Jessica Scott's Blog, page 18

Because of You on SALE & Updated Series Info

If you haven’t already seen it, my debut novel BECAUSE OF YOU is on sale this week for $.99! Read the book that launched Random House’s first digital imprint Loveswept

If you want to catch up on the entire Coming Home series, here’s how to read it:

Coming Home .5: I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS ~ SGT Vic Carponti & his wife Nicole faces their greatest fear ~ available for preorder

Coming Home 1: BECAUSE OF YOU ~ SFC Shane Garrison and Jen St James discover the healing power of love ~ available now

Coming Home 1.5: ANYTHING FOR YOU ~ catch up with Shane & Jen ~ available now

Coming Home 2: BACK TO YOU ~ Captain Trent Davila & his wife Laura must learn to trust each other before they can love again ~ available for preorder

Coming Home 3: UNTIL THERE WAS YOU ~ Captain Evan Loehr and Captain Claire Montoya discover there is more to each other than the rank on their chest ~ available now

Coming Home 4: ONLY WITH YOU ~ SFC Reza Iaconelli meets his match with Captain Emily Lindberg

Coming Home 5: IT’S ALWAYS BEEN YOU ~ Captain Ben Teague squares off with Major Olivia Hale and sparks fly

Saying Goodbye

PCS is one of those times that we look on with a mixture of emotions. Sometimes, it’s thank God I’m leaving. Other times, it’s wow, this move is going to suck.

The time has come for my family diaspora to end. I’m finally heading home where I will be all mommy all the time. I miss my family.

But.

I admit I did not want to come to Fort Gordon. I’ve never really been a fan of this place for a variety of reasons. I was already KD complete and felt like I was checking a block. But that was before I arrived.

I’ve learned a great deal more than what I thought I would. I’ve gotten a voice to develop and help shape things that are important me. I’ve learned that the future of our signal corps is bright because of the people we are seeding into the force. We have a lot of rock solid officers who care about what they do. And to have been a part of seeding that change into the wider army? That’s pretty cool.

But the thing that I will miss is the people. I don’t know if it’s a function of getting older, getting more comfortable in my own skin or what but I truly enjoyed this group of my peers. I will miss them. I know that in this digital age, keeping in touch will be much easier than it once was. I know the value of bringing real world relationships into online life and back again.

But I will be sad come Wednesday to see everyone walk to their cars and disperse throughout the army. What made this group unique was the lack of backstabbing, the lack of infighting, the support when one person struggled, the team that got behind whoever needed it. Everyone had different strengths and weaknesses but instead of culling the weak from the herd, we brought everyone closer.

That’s so damn rare.

We started together. We finished together. But more, we finished as friends. The relationships started here will continue and as one of my mentors taught me, everything is about relationships.

I will miss them.

Cover Reveal: I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I am over the moon today to share with y’all the cover to Carponti and Nicole’s Christmas novella I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.

I just love what the team at Forever Yours came up with!

You can preorder at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Want to see more? Keep reading below for a sneak peek at Chapter One! And remember to add Caronti & Nicole to your shelf at Goodreads!

Chapter One

Fort Hood, Texas Early 2007

Sergeant Vic Carponti paused outside his company operations office, taking a deep breath. It was funny how their corner of Fort Hood felt deserted the night before a deployment. The company colors had already been cased. They would uncase them in a few weeks, once they got settled into their new home across the ocean in the middle of the war.

He didn’t know why this deployment was bothering him so much. It wasn’t his first time heading off to war, so he knew what to expect when the shit hit the fan in combat. But there was something hanging over his head this time. A fear that maybe this time his luck would run out.

He sighed and rubbed his face with both hands before walking into the company ops. The only thing they’d left up was the plaque that bore the names of their fallen brothers from the last deployment. The commander—Captain Trent Davila, a man Carponti had known for years—was planning on carrying that with him personally so it couldn’t ever get lost.

