After the War
A Coming Home Novel
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4.6 • 23 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A touching story about finding forgiveness and love filled with emotional second chances
Army captain Sarah Anders has been running from the worst day of her life ever since the day the chaplain knocked on her door. Throwing herself into her Army career after the loss of her husband, she’s been trying to be a mother to her young daughter and a good soldier. But a freak accident has nearly derailed her career and losing the Army means losing the one thing that keeps her connected to her husband.
Army captain Sean Nichols has never been good at commitment but he never forgave himself for letting Sarah slip away all those years ago. But wars have a way of distracting you away from the loneliness of an empty home. For the last decade, he’s been focused on preparing his men for their next deployment and ignoring the quiet longing for something more. The one thing he is not prepared for is a little girl, who wriggles her way into his heart, despite her mother’s resistance.
When Sean and Sarah are thrown into a new assignment, they come face to face with the past they shared and the man who stands between them, even in death.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Scott's realistic second Fort Hood military contemporary (after Homefront) brings a soldier and war widow face to face with her ex-fianc . Capt. Sarah Anders was fired from a previous assignment and is now stationed at Fort Hood. She is tasked with investigating an ongoing fight between a lieutenant and his sergeant. Unfortunately, the captain of their unit is Sean Nichols, the man who broke her heart almost a decade before. As Sarah begins her investigation, she and Sean are forced into close proximity, and she soon realizes that he is not the same man he used to be. But Sarah feels that by following her feelings for Sean, she'd be betraying her deceased husband, Jack, and she's worried about how her new romance would affect her young daughter, Anna. Scott reveals the hard truths of how combat affects those who are left behind in ways that some can never fully overcome. The love story between Sean and Sarah is complex and uplifting, carefully juxtaposed against the brutal reality that life for those in combat is a very precious commodity. (BookLife)
Customer Reviews
Honest
I applaud this author for not sugar coating the effects of war on our military men & women. It is a world that civilians can never truly understand. Finding that person who can share the things that are demanded is difficult but life saving. This story portrays these aspects well.
A true look at soldiers affected by war, AND a romance
I read this book on Memorial Day weekend...while it's fiction, this book is certainly based on fact. Reading this book while the news talked about fallen heroes, wounded heroes, and soldiers who returned home changed, made this book all the more real. Then I read the authors notes at the back about how she started writing the book while her husband was deployed, & shed more tears. I've read all of this author's books. Each one is as good as the last, while there's always romance, they're really about soldiers & family, and a little peek at war for those of us who have only witnessed war on the news.
Beautiful second chance romance with deeper issues
Being a big fan of Jessica Scott's military romances, I knew I would have to give this one a go. I love second chance romances, so it was a no brainer I had to read it. The romance in this one takes a back seat to the actual storyline though. This didn't bother me because I was so engrossed in what was happening and seeing Sean and Sarah deal with the aftermath of a fight between soldiers. Still, what we do get of Sarah and Sean is really well done and I liked the slow building nature of their relationship.
Sarah and Sean have quite the past together and even though time has passed, they still remember the hurt they caused one another when they ended. Now, Sarah has been widowed by a good man whom she loved dearly and now has a daughter to care for. Sarah is hesitant to start something with Sean, as she feels it would be a betrayal to her late husband's memory. She has so much on her plate as it is, with dealing with her confusing feelings for Sean, being a single career mom, and dealing with an unforgiving supervisor. Sean is no different, with both of the fighting men being in his unit. It is hard for him to step back and look at the situation clearly, as he has served downrange with both, and one of which has been with him through some pretty dark times.
These last few books by Scott have been so enlightening as to what goes on between deployments and what it's like to be back on base, trying to acclimate. They are also incredibly heartbreaking, as some of them do not acclimate well and their drinking and drug use really become huge problems for them and their ability to do what is necessary for their jobs.
While the romance in this one is more on the subtle side, I did really like seeing Sarah and Sean find their way back to one another and giving the other some much needed hope that they can move forward and be happy.