Homefront by Jessica Scott

Homefront

by Jessica Scott

Gale and Melanie married and became parents very young.
Gale is a military man. The military has always come first.
It was up to Melanie to raise their daughter, Jamie. She had
to figure it all out on her own. When Melanie has had enough,
they get a divorce. And now, years later, Gale is stationed
close to Jamie & Melanie. He has realized how much he
missed. What he gave up. The many things he can never
be a part of. Now comes the hard part. Trying to make a 
place for himself in the family. Little does he know, his
timing could not be more perfect.

"Let's pretend we just met."
"Gale, that's silly."
His hands tightened around hers. "Just hear
me out." She stilled beneath his touch. "Look, a
lot has changed. With you, with me. With Jamie.
But after the other night, I realized I was the
interloper. And that you were right. That I'd
waltzed right into your life and expected
everything to kind of fall into place because I
wanted it to." He looked down at their hands.
"That's not fair to you and everything you've
gone through. You've done a hell of a job with
Jamie, Mel." A slide of his thumb over her hand.
"But I want to get to know you again. I knew the
girl who used to jump into the quarry with me."
He cleared his throat. "I want to get to know
who you are now."

As always, with Jessica Scott, the characters are dimensional
and human. Not perfect. They struggle and they are faulty.
But her writing is always hopeful. The stories are deep and
emotional. I continue to look forward to the next book
coming from her.

Homefront is highly recommended reading.
I got an ARC from NetGalley. Simply because
I could not wait to read it!
My personal copy has been purchased.
Review by Lisa Hutson





Guest Post: Montgomery Most Likely with Author Samantha Chase

Guest Post: Montgomery Most Likely with Author Samantha Chase

In my contemporary romance series The Montgomerys, the patriarch of wealthy family William Montgomery is blessed. He may owe a lot to the family business, but it’s his family that owns his heart. He’s living his dream – married to the love of his life – but now he wants to step in and make sure the next generation of Montgomery’s find their true loves.

We see him get his start in Wait for Me. Lucas is living in a self-imposed exile after an injury ended his NFL career. He is content being alone – that is until the sweet and sexy Emma shows up on his doorstep in the middle of a snowstorm (thanks to some finagling from William). Jason and Maggie work together in Trust in Me and Jason’s rule about not dating employees was important to him. But his heart just won’t listen. In Return to You, Selena was James Montgomery’s first love, but a tragic accident broke them up. Now, ten years later, she’s back in his life but can he convince her to stay? And all Summer Montgomery in Meant for You ever wanted was Ethan Reed. As her brother’s best friend, he’s off limits. But Summer was never very good at following the rules.

With so many Montgomery’s coming at readers, I thought it might be nice for you to get to know them a little bit better! So let’s play a game of ‘Montgomery Most Likely’ where you will find out what makes these characters tick!

Who is the Montgomery Most Likely To…

…be compared to Chris Hemsworth?
James from Return to You. Definitely. They share a lot of the same physical traits and in James’ line of work, he kind of feels like a superhero sometimes.

…forget to shave for days at a time?    
That would be Lucas from Wait for Me.  With all that time living by himself like a hermit, shaving was the last  thing on his mind.  He may have Emma in his life but some habits are hard to break.

…take their significant other to a museum?
Maggie from Trust in Me. She’s the practical one of the group and she enjoys playing tourist.  She’ll want to see all of the sights and taking in a museum – of any kind – would still be enjoyable to her.

…plan the most extravagant wedding?
Summer from Meant for You would be all over a huge wedding. She’s the most artsy and creative and she’ll have a hard time reigning that in. It may not be a royal wedding, but she’ll have the best of everything she chooses!

***

Return To You

James Montgomery has achieved everything he'd hoped for in life...except marrying the girl of his dreams. After a terrible accident, Selena Ainsley left ten years ago. She took his heart with her and she's never coming back. But it's becoming harder and harder for him to forget their precious time together, and James can't help but wonder what he would do if they could ever meet again. Buy Links: Amazon . . .Barnes and Noble . . .iBooks

Meant For You

Summer Montgomery wants to be taken seriously almost as much as she wants her brother's best friend, Ethan. But with a long resume of seemingly random career choices and a protective brother on watch, those things are nothing more than pipe dreams...

Ethan Reed would like nothing more than to live by his own rules. Not wanting to disappoint his best friend Zach, or any of the Montgomerys, Ethan's had to push his long-denied feelings for Summer aside. But it only takes one night away from watchful eyes to make impossible dreams come true...  Buy Links

Amazon . . . Barnes and Noble . . .iBooks 

Wait For Me / Trust In Me Duo

Wait for Me
Former NFL superstar Lucas Montgomery is perfectly fine in his self-imposed solitude until sweet, sexy and completely off-limits Emma Taylor comes crashing into his world...

