Review: "Well Written, But Something Was Lacking"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2013
This is the second novel I've read by Jessica Scott.  After reading her first novel I was very impressed with Jessica Scott's military career as a military officer serving our country, and also her writing skills.  This novel opens at Fort Hood, Texas in July 2005.  Captain Evan Loehr has had a rough day but will be attending the evening's hail and farewell party (he has 8 weeks before departing on his third deployment to Iraq).  Clair Montoya attends the party also, visiting with her oldest and best friend, Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli.  Reza was always trying to hook Clair up with a guy, so he's quick to introduce her to Evan.  Though not wanting to get involved with anyone as she herself was also deploying in two months, Clair found Evan very attractive and her romantic imagination is certainly heating up!  After talking to each other, he's surprised that she is a captain, and he knows there would be no relationship with her; it would never work out ... even a one-night stand.  Though Evan stands resistant to her advances, she does manage to kiss Evan who returns her heated kiss with passion.  Move on to late 2008, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Clair is with her friend, Army Captain Sarah Anders.  Sarah is about to leave on a logistical mission at the end of the Surge, the last strong effort to help stabilize Iraq.  Her troops are not ready, and the 16-day training exercise will not be adequate.  Evan was the mission commander and sees the two women ... knowing both of them especially Clair who has a reputation in the field of toughness and bravado.  Clair's assignment is to help Sarah prepare for the mission since she has more field experience than Sarah.  Evan is not thrilled to have to be working with Clair, but he has a job to as well.  Both Clair and Evan have had severe trauma in their younger years which have caused walls each have built to be almost too powerful to bring down.  They are both strong, argumentative individuals who will not compromise or agree.  I really thought this story just kept repeating the same scenes over and over, and really never left the highly stressed training facility.  It eventually gets a little boring between repeated frustrations and fears, and uncomfortable sex for both of them.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the story-line which I felt was weak, and the twists and turns were all the same, repeated endlessly.  Hopefully, her next novel will give me a rush of excitement, where this one did not.