Received from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

You can definitely tell that Jessica Scott knows her way around the military. Lots of lingo that I don't think is common knowledge. Scott does a nice job of driving home the point that there are a lot of mental health issues in the military but I think that the romance thrown in there fell flat for me. I know this one was #4 in a series so maybe if I had started at the beginning I would have had a better picture but I felt as if I was reading a PSA for military mental health awareness rather than a romance in a military setting. Not my cup of tea. ( )

This story hit me on so many levels.

I have known service members who struggled with alcoholism and other addictions. And while he wasn't in the service I have a cousin who committed suicide, it hurts, it's not pretty and the guilt of those around them is unbelievable. For this story to take on those very hard, emotional subjects and treat it with honesty and respect without being overly morbid or sugar coating things....it's appreciated.

The story about Reza and Emily finding love with all this going on around them, it's a miracle they made it through. And that's pretty much how it feels in real life. So glad the author took the straight forward approach and gave us both a HEA and a slice of reality. ( )

This really was a fantastic read. I have had this book for years but for some reason never picked it up until now. Let me tell you that this was a big mistake. Huge mistake. This book was really good and made me think. It made me feel which is always a good thing. I think that I had expected this book to be a more typical military romance before reading it but I was completely wrong. I am really glad that I took the time to read this powerful story.

This book deals with military suicide and PTSD which are some pretty tough topics. Most of the soldiers in this story are affected by their time in combat in one way or another. Reza is a Sergeant First Class and tries to watch out for his men while dealing with his own issues. He often has to spend a lot of valuable time trying to find out what is going on with his me. Time that could be spent in training before their next deployment.

Emily, a Psychiatrist, is new to the Army and really wants to help the soldiers that come to her for help. Her family is not in favor of her decision to enlist in the army but she is determined to make a difference. She quickly learns that there are a lot of things that she does not understand in regards to what the soldiers have been through so she works to learn what she can.

I really liked Reza and Emily together. They had such great chemistry even though they were not at all alike. They both seemed to be able to support each other in exactly the way that was most needed. I really appreciated the fact that the romance didn't overpower the other issues that the book was dealing with. If anything, I would say that the romance aspect of the book was secondary to turmoil with Reza and his soldiers.

I really liked how this book was able to show such tough topics in a way that felt realistic. Reza's battle with alcohol was painful to watch. There were some pretty graphic scenes that really got to me. I understood how Reza and Emily were taking thing hard because I was right there with them. I also really appreciated the fact that the book ended on a very hopeful note because I really wanted to see both of these characters get their happy ending.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought it was a really well done story that was quite eye opening. This book is the forth book in the Coming Home series but I read it as a stand alone without any trouble. I would definitely read more from this talented author in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley. ( )

Some Army families who recently lost members to suicide criticize the branch for failing to aggressively shake a culture in which soldiers believe they'll be deemed weak and denied promotion if they seek mental health aid. They also blame Army leaders for focusing more heavily on weeding out emotionally troubled soldiers to artificially suppress the branch's suicide stats versus embracing and helping members who are exhibiting clear signs of trouble. - The Enemy Within: Soldier suicides outpaced combat deaths in 2012 Thursday Jan 3, 2013 5:23 PM Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor


A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. - Martin Luther King, Jr.


Write what you know. It is a simple rule, a pillar of “How To Write A Good Book” and probably one of the most misunderstood. As Nathan Englander, the critically acclaimed author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank once said, “Write what you know” isn’t about events. It’s about emotions. Have you known love? jealousy? longing? loss?

In her new book, All For You, A Coming Home Novel Jessica Scott takes that advice and builds upon it, writing a heart wrenching story which left me sobbing on the floor, my heart broken for all those soldiers who return from war broken and lost, and just how badly they need our help – help that the unremitting machine of the military and government would rather deny them. As K. Lang from Las Vegas put it in her Amazon review, no matter the branch, there are raging morons who don't care and people with flaws trying to fix things in spite of those same raging morons. And the raging morons are thick on the ground at Fort Hood, Texas. (Having done a job there many years ago, I can tell you – I met my own fair share. And that was in peacetime.)

For all of you romance readers out there, this is indeed a romance, never fear. And an extremely well written one. If you don't like romance? Just skip through those parts, but you HAVE to read this book. What is says is too important not to.

Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli is a broken and deeply damaged man, a leader of men with a long-time alcohol problem and a broken soul. He has had to live within a shell of alcohol and brutality for so long, he truly doesn’t know any other way to be. Captain Emily Lindberg is the psychologist who has left behind a life of privilege and familial control, striking out on her own in order to do good for the soldiers who truly need her services, leaving behind the spoiled, rich kids of privilege looking for excuses for their own bad behavior.

What Emily walks into is far from what she expects. Fort Hood is a place of systems and procedures that don’t work, that are devastating to the very people they are supposed to protect. Those soldiers, both men and women, who have come back from war, from death and dirt, blood and insanity - actions that are beyond the normal person’s comprehension. Scott lays it out in all its brutal simplicity – get EM’ in, get EM’ back out into the field. No matter what. And if they are damaged? Get EM’ all the way out, back into society, no matter what the war has done to them, no matter how the blood and gore has broken them. No matter how much they have given and suffered for their country. They are coldly thrown away, like so many broken, irreparable tools.

Jessica Scott knows of which she speaks. A career Army officer and wife of a career Army NCO, Scott has written for the New York Times’s At War blog, PBS’s Point of View Regarding War, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of OIF/New Dawn and has served as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas twice. So, yes, she does know that of which she speaks. And what she knows is horrifying.

Scott is careful to point out in her Note From The Author, “This book is not meant as an indictment of our men and women in uniform or the military that we serve or the thousands of leaders who do the right thing every day and try to take care of their soldiers.” And there are those who do try every single day to do the right thing. Who try their best, despite a broken and uncaring system that rolls right over the top of them in a heartless march to simply fill out the paperwork, follow the rules, and move on to the next thing – which, in too many instances, is gaining their next bar or pip or stripe no matter the cost to their own soldiers, those very soldiers whom their very purpose should be to protect and honor.

Yes, Jessica Scott has written a brilliant story of romance between two people who, no matter how different they may be, not only learn to love one another, but also need one another in order to do what they need to do, who need one another to do good and to provide the strength that not only they need, but also those around them need in order to stay sane, focused, and safe. But she has also written a story which points out just how badly our soldiers need our help. How the pain, death, and the horrors they face every day can often be more than even the strongest among them can bear, and how more often than we would like to admit, the uncaring military machine simply throws them under the bus, leaving them to lives of drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, and ultimately suicide.

Buy the book. Read it. And then take a look around you. In Jennifer Scott’s words, if you know someone who is hurting, if you suspect someone is having a hard time, ask them. Don’t be afraid. Speak up. Ask the question. Because you never know what someone else is going through. And you might just make a difference.

I would go beyond that. Take the time to check out the heart of her story yourself. Talk to veterans and their families. If you are a family member or friend, be there for them, ask the right questions of your Congressmen and Senators. Write letters and give your support. These men and women give their lives and their souls in order to ascertain that you can stop at Starbucks for your latte. The least we can do is help to make sure that they get the help and support that they richly deserve.

VERY Highly Recommended.

This book was provided to me by Netgalley for a realistic review. All opinions are my own. ( )

Jessica Scott is getting better...
I don't know which of the books I loved more. Reza will have a special place in my heart, and I can only say that I want more about these guys and more books from Jessica. ( )