And so no one would ever forget. Carponti reached up and took it gently off the wall, then strolled into his company commander’s office with a nonchalance painted on his face that he damn sure didn’t feel. But people expected him to laugh and joke and make them forget the bad shit all around and so that’s what he was going to do.

“Don’t forget this,” he said, placing the plaque on Trent’s desk. He plopped down in a chair, then kicked his feet up on Trent’s desk. “Are you coming out with us tonight?”

Captain Trent Davila lifted one eyebrow at Carponti’s feet and said nothing. Carponti looked at his commander and longtime friend, then at the plaque next to his boots.

“Fine,” he said with a sigh, dropping his feet to the floor. “So answer the question.”

Trent sighed. “I can’t go out with you guys. I’m the company commander. I’m not allowed to have fun,” Trent grumbled. “Besides, my boss would have my nuts in a sling if anything happens while I’m there.”

“It’s the last day before our deployment. You’re allowed to have fun. You can just say you’re supervising all of us miscreants.” Carponti took the last Dr. Pepper out of Trent’s fridge. “The deployment hasn’t even started and you already look stressed the hell out. You should be working your lieutenant to death instead of trying to do everything yourself.”

Trent shook his head and pushed his glasses to the top of his head. “Yeah, well, my new executive officer seems to think he’s God’s gift to the army. He’s good but he’s not as good as he thinks he is.”

“Oh, the boys just love him,” Carponti said.

“Really?”

“No, not really. He’s an arrogant fuck who believes his own press. Personally, I can’t stand him, but luckily I don’t have to deal with him much. I just sic Sarn’t Garrison on him.”

Trent grinned and reached for the plaque, sliding his hat on top of it so he wouldn’t forget it. “Yeah, Garrison has a way with words.”

Garrison was Carponti’s platoon sergeant. Garrison and Trent had been squad leaders many moons ago when Trent had still been enlisted. In Carponti’s world, it meant a whole lot that Trent had stayed close with his enlisted friends even after he’d crossed over to the dark side and become an officer.

“I’m swinging by his place on my way home. He needs to go out before someone shoots his grumpy old ass. He’s been a complete buzz kill since his wife left him.”

“Your sympathy is astounding,” Trent said dryly. He grinned and shook his head. “Why do we put up with you?”

“Because I’m charming and funny and good in a firefight?” Carponti said with a grin.

“Pretty much. You can make anyone laugh.”

“It’s an important life skill. Like balancing a checkbook. So seriously, find a babysitter and come out with us. Your wife could use some fun before she has to spend the year dealing with all the spouses in the Family Readiness Group and chasing your kids around while you’re off on another fun adventure.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call going to combat a fun adventure.” Trent rubbed his chest. There was a scar there, Carponti knew. A scar that had damn near killed Trent several years ago. Carponti wondered just how much stress his commander was carrying and not telling anyone. Trent’s face flushed when he realized Carponti had caught him rubbing his scar and he tapped the pencil hard enough to snap the eraser off. “You know, you’re right. Let me see if we can’t find a sitter.”

“Excellent. We’ll be congregating by the bar when you get there. Now I just have to go convince Garrison to come out with us.”

“Good luck with that,” Trent said, pulling his glasses down. “He’s on the verge of becoming a warrior monk.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Carponti mumbled as he strolled out of his commander’s office. He wished he hadn’t seen the flicker of worry that flashed in his commander’s eyes when he’d mentioned his wife. He’d thought that Laura and Trent were one of the strongest couples he knew. She’d put up with him deploying back to back to back since he’d almost died a few years ago.

But that flicker of worry? Yeah, Carponti hadn’t missed it. There were problems there, hopefully small ones that Trent would take time to fix after this rotation into the sandbox.

Carponti looked down at his own wedding ring. It was his last night home and his last night with his wife.

