Briggs,Remember when we parted ways in Germany? It was the day I broke your heart. What you didn’t know was that I was breaking mine too.I thought they’d be enough–my husband and my son. That I’d get home and everything would go back to the way it was . . .Before the war. Before the ambush. Before you.But, no matter how hard I try, I can’t erase the trauma we shared. I can’t seem to forget the … trauma we shared. I can’t seem to forget the way my heart beat in time with yours.
The truth is I’m lost without you.
I thought the nightmare was over when they pulled us from that hole in the ground, but nothing could have prepared me for the war I’d face at home.
I know it’s selfish of me to ask, but, please, I have to see you one last time. . .
All my love,
Scottie
more
Ok…Wow! This is a book that will stay with me forever. I absolutely loved and hated this book. My heart broke for every single character several times over. Growing up as an army brat, Katy has followed in her fathers footsteps. She has re-enlisted and is sent oversees to Baghdad leaving her husband and her young son behind. While on base her and her best friend, Mullins, form close friendships with several soldiers. When she first meets Briggs, she can’t deny how attractive he is. There is definite chemistry between them, but she is and always will be loyal to her husband. When the unthinkable happens, they become each others reason to breathe and survive. With just one look they are able to breathe life and strength back into each other. It was heartbreaking and painful to read about their time together, but it also showed their strength and determination not to let the monsters break them. When they are finally freed from captivity, their physical scars start to heal, but emotionally they are broken and can’t find any peace apart and continue to live day by day in pain. Gavin, oh Gavin. He was everything!! You don’t need to be shot or a POW to be a hero. Even though he was not there physically with Katy, he too feels the physical and emotional effects of Katy’s time in Baghdad. Gavin showed such grace and dignity while his heart was being ripped to shreds. He had to watch the love of his life change and pull away from the beautiful life they created together. Having no way to protect her from her nightmares and the demons of her time in Baghdad, he helplessly watches his wife slip away. He suffers right beside her and prays that one day his wife will come back to him whole and complete. But war takes a piece of you, and Katy has left part of herself back in that bunker. I was so torn and my heart was broken and shattered throughout Briggs, Katy and Gavin’s journey. The connection between Scottie and Briggs was off the charts beautiful, raw, devastating, passionate and confusing. Gavin was everything any woman could ask for. They were always and forever. I broke when I read Katy’s letter to Gavin. It was beautiful, painful and thought provoking. As a reader you get it. You realize that Katy went to war with her heart in one place, but she came out of that bunker a changed and damaged broken version of herself. It shows you that war is all consuming and how it can change a person-heart and soul. I realize that this book is a work of fiction, but Heather and Kate did an amazing job navigating some sensitive and yes real issues that our American Soldiers have had to live through.
Im really not sure how to convey the myriad of emotions that came through me as I read this intense but heart wrenching story!
Katy leaves her husband and young son behind as a medic to go to Iraq and needless to say the comradery in this book will have you giggling but also shedding some tears…..
to be quite honest I wasn’t sure if the characters would ever get over such an emotionally rough time.
The dilemmas they all faced, the challenges as well made this book a true pleasure to read! It was raw, beautiful but also so heartbreaking your own heart may crack in two…..
What these two authors have written is a story that will resonate within you that life is hard but can also be really wonderful and everyone deserves to be truly happy and loved!!
Oh my! This is a book I’m not sure I wanted to like but the choices and circumstances these two had to face were unimaginable. The authors really nailed the subject matter. Tough book but i loved it. It was often hard to read, but I couldn’t put it down…
I don’t think a book has ever affected me on such a deep level as much as this one. It wasn’t the tears that I shed that affected me so much, as it was the way this story pulled my heart and soul apart piece by piece, chapter by chapter. This book was more real life than anything I have ever read, knowing that there are real life versions of Katy, Gavin, Briggs, Noah and Mullins. I had to take a few breaks reading it as it would overwhelm me sometimes with so much emotion and devastation. I could feel myself break apart along with Katy, feel Gavin’s frustration along with every other emotion. I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry for them.
This is one of those stories that will stick with you for a long, long time. I have a feeling I will think of these characters often, reflect back on their lives and wonder how they are doing.
5 out of 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!