Trust in Me
With a make-or-break business expansion in the works, the last thing Jason Montgomery needs is a hands-on assistant who wants to get her hands on him... Buy Links: Amazon . . . Barnes and Noble . . .iBooks

Author Biography

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.

When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Social Networking Links

Website . . . Facebook . . .Twitter . . .Goodreads

Rafflecopter Giveaway

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Meant for You --- Samantha Chase

Lady Celeste Interviews author Samantha Chase

LC: I loved the Alaska setting in Meant For You. It seemed like the perfect spot for a romantic hideaway. have you ever visited Alaska?

SC : Unfortunately, I have not. However, it is actually a dream vacation that my husband and I are planning so the timing worked out great for the research. It's one of those bucket list trips!

LC: Summer has many interests. Dog walking, yoga, hiking--are these things you like to do?

SC: Summer is way more outdoorsy than I am, I'm ashamed to say! I do enjoy some of the hobbies she does but, just the really scaled back versions. She's the woman I wish I could be.

LC: Zach and Gabriella---- Is there a book in the works for them?

SC: YES!! And I am super excited for it! It's actually written and in the first round of edits. You can expect to see it on the shelves this December and it's called THERE FOR YOU.

William Montgomery sets another one of his matchmaking plans in motion when he suggests that his niece Summer relocate to the company's Portland, Oregon office. Summer's father, Robert is not too thrilled with the idea at first but agrees to let his daughter learn more about the family business.

Meant For You is the fifth book in Samantha Chase's Montgomery series. It's a delightful, well crafted, character driven romance. I fell in love with the four main characters: Summer, her brother Zach, Zach's best friend Ethan and Gabriella, Zach's assistant in the first chapter.

The Portland office of Montgomery Enterprises is in turmoil. Company president Zach Montgomery is about to leave on a mountain climbing trip when he learns that his sister Summer has left Portland for a weekend getaway. Both Ethan and Gabriella remind Zach that he and Summer have been arguing non -stop about business and whether or not Zach should go on the mountain climbing trip. Zach, who refers to Summer as a "corporate Barbie", assumes the worst and suggests to Ethan and Gabriella that flighty Summer has gone away for the weekend with a boyfriend. Ethan offers to find Summer while Zach gets ready for his trip. Ethan locates Summer at a rustic retreat and discovers that her date is actually her puppy, a three month old pug named Maylene.

Ethan and Summer discuss Zach and the climbing trip:

"Most people go through life too scared to take a risk." he continued.

"I don't want to have any regrets and neither does Zach."

"Tell me that you understand. Would you be able to live with yourself if you never took any risks?"

"You're right Ethan." She said quietly. "Everyone needs to take risks."

"Exactly, I am glad that you agree."

"Oh, I do." She said right before she stood up on her toes, wrapped her arms around Ethan's neck and pressed her lips to his.


The kiss changes everything. Ethan realizes the depth of his feelings for Summer. He realizes that he has kept his feelings for Summer to himself for fear of not being good enough for her or her over protective family. Ethan decides not to go on the climbing trip with Zach and chooses to spend time in Alaska to sort through his feelings. Summer and Gabriella decide to vacation in Alaska as well.

I wondered if Gabriella was working on William's matching team as the three of them end up staying at the same resort. Gabriella encourages Summer to take a chance and explore her feelings towards Ethan.

Each one of the characters is appealing and I loved that the author had four strong lead characters in the book. The focus was on Summer and Ethan but each of the characters were well developed and played an important role in the story. I adored the character of Summer Montgomery. She is a warm friendly person who observes people and gets to know them on a personal level. This is an asset in a corporate environment which her older brother Zach chooses to ignore. Summer has many strengths and is trying to prove herself and find her place in the Montgomery family and in the family business. Zach is an independent risk taker who is used to being in charge. He dismisses Summer and her suggestions because she doesn't agree with him. Ethan is struggling to figure out who he is. Is he independent, a risk taker or just Zach's friend and follower? Gabriella is a fabulous character. She is smart, organized and a loyal friend.

Both the characters and the storylines in Meant For You held my interest. I read the book in two afternoons. The story was well paced, contained great dialogue and the romance was well written. I enjoyed the story, especially the ending where Summer surprised every male Montgomery! Yay!

Kudos to Samantha Chase for creating such a fabulous character!

Reviewed by Susan Gorman

ARC provided by Sourcebooks.

Graphic provided by Samantha Chase.