“Jessica Scott should be on every reader’s list.” ~Brenda Novak | New York Times Bestselling Author“Touchingly sincere…Trent and Laura are both rendered as wounded, lovable people, and readers will cheer for each stumbling, shy step toward the couple’s reunion. Scott’s prose is witty and sharp, and her delightful cast of characters keeps this delectable page-turner vibrant throughout.”–… this delectable page-turner vibrant throughout.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Dying has a way of changing a man. Ever since the day Army captain Trent Davila lost his life, he’s been fighting the demons that haunt him from that terrible day. Time and again, he’s left his wife and their two children behind as he’s volunteered to put himself in harm’s way until his wife had enough.
Laura gave her husband everything, believing that if she was strong enough, patient enough, that he would eventually come home to her. She believed in him until she learns he betrayed her by volunteering for multiple deployments instead of spending much needed time with her and their two small children.
Sent home facing a court martial on trumped up charges, Trent needs her to stand by him one last time. Being close to him reignites the spark in their troubled marriage that had almost been extinguished.
As the fight for his career and reputation threatens to destroy them both, their marriage will be tested like never before.
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This was a difficult book to read, but so well done I couldn’t put it down. I have trouble with stories where people are treated unfairly, where bad people do terrible things to good people and appear to get away with it. Even though I have faith in the author and I know that Ms. Scott will never disappoint me, it was still hard not to want to throw this one against the wall, not because it wasn’t a wonderful story (it is!) but because I was so frickin’ infuriated with an entitled lieutenant who was just awful, and kept getting away with it!
Of course, that made the end of the book even more satisfying because obviously, he didn’t get away with it forever, but I will admit I was beginning to wonder. This is the story of a good man married to a good woman—they love each other, they have two wonderful children, but Laura and Trent are practically strangers as he has been gone on one deployment after another for most of their marriage. When Laura learns that Trent has requested the extra overseas duty, she’s hurt and angry, that she’s been left to have their babies alone and raise their children alone. She’s kept things together for almost a decade, but she’s had it, especially knowing that the man she has loved for so long has made a conscious choice to be far away from his wife and children.
Trent is finally sent home, charged with criminal activity that just doesn’t fit with the man Laura knows her husband to be. Even so, she’s already filed for divorce, but Trent has refused to sign the papers. As hurt as she has been, Laura still loves him, but she feels she just can’t do it anymore.
But when they’re back together, there’s no denying the attraction that still exists, the love she feels for a man who has disappointed her over and over again. Can she really believe him when he says he wants to make it work? This story just broke my heart and put it back together all over again. The characters are wonderful, the romance a long, slow simmer that just keeps getting better, and I was really rooting for this couple to make it. That’s the thing with Jessica Scott’s stories—the characters are real people. They’re not perfect and their flaws could so easily be a deal-breaker, but the author makes them work beautifully.
I’m really enjoying reading my way through this series. I’ve read a few of the books out of order over the years, but I’m rereading all of them once again, which makes it much easier to enjoy the ongoing threads of other characters’ lives. I definitely recommend the Coming Home series to any reader who enjoys emotional, many-layered stories with what have got to be real people. They’re much too fully formed to be merely figments of the author’s imagination, and Back To You offers excellent examples. It’s just beautifully done.
Really good. Slight twist that kept me interested.
DNF
our military people need our understanding, compassion, and love
Love starts when young and obstacles when older. Really enjoyed the story.