It is so very difficult to write this review. I don’t want to give away the storyline because the less I knew as I read, the better it was. I don’t want to give away the ending, of course, because getting there is all the joy in a book. Let me just say that it was definitely an emotional time for me. I’m still recovering and I don’t know if my heart will ever be the same.
This story really touched my heart as last week I spent three days in Washington, D.C. with an Honor Flight group that included 1 WWII Veteran, 5 Korean War Veterans, and 32 Vietnam Veterans. I went as a “guardian” for my dad, but was immersed in the company of all of them as we toured D.C. on a bus and ate meals together. It was an eye-opening experience for me and though none of them had quite the same story as the one shared in Heartbreak Warfare, their stories mean a great deal to me as well. Having just come home from this trip, I think reading this story meant that much more to me as well!
All of the characters crept into the tiny corners of my heart and soul and I will forever be thinking of them and wishing I knew more of their current story and how their lives continued to grow and change. This is NOT an easy story to read. It is not a “fluffy” romance. It is hardcore and worth every second it will take you to read it. I only hope this duo will bring us more stories like this that will change our hearts and show us a new side of the romance story!
*** I voluntarily read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***
There are no words that do justice to this book. It has that feel of an epic love story, with the backdrop of war. This book is a roller coaster of emotions. I have frequently teared up at books but this had me sobbing, with make up streaking down my face and mascara giving me panda eyes. Katie and Gavin are so in love just the sight of his smile makes Katy want to jump him. Katie deploys to Iraq where she and her best friend Mullins meet Briggs, Morrero and Jones. Going out on a humanitarian mission, their convoy is ambushed and Katy, Mullins and Briggs are taken as POW’s. Four months later, they have formed a bond that no one but them will ever understand. How are you supposed to go back to the life you left behind like nothing had happened? Can you ever pick up the pieces? Nothing else to say, but you’ve got to read this!!
Wow! This was an angsty rollercoaster ride. We don’t think every day about the soldiers who fight to keep us free. I thought Katy and Briggs story was so lovely. I didn’t know where we were going because it seemed that it twisted. A definite must read!
I loved this book
“All of my respect flies out the window as I stare at his back. He knows nothing of what we went through. He knows nothing about the hell we faced together. He knows absolutely nothing about our situation. His reaction is based on assumptions. He has no clue what his wife is trying to overcome to be with him. Right here, right now, I hate him. I hate him not only for turning a blind eye to the truth, based on the conclusions he’s drawing but for ignoring what really matters: she chose him
Heartbreak Warfare is by far one of my favorite reads of 2018. This book stunned me in so many ways. I love the authors, Kate Stewart, and Heather M. Orgeron both, so I wasn’t worried about the quality of the writing or story itself. Both authors are absolutely incredible in their own right—and having collaborated with one another on Heartbreak Warfare solidified the fact that they are also exceptional at blending their voices with a fellow author to write a story that is complex, intensely emotional and riveting. I would implore you to forgo reviews of this one and just buy the book. You won’t be sorry.
“If you ever get tested, remember there’s a difference between defiance and bravery. Leave your compassion out of it and show them you are a part of something bigger, something they can’t break. Remember the Soldier’s Creed.”
Heartbreak Warfare is a military romance. It’s tough to read since my spouse serves and the MCs—Briggs and Scotty—are POWs who faced untold horrors which formed a relationship between the two that would never have existed otherwise. The story does contain triggers for currently surviving military and military spouses, as well as assault survivors, so beware. It is tough to read some of the scenes and I ugly cried while reading this book. As a matter of fact, I think I cried more reading this than I have anything else I’ve read this year. But the beauty of the story is overwhelming as well. The connection between Briggs and Scotty is immediate and tangible for the readers. My heart was racing as I read this book because the emotional barrage was constant and intense. I can’t imagine anyone was able to read this causally because it was far to outstand of a story for me to put it down. Between crying and reading through the night and park of the morning, this book left me with one hell of a book hangover and it was impossible for me to get sucked into another story immediately proceeding this one.
“She handed my heart back to me and I’m unsure of how I’ll handle its new broken rhythm.”
