Review: Worth a Second Look
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2014
Jessica Scott has never been afraid to take on the tough topics.  Her latest It’s Always Been You deals with the reality of child abuse, traumatic brain injury, bad leadership, and how good soldiers get protected even when they are bad men (or women).  In the midst she brings together Ben and Olivia.  Ben is a reluctant commander, newly appointed to the position.  Olivia is a lawyer more focused on the legalities of justice than the reality of being human.  A classic case of opposites attract.  Their differing viewpoints make them interesting to watch.  Trust is hard won with these two, but they clearly earn it and the payoff is worth it.I have to admit, I didn’t really like Olivia.  She seemed too rigid and convinced she was the only one who knew what was right.  Scott did a great job of providing her backstory so I knew why she was the way she was.  However, she never quite made it over the hump to make me truly like her.  That being said, I did think that she and Ben were good for each other.This book takes us in a new direction.  Most of the fan favorites from previous iterations of the Coming Home novels do not appear.  We do have glimpses of Reza and Emily, but Shane and Carponti never make an appearance.  There are new characters that have potential, so it will be interesting to see how they grow in future books.  I hope there is room for both sets of characters as we move forward as I don’t want to let the previous ones go quite yet.