Review: A rating....
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2014
My Review:This story was filled with emotional angst and turmoil and I loved every minute of it. Jessica Scott is truly queen of writing tortured souls.In this story we meet Captain Ben Teague and Major Olivia Hale. The entire Brigade command structure has been replaced and they are two of the people who now have to sort back out the mess left by the last group of leadership. Ben is the reluctant commander and Olivia is the determined lawyer. Throughout the story so many times they seemed to be at crossed goals, but honestly, both of them are just trying and slogging to try to do the best for their people. They both care...maybe, just a tad too much in this harsh environment where nothing is easy.I love reading this series from Jessica Scott and this book in particular was so well-done. Ben and Olivia are both dealing with a ton...stress, ghosts of their own mental issues, not sleeping, lives on the line, and a ton of pressure to get the job done and done correctly. Many times in the military the regulations don't allow for a human grey areas...there are aspects of these soldiers lives that make things at home so difficult...most of those stem from being in the war zone. That's not something that's easy to recover from and every man deals with that stress differently. But that's a sacrifice that each of them have made for the American people...to go over and fight and get shot at and get blown up. They deserve some second chances because of that. Sometimes the rules simply don't allow for that. In this book, that puts Ben and Olivia at a crossroads. She's the legal aspect and advises Ben on how to proceed when things get out of control...and they get out of control a lot.As a writer and a reader, I marvel at Jessica Scott's ability to create such incredibly vulnerable, but still such strong characters. She created two of those characters in this book. I fell in love with both Olivia and Ben while my heart hurt for them. I loved getting to read their story and find their way to each other and through this really tough career that they've both found themselves in. It was an incredible book. There are truly some tough issues delved into within it, but it never felt too heavy to me. I just never wanted to stop reading it. Another great one from this incredible series by Jessica Scott.I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.