While Heartbreak Warfare is a romance, it’s a departure from the typical romances I have read by Stewart and Orgeron. Both writers pen extremely sexy romances and while Heartbreak Warfare is certainly sexy, the emphasis for this book is slightly more geared towards the angst and turmoil of the relationship that developed between Briggs and Scotty. Angst and Sexy go hand in hand with Kate Stewarts stories, and so the fact that the angst was so heavy in this book wasn’t a surprise to me. What did surprise me was that I do associate some humor or whit in the books that Heather M. Orgeron writes, and this book didn’t offer the lightness that I have seen in her writing before. It’s not a bad thing, the story didn’t call for it, and I think it proves that Orgeron is versatile as well. Don’t go into this book thinking it’s a light, quick, easy read. It. Is. None. Of. That!!! I read fast and it took me a full day to finish this book. And the ability for light angst went out the window before the end of the first chapter The duel POV gave readers a deep look at both Briggs and Scotty and made identifying with them seamless. It also gave way to outstanding character progression. I can not sell this book enough. I would give it more than five stars if only we had the ability. DO. NOT. MISS. HEARTBREAK WARFARE!!!!
“The pendulum is swinging—the noise crippling me as it slices through time, like she and I don’t matter. Whenever I reach in to stop it, I lose another piece of myself, and the seconds tick on.
One of the best books of 2018!
Unforgettable.
I cried so much with this book, such a rollercoaster of raw emotions that took me some days to write this review.
War is such a hard subject to write, must be so ward be far from your lovely ones, and imagine getting in this situation, be in enemy hands, my heart just broken from them.
Love from an impossible situation.
Heart divided.
Katy and Captain had a perfect life, perfect family.
Briggs & Scottie became friends, and he loves to flirt with her, telling jokes being the cause of laugh, and through the worst time of their life, they fell deep.
And I’m in love with both men, and that’s heartbreaking.
Can’t stop thinking about this book!
One heart divide with the same love.
“Trust me?”
“Always”
“Still love me?”
“Forever”
Millions of stars!
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~~ 5 HEART-RENDING STARS! ~~
“Fight for the free by being brave.”
Oh my poor DETONATED heart! From the onset, I knew that this wrenching military saga was going to shatter me. But holy moly I still was not prepared.
Not. In. The. Least.
HEARTBREAK WARFARE by Heather M. Orgeron and Kate Stewart BUTCHERED MY HEART and OBLITERATED MY SOUL! Relayed in three-way POV from the perspectives of our main characters: Sergeant Chris Briggs (a career soldier), Staff Sergeant Katy Scott (a medic) and Katy’s husband Gavin Walsh (a US Army Captain), it brilliantly depicts the courage and sacrifice and sheer and utter heartbreak of three warriors whose lives are irrevocably ripped apart by the perils of war.
THE STORY:
A few months into her deployment in Baghdad, Army medic Katy Scott (AKA Scottie), who is battling homesickness and secretly regrets her decision to re-enlist, signs on to take part in a routine humanitarian mission led by the devilishly handsome Sergeant Briggs, a shameless flirt who enjoys pushing her buttons.
But then the UNTHINKABLE happens and their convoy is ambushed. Although she and Briggs survive the bloodbath, their nightmare has just begun. For they are now prisoners of war, facing almost certain death, forced to endure UNSPEAKABLE horrors. And the only salvation they find amid the suffocating darkness is each other. They are one another’s lifeline…and refuge. Somehow, some way, they vow to survive their torturous ordeal together. And against all odds, a forbidden, soul-deep love is born.
“Inside my chest beats a heart hanging on only for her.”
However, once they are liberated after 56 agonizing days, they enter a war zone of a different kind because Scottie’s heart is not free to love Briggs. She’s a happily married woman . And her place is with her devoted husband, Gavin, and their beloved six-year-old son Noah. So, she departs for home, a broken shell of a woman she once was. Reuniting with her family is a dream come true. But can she ever truly banish her haunting memories of what transpired in Iraq …or forget the brave soldier who now owns a huge piece of her soul?
MY MUSINGS:
HEARTBREAK WARFARE was such an agonizing, chaotically beautiful and emotionally tumultuous read, I am still reeling from the aftershocks! It gave me full body chills. Made my heart clench. My gut roil. Had my eyes spilling endless tears. And packed such a WALLOP it brought me to my knees.
As you can imagine, this is NOT an escapist romance to sigh over but rather one to SURVIVE, and once you do, you will be forever changed. But fair warning: This book is NOT for the faint of heart, and the dark, graphic nature of the consequences of war will leave its mark. But even though reading this book requires immense bravery, and at times broke me to bits, I am so glad I stuck it out!!