He was glad he’d convinced her to come out with him and the boys. That way he could make sure they had a most excellent party and spend time with Nicole at the same time. He was going to spend part of the night chaperoning his guys to make sure they made the most of it—which meant making sure no one ended up in jail—but then? Then the time he had left was going to be spent making his wife laugh.

Because try though he might, he couldn’t shake the quiet dread that settled in the pit of his stomach that tonight was the last night of normalcy he had on this earth.



Nicole Carponti breathed deeply and fanned her eyes, trying to stop the burning of hot tears. She leaned against the wall of the bathroom in Ropers and tried to stuff down all the churning emotions chained to the fact that her husband was leaving for war tomorrow. Again.

The first time he’d left she’d been scared, but then the war, the deployment…the waiting…it had all been unknown. She’d worked on finishing her degree and kept herself busy and waited by the phone like all the military wives who had gone before her.

The second time he’d left, she’d known better what to expect. The long waits between phone calls. The silence when he couldn’t talk long. The quick e-mails saying “I’m alive” that once upon a time would have been too little, but during the war were more than enough to keep her going.

But this time? This time was different. The Surge was different. They were sending in massive amounts of soldiers to try to quell the Iraqi insurgency. It was bloody and deadly and soldiers were getting attacked at higher rates than at any earlier time during the war.

And Nicole was terrified.

She had to hide it, though. She’d agreed to come out with him tonight just because it gave her a chance to pretend that she was fine. She had to keep everything in check until after he left. She couldn’t let him know how much she worried this time.

Fanning her eyes once more, she stepped out of the bathroom and into the rowdy country bar. A place like this was guaranteed trouble on a normal night, but tonight her husband’s platoon was rolling deep. Which was either going to be a really good thing or a really bad thing for her future job at the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, depending on how cantankerous tonight got.

She spotted her good friend Laura Davila at the bar with a cute blond woman Nicole had met in the bathroom a little while ago. She had already completely forgotten the other woman’s name. She was terrible with names.

She wound her way through the pulsating crowd until she reached them. Laura grinned at her and she exclaimed, “I can’t believe you came out tonight.”

“You’ve already said this twice,” Laura said. They had to shout to hear each other.

Nicole flagged down the bartender and leaned around Laura to her friend. “I’m a terrible person but I already forgot your name. I’m Nicole Carponti.”

The petite blond held out her hand. “Jen St. James.”

“Nice to meet you, Jen. I won’t forget this time,” Nicole said with a smile.

Laura leaned toward Nicole. “I’m trying to get her out of her shell. She had cancer and she’s been struggling with her self-esteem ever since.”

Nicole frowned, glancing toward Jen, who was now trying to get the attention of the bartender. On the other side of her, though, was Garrison, her husband’s platoon sergeant. He was a big man and he was currently leaning down to talk to Jen. “How’s that for a self-esteem boost?” Nicole said, gesturing toward the two.

Laura glanced over, then quickly looked away before she was caught. Her eyes lit with a brilliant smile. “Oh, that couldn’t be more perfect if I had planned it.”

Nicole studied her friend through narrowed eyes. “Did you plan it?”

“I wish. But let’s just see how this little situation develops, shall we?”

Nicole raised her beer in mock salute to her friend. “You, m’dear, are a devious and loyal friend.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Laura said. “So how’s Carponti taking this deployment?”

Nicole heard the undercurrent in her friend’s voice. “You know how he is. Always cracking jokes, which I suppose is a good thing. I’m fucking terrified, though.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been talking to some of the spouses. The Surge has everyone terrified. One of the spouses told me it was a death sentence.” Laura took a sip from her beer, scanning the bar.

Nicole scoffed quietly. “How’s that for melodramatic?” But she didn’t voice her own fear that this deployment was going to be worse than the previous ones. “I don’t envy you as the Family Readiness Group leader.”

“Oh, come on, don’t you want to volunteer? You can be responsible for keeping me from going crazy. It’s a primary duty position, you know.”

