The Way Home (One-Eyed Jacks, #2)

by Cindy Gerard

"Killed in Action -- the most dreaded words imaginable for a soldier's wife. Jess Albert has been living with them for four years, since the death of her husband in Afghanistan. Finding blessed numbness in routine, she doesn't dare to look ahead, any more than she can bear to look back. Then Tyler Brown, a former special-ops warrior, shows up at her small general store in Minnesota North Woods, jarring her back to life. Jess knows better than to fall in love with another man who places duty to his country before love of his wife- but there's no denying the longing and the hope for a future that Ty makes her feel. A world away, a man ravaged by years of captivity and torture, a man with no memories, finally escapes- clinging to life and sanity in a hostile land. In his darkest hour, he awakes in a lantern-lit cave to find a woman at his side. Dark-haired and dark-eyes, her touch is caring, despite the resentment he hears in her voice and sees on her face. Rabia is bound by honor to save the lost American soldier in her keeping, this broken warrior from a war that has brought so much devastation to her land. But is it honor igniting her compassion for her enemy, or is it something more? While a Black Ops team plans a daring rescue mission to bring the solider home, two women on opposite sides of the world walk a dangerous path between betrayal and honor, and must find for themselves where to draw the lines between duty and love. New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cindy Gerard's latest novel is a heartwarming, richly emotional, action-packed story about homecomings- just in time for the holidays"--

"Four years ago Jess Albert got the news that her husband Jeff was killed in action in Afghanistan, and a painful void entered her life. The more time passed, the more acutely she felt that emptiness. But when Tyler Brown, former military hero and all-around alpha male, shows up a year after she'd last seen him, Jess gradually begins to realize there is one thing that can make her feel whole again--love. As they're planning their wedding and new life together, Jess receives shocking news: her husband is alive, under the care of a young Afghani woman hiding him from the Taliban. Even as he sees their happily-ever-after slip away, Ty arranges for the One Eyed Jacks and Black Ops, Inc. teams to make a daring and dangerous rescue mission to bring Jeff home. The hardest thing Ty or Jess has ever done is to let the other go. When Jeff returns to Jess, broken physically and emotionally and with no memory of their history, they try to heal their marriage and each other. But as time brings them together more as friends than lovers, an unexpected development helps them see the true way home, to the people they love"--

• ISBN10: 1476735204
• ISBN13: 9781476735207
• Publish Date: 29 October 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

This is my first Cindy Gerard read and while she is a good writer, I did not like the premise of the story at all. The story starts out with a woman named Jess. She has a husband who died overseas in the military over 3 years ago. She has been intimate with one man since her husband’s death, another military soldier, Ty. They had a fling 18 months ago and now he traipses back into her life and she is just lonely enough to give him a second chance. They date and things get hot and heavy physically as well as emotionally.

Meanwhile her husband, who she thought was dead, is in Afghanistan with an Afghani woman who hid and took care of him. His memory is gone and he can’t remember anything about being a solider, where his home is or why this woman is keeping him alive. The husband eventually falls in love with the Afghani woman but she won’t leave the country to go back home with him. The husband, Jeffery, or J.R. as he’s called by his family comes home and doesn’t remember he had a wife. Long story short, they can’t make it work, J.R. and Jess are both in love with someone else. And in the end, everyone is happy together as a family.

While some people would enjoy this kind of troupe, I did not. There was too much drama, too many feelings hurt and it literally made me sick to my stomach. This book may be a wonderful story to others, just not to me.

Reviewed by Elizabeth for Cocktails and Books