Because if I hadn’t, I would have missed out on this awe-inspiring writing collaboration! Heather M. Orgeron and Kate Stewart’s voices blended together seamlessly and together they penned a tour de force novel of EPIC PROPORTIONS!! I could truly feel the blood, sweat and tears they poured into this masterpiece. The compelling, action packed plot was brilliantly crafted, the writing flawless, the characterizations exquisitely nuanced, the raw, unbridled emotions spot on, and the dialogue ? Bloody fantastic!!
And the way these authors depicted war with such vividness and brutal, unflinching honesty, I felt like I was in that dank bunker, living and breathing every moment of it alongside the MCs. I absorbed it all: The shudder-inducing violence. The stench of burning flesh. The soul piercing screams. The trauma. The despair. The heartache. And at long last, the hope. It all played out in such technicolor it was like watching a movie unfold before our eyes.
But Scottie and Brigg’s return to civilian life was equally gut punching and this writing duo should be applauded for shedding light on the devastating impact of PTSD on not only the soldiers but their families. And it’s because we loved and related to all three of these main characters so much that the fallout was FREAKING UNBEARABLE!
First, we have our heroine, Katy, a devoted soldier, mother and wife. “She’s the type of woman who puts family and country first, the kind that, if you’re lucky enough to find, you marry.” Scottie is beautiful, fiery, selfless and brave…and yeah at times she can also be stubborn and infuriating! But after 8 long years of dedicated military service, she has grown weary. Disillusioned.
But nothing could possibly prepare her—or us—for her nightmarish ordeal as a POW. Bearing witness to the atrocities that she had to endure in that hellhole will HAUNT me forever.
However, I hurt just as much for her in the aftermath. For once Scotty returns home and tries to pick up the pieces, reconnecting with her family is easier said than done. Not only because of the debilitating PTSD but also due to the fact that something—or SOMEONE— is missing. Briggs. The brightest light in her darkest hour. Sigh. Scottie is waging an inner war, with her wounded heart split straight down the middle.
“I am two different women, living in two separate worlds, in love with two different soldiers.”
Did I always like her attitude or condone her choices?? Heck nooooo. But I was still in her corner every step of the way!!
As was her long-suffering hubby, Gavin. God how I LOVED this sweet, caring, deliciously commanding Army Captain WITH EVERY SINGLE BEAT OF MY HEART! But sob! The worry and terror and feelings of powerless that wracks him to the core while his precious wife is MIA was excruciating. However, before Katy’s last deployment, they promised each other “forever” and Gavin is going to hold her to that!! But when she finally returns to his waiting arms, the true battle has just begun.
“He wants her, but she’s not here.”
I felt so much for this strong, stoic, fiercely devoted family man who desperately wants to make things right for his severely traumatized wife. “Captain’s” love and patience truly knows no bounds but even he has his breaking point. Can his love alone heal her?
And last, but certainly not least, we have Briggs!!! HOLY EFFIN SWOOOON! Just like Gavin, he OWNED me! A natural born protector, he’s “the perfect picture of an American soldier: strong, virile, and confident, with a healthy dose of cocky.” And just as his true valor, wicked sense of humor and resilience throughout his harrowing ordeal astounded me, his desolation when he returns home was like a knife to the gut. For no matter how hard he tries, he can’t erase what happened in that bunker. Cannot eradicate Scottie from his heart. He is as lost without her as she is without him but coveting another man’s wife just might destroy them all in the end.
So how does this whole woeful mess sort itself out? My LIPS ARE SEALED, but I will say I bled bucket loads of tears for all involved. And whether or not you are happy with the ending, which for me was bittersweet, I could not have envisioned a more POIGNANT denouement!!
BOTTOM LINE:
I have rambled enough, but in closing, HEARTBREAK WARFARE is by far my top UGLY CRY pick of the year. The road these characters traversed is filled with perilous land mines and I DID. NOT. EMERGE.UNSCATHED. But it ultimately had me rejoicing in the abiding power of love and the remarkable resilience of the human spirit!
An EPIC must read!!!!
10 gut wrenching stars
This book is EVERYTHING. This destroyed my soul and heart in the most beautiful way. This is my favorite book of 2018. Omg Kate and Heather had done a great job with this one. I m speechless about this one!!Kate Stewart Heather M. Orgeron
Superb!!