Nicole laughed. “Not in this lifetime,” she said. “I always feel out of place once the spouses find out I’m pretty much a cop.”

Jen leaned over, rejoining their conversation as Shane wandered off in the direction of Laura’s husband. “What’s going on over there?” she said, pointing at Laura’s husband.

Nicole sighed heavily and took another drink. “Oh joy. Looks like Trent is giving one of his lieutenants some love. Couldn’t have the rest of the night without drama, could we?” She glanced back at Laura and Jen. “We should go interrupt before the second round of fireworks go off.”

Earlier Vic had gotten into an argument with Lieutenant Randall and now it looked like Laura’s husband was finishing things off with the arrogant prick. The LT made Nicole’s skin crawl and she wasn’t looking forward to another bar fight. Not two in one night, that was for sure.

But whatever had happened was over now. She watched as LT Randall made a beeline for the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Garrison talking to Jen again. And Laura? Once Randall was gone, she and her husband moved off to a dark corner of the bar and were deep in conversation.

She hoped it was a good one. She didn’t like the worry she’d seen in her friend’s eyes when she talked about her husband.

She snuck up behind Vic, sliding her hands over his hips and up his t-shirt and the smooth hard skin of his body, placing a kiss at the little indentation at the indentation between his shoulder blades.

He turned and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “There you are.” He kissed her fiercely, reminding her of how much she loved this man. “I was about to send out a search party for you in the little girls’ room.”

Nicole wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. He was leaner than he’d been when he’d come home last year. His body was more solid from long ruck marches and hard training for this deployment. His eyes, though, were the same bright, mischievous green that they’d always been and she counted herself lucky that whatever he’d gone through in the war, he’d come home okay so far. She just prayed their luck held.

“No search party required,” she murmured against his lips. “I was talking to Laura. I’m impressed that you got Garrison and Trent to come out.”

“You should be,” Carponti grumbled, biting her bottom lip gently. “I had to guilt both of them into it. It’s like they both turned thirty and amputated their fun genes or something.”

Nicole laughed against his mouth. “Dance with me?” she asked.

“What in our history makes you think I know how to dance?” he grumbled even as he allowed her to lead him onto the dance floor.

“You’ll figure it out,” she said, sliding her arms around his neck. She rubbed her body against his, sensuously moving her hips in time with the music.

He dropped his hands to her hips, guiding her exactly where he wanted her. “Keep that up and we’ll have to sneak out to the car,” he said, his breath hot on her ear.

She nibbled on his bottom lip, biting it gently. “I think you’re trying to seduce me,” she whispered. She dug her fingers into his back, her blood humming with latent arousal. God but she loved this man.

“I’m absolutely trying to seduce you,” he said. He angled his thigh between hers, pressing close to the juncture of her thighs. The pressure sent vibrations through her body and straight to her core.

“I’m kind of ready to go home.” Her words were a gasp as he rubbed his thigh against her swollen center. “Before you get into any more fights with your lieutenant.”

“Can we not talk about work when I’m trying to turn you on?” he mumbled. He slipped his hand beneath the hem of her shirt, stroking his thumb down the centerline of her back. A shiver ran through her.

“You don’t want to talk about work? That doesn’t turn you on?” She undulated against him, grateful for the crush of bodies that swayed around them and enabled them to be lost in the crowd.

“No, trying to get you naked turns me on,” he said. “We really need to get out of here.” His breath traced over her ear a moment before he bit her earlobe gently, a fierce burst of pleasure in the pain.

“That sounds like a brilliant idea.”

He sighed as a commotion cleared a corner of the dance floor. “I hate being one of the responsible adults.” He kissed her hard. “Let me get everyone out of here first? That way no one goes to jail on our last night in the States.”

She kissed him fiercely. “I’ll be waiting over here for you to get done being all caveman.”

