1)

by Jessica Scott

• ISBN10: 1299082777
• ISBN13: 9781299082779
• Publish Date: 1 January 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 8 April 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Loveswept
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

Because of You is the first in the Coming Home series by Jessica Scott. I recently discovered Jessica Scott through conversation with another author and was very excited to read this book. Jessica is an active duty Army company commander, and that is the reason I so wanted to read her books. I was an Army soldier for more than a decade and am an active duty Army wife. Reading books with a military theme can be a bit of a crap shoot when you, as a reader, are military. Some get it right, some get it wrong. Just the fact that I spent so many years in the Army means that I tend to pick up on things that your average reader might not. Sometimes this is a good thing, and adds to the story. Other times, it isn't because the mistakes can take away from the story. There was absolutely none of the negative side of that knowledge with this book.

While the Army is a major part of this book, this is, at it's heart, a romance. But it goes so far beyond that with the themes that are in this book. This is not a light read, but one that I found to be deeply moving. The stories of war and the soldiers that come home from it are stories that can be heart-wrenching and the author didn't shy away from that reality. There are parts of this book that had me in tears, partly because I could relate to the story being told and partly because it was so very real to read.

What I thought was amazing was the author's ability to tell Shane's own story, with his own words and thoughts, and in a deeply male way. If I didn't know that it was written by a woman, I wouldn't have guessed it. There were things about Shane that, on the surface, probably seemed almost cold and overly stubborn, but struck a true chord of reality with me. Those are the very things that made the "Army" in him true and realistic. Jen, too, was a pretty amazing character with her own issues and story that filled me sympathy.

As I said, this is not a light book, even though it is a romance. It is full of emotion and feeling, with some very dark and gritty scenes. That stark reality is what made the book so beautiful to me.

[leelu92]

So friggin' good. A great story for both Shane and Jen. Love and acceptance for both. Really loved this book.

[Cocktails and Books]

Shane Garrison is about to ship out to Iraq, leaving behind an ex-wife and the knowledge that the Army is his only family. But when he meets Jen St. James at a party the night before they ship out, he feels a connection to her. Kissing her that night was a spur of the moment decision, but it gave him something to hold onto as went into the battle zone. But when Shane is seriously wounded, he's shipped back to the base in Texas and enters into Jen's battle zone. What we get is a bird's eye view on what the wounded soldiers, their family & friends and the nurses back on the base deal with once those soldiers come back home.

The story centers around Sergent First Class Shane Garrison and nurse Jen St. James. Shane is seriously injured in a bombing in Iraq and shipped back to his base in Texas for medical care. Shane is a tough man, but also one that has some pretty deep emotional scars that skew his vision of who he is. He views himself as only be good at being in the Army. After being injured, he truly doesn't think he's worth anything because he couldn't protect his men when the bomb went off and he's stuck in a hospital thousands of miles away unable to lead them now. We get a seat front and center to Shane going through his stages of grief and acceptance on his road to recovery. It's not easy for him and he really has to re-evaluate how he looks at himself, but in the end he gets to a place where he's comfortable with who his is and opens himself up to being loved.

Jen has her own private demons, having lost a breast to cancer, but she proves she's a lot better at dispensing advice than follow the same advice giving to her. However, when she saw Shane being rolled into the hospital, she knew that she would do whatever she needed to in order to help him get his life back. She's tough with Shane when he needs it, a shoulder to cry on and ultimately the one person he needed to know would love him and be there for him no matter what he did. But Shane also helped Jen comes to terms with losing her breast and realize that she isn't just the sum of her body parts. He helped her learn to love herself.

Talk about a tough read! Jessica Scott weaves a story that makes the reader feel as if you're sitting next to the wounded soldier as he lays in his hospital bed or standing next to that dedicated nurse as she tries to push all her feeling and weariness aside as she paints on a smiling face for her patient. This hits you right in the gut and emotionally drains you thinking of what those that serve our country deal with. If that weren't enough, we see what the families left behind deal with when they don't know what's happening with their spouse or what happens when their loved on is injured.

I enjoyed reading this. It was tough and, at time, emotionally draining, but it was worth it to see see what happened with both Shane and Jen as Shane made his recovery.