These 2 authors created pure magic!
I have the best book hangover and I firmly believe that this story will stay with me for a long time!
I cried, I laughed, I cheered I cringed!
Brutally raw, gritty, and flawlessly written, the realities of war are graphically articulated in this atypical military romance.
This story ripped my soul apart and then put it back together in the most beautiful way!!
A tragic event while on a military mission challenges the power of love and forgiveness affecting the lives of three people.
Intense, twisted and gut wrenching, get the tissues ready.
The brutal reality of love of country versus love. This insightful and thought provoking story, will have you questioning the way we think and live our life.
What would you do in a similar situation?
Let me tell you, this book is worthy of more than 5 stars, and I made it a top 5 read for 2018!!
I was going to write a more in depth review about this story, but honestly, the best way to enjoy this story is by going in blindly!!
Wow! I’d give this book 10 stars if I could. It is SO freaking good! I don’t normally read a book if I know I may cry. I had heard people cried while reading this book, but wanted to read it anyway because I love both of the authors who wrote this amazing story. So, I waited for a for a good time in my life to start it. I had the hardest time putting it down because I was so involved in what was going on. This story is everything. I loved all of the characters and I think that’s a big part of what makes it so emotional. No one did anything wrong per se. They were all really good people. Christopher Briggs is a young career military man. He was funny, loyal and charismatic. I really liked him. Katy Scott was a young woman in the military who was married and had a young son. She had a hard time being away from her family while being deployed, but hung in and did her job and made a few new friends. Gavin is Katy’s husband. He is a Captain in the Army and also a very good man, husband, and father. These three people go through a lot of hard, emotional times together. They got through them the only way they knew how. I can’t possibly do this book justice with my review, so I just want everyone to know that it is an AMAZING story that I think everyone will enjoy. It is one of my favorite books of 2018. Seriously people, Buy This Book.
Omgosh Omgosh OMGOSH!!!!!!! Kate and Heather!!!!!! HOLY SH*T!!!!!! I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK!!!!!! Thank you sooo much for this book!!!!! I have the absolute BEST book hangover I have ever had!!!!!!
All the stars.
Did you ever stop reading a book because you were afraid of the ending? You’ve already felt so much, and you don’t know if your heart can take anymore. This was me. I had to stop or peek at the end. I stopped every so often to come up for air. Heartbreak Warfare is one of the most angsty books I have ever read. I finished it days ago, and I still have a monumental book hangover. I think it’s been prolonged because I’ve been messaging with friends who have read it and we have formed our own support systems to discuss it. Does this sound crazy to have this reaction to a book? Maybe so but my heart has been through a war. You have to read it to comprehend all of the emotions that I experienced. I totally understand Frank Smedley’s quote “All’s fair in love and war.” Briggs & Scottie’s relationship personifies this quote. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this quote as “used to describe a situation in which people do not follow the usual rules of behavior and do things that are normally considered unfair.” I’m not going to spoil this book for you. Go in blind like me and experience it.
This story was so gripping and raw. I literally wanted to drop kick my Kindle at times and then hug these characters a few paragraphs later. Heartbreak Warfare is going on my All-Time Best Kindle Crack List and Best of 2018 book lists. I’m just blown away.Heartbreak Warfare
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HEARTBREAK WARFARE
HEARTBREAK WARFARE DECIMATED ME AND I WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY & EASILY MAKES MY TOP 10 READS FOR 2018 & EARNED A BIG FAT 5-STAR RATING.
Talk about a heart beating. Literally, that’s what happened to me while reading this book. My heart took on one of the worst beatings ever! Heartbreak Warfare by Heather M. Orgeron & Kate Stewart completely decimated me and I wouldn’t have it any other way! I couldn’t get enough and was afraid to read more. Regardless, I wanted to read more and more and so much more.
The unfathomable heartache, devastating turmoil, ever growing intense angst and explicit and gut wrenching raw emotions from this book stabbed me right in the heart, piercing me, testing my will and ability to stop tears from flowing down my face and the sheer intensity of this book completely overwhelmed me.
I kid you not, I had so many ugly cries throughout this book that I feared I was in danger of becoming dehydrated from all the tears that I shed. Really, I was a blubbering idiot. This book held me hostage.