“I’ll show you caveman later,” he said with a grin before wading into the crowd and diffusing the situation between Garrison and Trent.

It took the better part of an hour before they’d shuffled everyone off to their respective cabs and vehicles. Nicole talked with Laura and Jen and tried not to notice how Jen kept watching Garrison. Oh now wasn’t that interesting?

It felt like forever before her husband strolled across the parking lot and scooped her up, carrying her toward their vehicle.

Their car was parked deep in a shadowed corner of the parking lot, and the moment her husband closed the door Nicole crawled into his lap on the passenger’s seat. He pulled her close, kissing her hard and fast. Pouring a thousand unsaid things into that kiss. His hand threaded into her hair and he slanted her mouth until he owned her—all of her—and she was lost in his taste, his touch.

Then he broke off abruptly. “What the hell?”

“What?”

“Who is that with Garrison?”

Nicole twisted around in time to see Garrison, one of Carponti’s oldest friends, lean in to kiss Jen.

“Oh now that’s interesting,” Carponti whispered.

Nicole spun around. “Don’t you say anything to him,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because this is the first time Garrison has done anything for himself since his wife left him. Leave him alone.”

Carponti blinked innocently. “What makes you think I would say anything?” he said. His words slurred and Nicole grinned before fishing around in his pockets for his car keys. “A little more to the left.”

Nicole laughed then climbed into the driver’s seat as Garrison stepped back, letting Jen walk to an ancient sedan. “She’s cute. She’s friends with Laura.”

Laura, who was being carried across the parking lot by her husband. She hoped for Laura’s sake the happiness lasted longer than just tonight. The war was taking its toll on everyone, and Nicole had noticed more than once that there was a strain in her friend’s voice when she talked about her husband.

Vic just looked at her. “Oh really?”

Nicole drove them away before her husband could interrupt what had looked like something very sweet between Jen and Garrison. She’d known Garrison as long as she’d known her husband and it was long overdue for him to find someone that made him happy outside of the army.

She glanced at her husband, who had closed his eyes the moment the vehicle started moving, a lazy smile on his lips. Something warm bloomed inside her.

She wished Garrison could find the kind of happy that she had with Vic.

Hope you enjoyed! I’ll be posting more snipers and teasers as the time marches toward Carponti & Nicole’s release day of November 5th!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Exciting News: New Books!

I’m excited to announce I have a new home with Michele Bidelspach at Grand Central Publishing.

Carponti’s Christmas novella I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS will be out in December with Forever Yours followed immediately by Laura & Trent’s BACK TO YOU, Reza & Emily’s COME HOME TO ME and Ben & Olivia’s FINDING THE WAY HOME from the Forever line.

I’m so thrilled because BACK TO YOU, COME HOME TO ME and FINDING THE WAY HOME will be in both digital and then in print!

Stay tuned for more information!

I’m so freaking excited!!!

Fort Hood, Sandy Hook and Powerlessness

I hope I don’t offend a lot of people off with this post. It is not my intent. I’ve been wanting to write about a lot of things that have been happening lately but I’ve found that when I sit down to write, the right words don’t come to me.

So I realize that writing about Sandy Hook almost 6 months later is probably, well, behind the times. But I’ve finally figured out what I want to say, so here goes.

I want to explain why I – as a gun owner – am deeply conflicted about what to do. I want a common sense solution – one that keeps our children safe while still allowing access to the fundamental right that so many of us hold dear. I grew up around guns. I’m a soldier, so I’m comfortable around guns. When I deployed to Iraq, I had my weapon on me at all times. I remember coming home and looking for it in blind panic at one point, only remember that no, I’m not in Iraq any more. Not a PTSD flashback but an oh my God where did I leave my weapon sinking heart feeling.

I want to tell you two stories.

The Aftermath of Fort Hood

I came home from Iraq a month after the Fort Hood shootings, when one of our own wearing our rank and our uniforms walked into a building full of unarmed soldiers and civilians and started shooting. He did it to prove a point – he wanted to target soldiers in his war against us.

