Homefront
Homefront Series – Book 1
By Jessica Scott
Synopsis
“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?
Excerpt
“Jamie’s upstairs.” Her voice sounded off. Heavy and sultry. Her eyes were dark and clouded with shadows, and something else.
Something he thought he knew but was afraid to name.
He cleared his throat before he spoke. It was a long time before he found the words he needed to say.
The words he wanted to say started with please and ended with them naked. He wasn’t sure that would go over well.
And besides, he wanted to keep the moment untarnished in his memory. It had been so fucking long since he’d held her.
“So what’s our negotiating position?” he asked.
“On what?” She frowned and looked down at her wine glass.
“I’m going upstairs. Are there any things that are expressly forbidden? I don’t want to undermine you.”
She smiled and it was warm and sunny. “You sound like you know how kids play mom against dad.”
He grinned down at her, fighting the urge to stroke his fingers over her cheek. She was so fucking adorable. “It’s part of the duty description of being a first sergeant,” he said mildly.
She frowned. “I’m quite sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Soldiers will try to get between you and your commander. It’s up to the commander and the first sergeant to present a united front.”
She opened her mouth to say something then closed it.
He stepped close. “What?”
“I—” She paused, refusing to lift her gaze to meet his. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it.”
Something he’d said upset her. It cut at him, slicing away the moment before and replacing it with something raw and bleeding. “What, Mel?”
He lifted his hand to her cheek then, more to offer comfort than to steady her.
He was shocked when she didn’t pull away.
“I guess I never thought about you and me being a united front.” Her words were thick and uncertain, filled with fear and old hurts. Because he could find no other way to soothe the aching hurt in her eyes, he lowered his mouth to hers. A gentle kiss. Hesitant. A brush of lips.
Tentative and seeking. He sucked gently on her bottom lip, urging her to open for him, begging her with his mouth to not pull away.
There was fear in his kiss. Terror that she would pull away and slap at him.
But then her lips parted. Just a little, but it was enough for him to feel her breath on his tongue. She tasted sweet and sunny from the wine. He could get drunk on her taste. He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue against hers and losing a piece of his soul.
He held himself viciously in check. Barely cupped her cheeks as he fought the turbulent need inside, as it surged up, wanting her, only her. To remind her that she was his, she’d always been his.
But this was a campaign, not a single battle.
He eased back before she could pull away. “I’m here now.” His words brushed against her mouth. “For as long as you’ll let me, I’m here.” He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I know I haven’t been someone you can count on.” He brushed his lips against hers again. “But I’d like to be.”
Michel’s Review
Homefront by Jessica Scott is the first book in her new series featuring career military men and women that are in the precarious position of struggling with their careers and finding the right balance with their families. At times the military forces their men and women to make their jobs more important than family. It is a necessary evil that keeps them alive and able to return home to the ones they love. These choices not only leave scars on the soldier, they also leave scars on their families. Some wounds are impossible to heal. Others take time, effort, dedication, patience, and most of all, love.
Gale Sorren is a soldier. He has dedicated most of his life to the army. He has served two tours in Afghanistan and trained his men to be tough soldiers. He walked away from his wife and young daughter because he didn’t know how to be a soldier and be husband/ father. His immaturity and fear caused him to lose the one thing that should of been his foundation. He lost his family.
While in Afghanistan the reality of his loss hits home in a very devastating way. His young teen daughter is in the hospital and facing some serious psychological problems. He wants to be there for her and her mother. When he is denied leave because of miscommunications, he literally loses his cool. His reactions almost cost him his career. But it is also an eye opener. He realizes that he has never been there when his family really needed him. He never put them first. He never realized how his choices and actions affected their lives. He has vowed that once he is home he is going to do everything in his power to get stationed near his family. He is going to put them first. He only hopes that he is not too late.
A few years later he is finally stationed near his ex wife and teenage daughter. His daughter has gone from being a bright eyed little princess to a very troubled teen. She is screwing up in school, defying her mother, sneaking around with a boy, and making everybody’s life miserable. Gale is going to have to learn a new way to communicate with his daughter and his ex wife. He will struggle with it all. He will make mistakes. He will make some great strides. The one thing that is very clear is that he is going to do everything within his power to become a part of his family. He will show them how much he really loves them every moment of the day.
While Gale struggles to find his footing with his family, he is also struggling with his new post. Not only are there the usual army problems and issues, there are also problems among the officers. After a discovery of a domestic crime that could ruin one man’s career, the lines are drawn in the sand. Officers are taking sides and it is getting ugly.
Meanwhile two teenagers are in danger. It is up to Gale to make his daughter and her boyfriend’s homelife a safe environment. At the same time hang onto his career and win his wife back.
The one thing that makes everything different now is that Gale is a strong man and leader. Melanie is a strong woman and mother. They are no longer teenage kids trying to raise a baby. They are mature adults that look at life differently and understand the importance of effort. They also know that love is the foundation that makes the family work.
Jessica Scott wrote another powerful story that not only touched my heart but shocked me. As a parent of teenagers I could understand the difficulties in parenting. I could understand Gale and Melanie’s need to protect their child and any other child that may be in trouble. As a women I understood Melanie’s fears, heartbreak, and reluctance to trust Gale. I respected the way Gale handled every situation.
Homefront is an amazing book!
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Excusive Interview with Jessica Scott
- Can you tell the readers how you became inspired to become a novelist while actively serving our country?
Jessica : I wanted to tell stories about normal soldiers coming home from war. I love a NAVY Seal romance as much as the next gal but I felt like I could tell a story about the everyman – not the special forces soldiers but the regular joes.
- What type of books did you write first, fiction or non fiction?
Jessica :My first love has always been fiction. Nonfiction has come relatively easily but fiction took a lot of blood sweat and tears to get it right.
- What inspired you to venture into the New Adult genre after being successful with Contemporary Romance.
Jessica: I don’t know, honestly. I was in that weird place I get at least once a year where I’m thinking I’m done, I don’t have anything left in me and then Beth and Noah kind of just jumped out of me. I wrote their book really quickly and honestly, I’ve never had it happen to me like this. I love the story and I’m so glad others are enjoying it, too.
- Did you find it harder to write a New Adult book?
Jessica : Not really. I found writing in the first person really easy to slip into. I was able to get into their points of view more easily so it was a really refreshing change, if that makes sense.
- Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration for your latest novel, Homefront?
Jessica : Homefront is a spin off series of the Coming Home series. It’s First Sergeant Sorren’s story and it’s 100% a reunion story (which I seem to write a lot). It’s about a man learning to become a father and a husband when he’s been gone for most of his daughter’s life.
- What can readers look forward to in the future from Jessica Scott?
Jessica : Well, there are two more homefront books coming later this year. After the War comes out in May and hopefully, Face the Fire will be out in June (if I can get it finished by then). After that, there will be two more new adult books. Any further out, I think I have to hit the skids and think I’m done with no more stories to tell before I figure out what comes next.
About Jessica Scott
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.
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
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