Heartbreak Warfare is a story of 3 people. Katy (Scottie) Scott who is a medic in the armed forces. She is married to Gavin who is a captain in the armed forces as well. They are so in love and have a 4-year-old son Noah. Sadly, Katy has been deployed to Afghanistan to serve her second tour and has to leave her family.
She is accompanied by her best friend and fellow officer Corporal Mullins. It is there that she meets the charming and witty Chris Briggs, who serves in the infantry. While they are all en route to a humanitarian mission they are ambushed by militants and taken prisoner.
This part of the story was the most difficult to read. The authors pull no punches and don’t hold back.
While in captivity, they are subjected to and forced to bear witness to the most heinous brutal acts of violence imaginable. For me it wasn’t so much the graphic nature of what took place, however terrifying that was. It was the in the moment emotions and what happens after choices are forced to be made. What’s strange is that I can’t unsee it and I never saw it. So strange. That was very frightening for me.
Because they are caged, chained and housed in the same bunker, Katy and Briggs form a tight bond. A bond like no other. A bond that leaves them clinging to each other, to life, trying to stay strong. They are each other’s’ lifeline. That lifeline gives them the strength to barely survive day to day. Emotions are at the forefront and they depend on one another like their lives depend on it. And they do. Not to mention the psychological warfare of being tortured. When all hope seems to be lost, it is then they are rescued and sent home to recover.
Turns out, that’s not an easy task. As difficult as it was, they are forced to go their separate ways but not before declarations are made. Leaving both desperate and alone, having to deal with the aftermath as well as to suffer alone.
Turns out, returning home is not easy. Faced with having to deal with the overwhelming emotions and fear of the unknown takes its toll on them both. Feelings of unbearable pain, loneliness and despair fill every waking hour of every day. Katy walks around in a constant state of fear, trying to be brave and not let others see through the masks she wears. She’s determined to not let this hurt her little boy Noah or her husband as well as the rest of her family. But that proves to be difficult. It’s a never-ending battle for her survival. Another war of sorts. Even for Brigg’s who suffers alone. Without the woman he loves. They left the war behind just to come home to a different kind of war. This war she wages is within herself. An internal battle she’s left to fight on her own. She tries to push through the pain but that proves to be too daunting of a task. She fights and suffers in silence and never leans on the one person closest to her. Her husband. This leads her down a risky path of bad behavior and unhealthy choices.
Those choices lead her to the one person she longs for. The one person who can quell her fears and the only one who can understand the suffering and PTSD from being a prisoner of war is also the one she must stay away from.
Pain comes in many forms and many facets in this story. It’s like shrapnel, it splinters into a million shards. Each shard slices right through you, tearing at the very core. Leaving devastation in its wake. Gaping holes are left open and left to bleed out the pain in droplets of blood like tears.
You can’t just rip the bandage off and all the wounds heal. No, the pain and the effects of that pain render those who are left to suffer in the deepest darkest crevices with no light in sight. You take refuge in those crevices. Burrowing so deep, trying so hard to escape the pain.
This all-consuming and never ending pain trickles down and out and seems to latch on and fester inside the lives of those it touches. Not just to the hero and heroine but to family members as well. Those who remain steadfast and closest to these prisoners of war have their work cut out for them. Sometimes, you just can’t go home again. Sometimes life throws a giant-sized monkey wrench at you. When all is said and done, you are left with broken souls, broken hearts and broken dreams.
This story completely encapsulated me. The guts of the story, the emotional upheaval runs rampant throughout its entirety.
If you’re anything like me, when I read romance, I root for the hero and heroine AND the happily ever after they so desperately deserve. It’s so satisfying, so rewarding after nearing the end of an extremely painful and harrowing journey that their hea is granted. But sometimes, in stories like this, some get theirs and some don’t. No one comes out of this story unscathed. Not the characters and certainly in this case, not the reader.
Lives are forever altered, forever scarred. What happens when you love someone and then fall in love with another? If you think you know, you’re wrong. Gavin is so devoted to Katy but this tragedy mutilated everyone in its path. Choices made are prevalent in the story for different reasons. The ties that bind the characters together have left their mark and caused those ties to break, thus destroying the very foundation of each relationship. Everyone pays a price.