So when I came back to Fort Hood with my little girls – who were six and four at the time, it was to enroll my oldest in kindergarten. She had started her school years in the same elementary school that I’d attended as a little girl. There were maybe 50 kids in that whole school. It’s the kind of school where the kids you start with will probably be the kids you graduate with years later. It was small. It was, in my mind, safe.

Then we rolled up to my daughter’s new school. It was massive. There were 700 elementary school kids racing through the halls. Fourth graders who looked like giants next to my little girl.

But I asked about security. How did they keep people out? Did they have active shooter drills? They answered yes to all of those questions and I – with my husband’s hand on my shoulder – had to release my six year old into an unfamiliar school filled with strange, big children and pray that no one would target a school full of military kids to wage a war against our soldiers’ families.

Helplessness in Command

My second story takes place a very short time before I left company command. A company commander has a lot of power and influence. I promise you there is no job out there that gives me more access to medical information, police records. I can know almost everything about you. I am charged by my directives to use that power for good and to never abuse it.

But part of that power comes the massive responsibility to ensure that our soldiers are mentally and medically prepared to go to war. So when a soldier comes to one of our NCOs and says, I’m hearing a voice and it’s telling me I may have to kill my family, we’re going to the hospital.

A few short weeks after Sandy Hook, I found myself sitting in the doctors office, having a conversation about how do we keep The Voice from getting angry. What can we do to ensure the Voice stays benevolent and doesn’t keep the soldier awake at night. Or doesn’t keep talking to him at all.

You may or may not believe in demons but let me tell you, that was some really terrifying stuff. And demons or psychiatric illness, the end result is no less terrifying.

But in the aftermath of that conversation, when we decided on the evaluations they would run and no, they wouldn’t allow the soldier out of the hospital until the medication was working correctly, I had an argument with my father. He was complaining about a gun show being cancelled after Sandy Hook.

And I lost my mind. Because no matter how much authority I have a company commander, there was NOTHING I could do that would prevent that soldier from getting out of the hospital, driving himself off post and buying as many guns as he wanted. I couldn’t legally restrict him to post. I couldn’t bar him from buying/owning weapons. All I could do was keep him from firing the government weapons in my arms room.

The utter and complete powerlessness that I felt in that moment sticks with me and it colors how I see gun control.

We say oh, we can’t stop the crazies. We should all be responsible. We should, we should, we should.

But should is a four letter word in my world. It doesn’t describe how things are. I don’t want the fear that one of the violent, sociopathic, super-deviants out there who are idolizing the Aurora killer or the Sandy Hook killer to be able to get their hands on weapons. Because those people are out there. They want to up the score to the next level. Don’t believe me? Go look it up. There may be thousands of them with a sick desire to outdo Lanza.

As we see again and again, it only takes one.

I don’t know what right looks like when it comes to gun control. I certainly don’t want it to be arbitrarily enforced. I don’t want veterans afraid to seek mental health because they’re terrified of losing their right to bear arms. But if someone is unbalanced enough that they can’t care for themselves, do we really want to give them access to weapons?

But something – some rational middle ground has got to be found. Surely in the greatest nation on earth we can come up with something that makes sense? We the people. Not the corporations or their lobbyist pawns.

Us. The fabric that holds this great nation together.

Can’t we?

Cover Reveal ~ THE LONG WAY HOME ~ on sale today

I’m thrilled to announce that after a long way, the cover for The Long Way Home is finally out. The fabulous Shawntelle Madison did an amazing job with this, didn’t she?

Want your own copy? Buy it at: Barnes & Noble| Smashwords | Amazon | Kobo

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The Long Way Home cover

From the back cover:

My name is Jessica Scott. I am a soldier. I am a mother. I am a wife.

In 2009, Army second lieutenant Jessica Scott deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. She thought deploying was the hardest thing she’d ever do.