The outcomes of choices made throughout this book wreak havoc with Katy, Briggs and Gavin as well. This story has embedded itself into my soul. I found that I too had succumbed to the foggy darkness right alongside of Katy, Briggs and Gavin and when that fog finally lifted and things became clearer, I found myself rejoicing with them in the splendor of love. Accepting the ultimate sacrifices that were made for love, embracing the forgiveness that was given freely and without malice and finally, hope for a future filled with a love so bright that it will fill those dark crevices and empty voids hidden below the surface, allowing the pain to be set free. This book has one of the best endings I’ve read in a long while.
I’ve learned that sometimes, even if it seems like you can’t go home again, that you will never find peace, never know life outside of the debilitating dark that it IS possible. You can, in fact, heal in time by surrounding yourself with goodness, let those that love and care for you help you. Have hope, let go of the fear that traps you. Give yourself permission to let go of all the guilt and begin to rebuild your life. A life outside the depths of Hell and find solace, hope and love in the arms of the one you love and were destined to have a future with. Even if it’s not with the one you expected.
Heartbreak Warfare is a beautifully written, in your face and intense account of the brutality of being a POW and the aftermath once you return home. No one is left unaffected. I for one am thankful to the authors for keeping it feeling realistic. It’s a disturbing, honest, twisted and bittersweet tale that begged to be and just had to be written. A story that left me with one of the best book hangovers I’ve ever had.
It’s official. I’ve gone and fallen in love with Katy, Gavin & Briggs and Noah. I’ve only ever said this a few times before but, I will never be the same person I was before reading this story. It’s impossible. It will take me a very long time if ever, to recover. I guess I have something in common with Katy after all. But I have hope.
I highly recommend Heartbreak Warfare to EVERYONE. But know before going in that it is at times, hard to read and may have triggers. This book easily makes my top 10 reads for 2018 and earned a big fat 5-star rating.
Talk about a book hangover. WOW! Guys, this book was amazing. I was crying by 2% into this read and cried about a hundred other times throughout, but I also laughed and loved and felt for each one in this book. Read this!!!
Heartbreak Warfare, is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster! Only a couple of pages in, and my tears was dropping.
“Hoping for cloudy skies tomorrow.”
The writing in this book, is incredible. It made me feel all the angst, sorrow and love…it basically broke my heart!
Heartbreak Warfare, is a must read! And one of 2018 best books!
-Stina, Book Haven Book Blog.
I have no words to describe how utterly awesome this book is.
This is the first book I have read from either author, and straight out of the gate, I was crying as I met Staff Sergeant Katy Scott, Soldier and Medic, saying goodbye to her husband and 6 year old son for a 1 year tour in Baghdad. My heart broke for the three of them. But there was more to come…and I was not prepared. Before I go further, I have to say – I have no words to describe how utterly awesome this book is.
During the most intense parts, the chapters were short, emotional, and packed more punch into so few words than I could ever have thought possible. Fast rapid fire emotions were coming at me as I read. I grieved, I cried, and, I was amazed at the strength of the human spirit. The emotional pressure so great that I had to break away with crying headaches. Hell, at this point, I even read a light-hearted short story, I needed the break that badly. I felt like I was letting Scottie and Briggs down, but at this point, I just couldn’t stay with them.
The true pain and sadness started at 30%, when Katy went back home. This is where the true heartbreak of war showed it’s cost. I loved Gavin. Sure, he’d done four tours, but had never had to survive what she had. His POV broke my heart, and even when doing his best, he felt as helpless as she was broken. The aftermath of the events is where the story becomes truly epic in conveying the emotions of all involved. Not only is it about what the soldiers have to endure when assimilating back into civilian life, but what their families have to endure along with them.
Let me be clear. Yes, there are parts in their story that are horrific, but I absolutely believe I had to read them in order to understand what the authors were trying to convey regarding the affects of the aftermath. And, I can tell you, they have achieved it in spades. I‘ve read some extremely angsty and intense books, but never, never have I read one like this. Heather M. Orgeron and Kate Stewart have created a book that is a storm of emotions packed between two covers. And the hype surrounding its’ release? I promise you that it lives up to every word.
Is this a re-read? For me, I don’t know. It’s a book that stayed with me even in my sleep, and has taken so much out of me that I felt weak and soul torn as I write this. It is certainly a book that I’ll never forget. Heartbreak War is nothing short of epic – I have nothing left with which to describe how I feel about it, and I doubt I can even to justice in this review to it. It deserves so many more than a measly 5 Stars.