She was wrong.

This is the story of a mother coming home from war and learning to be a mom again. This is the story of a lieutenant making the grade and becoming a company commander. This is the journey of a writer persevering through a hundred rejections. This is the story of a soldier learning to be a woman again. This is the story of a wife waiting for the end of a war.

This is the journey as it happened, without commentary.

This is her blog. There are many blogs from the Iraq war, but this one is hers.

Check out the :

Below is an exclusive look at :

The Long Way Home – Excerpt

Make sure you check out the reviews on Goodreads and if you haven’t already, add it to your shelf!

Get your copy today: Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Amazon | Kobo

The rest of the bookstores links will be live soon!

NEWS: The Long Way Home

So I’m thrilled to announce that The Long Way Home will be released on 18 March (barring any crises, natural disasters or acts of blood thirsty hamsters).

In gearing up for the release, I’m prepping a couple of things.

The first is a sign up sheet to be part of the release day cover reveal blast. If you’re interested in being one of the hosts, you’d receive the cover, the blurb and the links – basically the entire media kit – approximately 24 hours prior to the 18th to go live on that day.

The second is if you’d like to receive an eARC, you can sign up here. They’re *almost* prepped and ready to go so I should have the first batch in your inbox by this weekend at the latest!

The Long Way Home is also up on Goodreads, so if you haven’t already done so, remember to add it to your shelves!

March Madness Hop

It’s time for March Madness. March will be particularly mad for me as I’m getting ready to move to a new state and a new job. But! That doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate with some awesome prizes for this hop!

Check these out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And in addition to the main contest, I’ll give away copies of my entire backlist, plus a 25$ gift card! Two great chances to win some amazing prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don’t forget to hit the other sites on the hop!

That time of year when women across the country are left to their own devices during the NCAA basketball playoff tournament.

Sure we could do some early spring cleaning, catch up on laundry, organize closets, and throw out all the junk in the garage/attic, but where’s the fun in that? So, instead of work, we thought we’d host our version of March Madness: A prize filled hop presented by some of the best names in romance. And we’ve made it easy for you to join in.

Simply hop from blog to blog—the links are below—and “follow”, “Like”, “Friend” etc. the authors sites then leave a comment on their blog post. Each author is running their own giveaway as well as participating in the Rafflecopter Grand-Prize Giveaway of a Kindle Fire OR Nook Color, A $50 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, A $25 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, and 6 – $10 Amazon/B&N Gift Cards, as well as a “basket” of books. The event is live from March 5 – March 31st, 2013 to give you plenty of time to tour all the sites.

Rules: You must be 18 years or older as of 12:01AM March 5, 2013. No purchase Necessary. Avoid where prohibited. This event is open to worldwide participation (basket of books limited to US/Canada shipping address only)You are limited to one tweet, follow, like etc per day, however you can follow one blog, tweet about another, and like a 3rd’s facebook page all on the same day. Be sure to follow the rules laid out by the individual authors about their respective giveaways, as they will vary form site to site. Rules and Terms are listed in the Rafflecopter. Grand-prizes will be announced on or about April 5th, 2013 on SnSreviews.blogspot.com. While we will make every effort to contact you, it is ultimately the winner’s responsibility to check winning status and claim their prize. Posted winners will have 5 days, from the date of post to contact host and claim their respective prize. If the posted winner fails to contact host, prize may be forfeited and awarded to another randomly drawn entrant and distributed without further notice.

Packing Out

I’m packing today. Packing up things from the house that has been my home for ten years. We’ve been lucky as a military family: this house has been the one we’ve come back to after schools, after deployments, after everything.

I never expected to put down roots in the army. I never expected that when I got off the plane here in April of 1999, a young sergeant fresh from her first duty assignment in Germany that Fort Hood would become my home.

We’ve left, for sure, but we’ve always came back here. I never realized how many memories were in a home. Today I found the cremation certificate of our old dog Robbie. He died five years ago but it feels like it just happened. And this front door is the place where we found a little grey kitten who walked into the house like she owned it and immediately made friends with my then one year old daughter.

This is the house I renovated on each of my husband’s deployments. The house where my daughters were born, where they grew up. This is the street where I know my neighbors and have known them for ten years. I’ve watched their children grow up to be old enough to watch my children.

This has been our home for the last decade and I am sadder than I thought I’d be about leaving it. After all, I’ve always had it to come back to. There wasn’t some new place after a deployment, there was coming home. There was no new place after commissioning. There was coming home.

I’m putting a lot of our lives in boxes today, packing up photo albums and baby books and ten years worth of tax records. And some of these things I am sure will not be unpacked for a while, until we find the next place we will hang our hats and make our home.

I know military families do this all the time so my case is nothing new or different or special. But this time, I’m leaving and I’m not coming back. I’ll find a new house with my family and we will make it our home.

But for today, I’m going to let myself be a little sad that I’m leaving the place that has been my home.

Fight the Power – of Cravings

So I’ve been battling with sugar since about November. I’ve always had an unhealthy relationship with sugar. When I was a kid, my mom was super strict about it so I was the little fat kid begging for extra twinkies at my friends’ houses.

Sugar has always been my downfall. One of the biggest things I can thank my mom for was being super strict about soda. I always felt like a freak when I told people I didn’t drink soda as a kid but now, I’m 100% grateful for it.

Over the years, I’ve tried various diets and through regular PT with the army, I’ve kept my weight under control but once a fat kid, always a fat kid. I could weigh 130 pounds and still look in the mirror and see the chunky 16 year old me.

But when I had my daughters, I realized that things had to change. I refused to let them hear my inner voice shaping theirs so I’ve always talked about being healthy, I’ve never dieted in front of them and I’ve always tried to teach them about good choices.

Lately though, I’ve shifted. I’ve been really diligent since November about tracking what I eat and how I work out. What I’ve discovered is that while I may not be in the worst offenders category, I’ve also got significant room to improve.

And sugar is where I’m focusing. I’m currently reading Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Industry Hooked Us and let me tell you, it gives a whole new insight into the problem. According to Salt Sugar Fat, the food industry has made a concerted effort to find out not only what we like but how to achieve what’s called the bliss point the perfect point of perfection that overrides our brain rant says stop eating. So the more they load these processed foods up with salt sugar or fat, the more we eat and we literally can’t stop because the biological science they’ve used against us. Add in the social cues and yeah, it’s pretty dang hard to be healthy.

Think about how social food is. When you take away food, you take away a lot of social interaction. So just like I was the odd kid out when I said I didn’t eat soda, by trying to diet, the social cues all around us are telling us just go ahead and eat it.

Last night was a great example of how social can work in the opposite though. I was at dinner with a friend and I’d ordered something not thinking it was a sandwich. She suggested that I just eat the filling. Well duh, right, since I’m cutting carbs. But what if I’d been with someone who’d said oh just eat it. Different social cues, right?

So when the food companies target our children and make it seem like all the cool kids are eating this horrible sugar laden desert that we are legally allowed to call yogurt, it makes it that much harder to teach my own kids that they, this isn’t good for you. I actually told my daughter yesterday that I would rather she eat a Hershey Bar than one of those yogurts. She was psyched, but I explained to her why: at least when she’s eating the Hershey bar, she knows she’s eating a snack, for a once in a while treat, not eating something she thought was supposed to be good for her.

So I’ll struggle on and keep fighting the good fight of trying to get and stay healthy not for any noble reason other than to be a good role model for my kiddos. They need to learn a healthy lifestyle that involves balance because they have to live in this junk food laden world and I have to teach them how to make good choices when I’m not there.

And the food companies are banking on peer pressure to overrule me.