Okay so, I feel like this book warrants a few warnings but I can see why the authors did not do it. I cannot reveal any warnings either without spoiling it. I think you just have to go in with an open mind. This story happens in war time and you know war is a total mess. The unimaginable happens, and no one comes out of it the same person ever again. The hero and heroine in this book is FLAWED, BROKEN and DAMAGED physically and emotionally. It’s not an easy book read. It is INTENSE and BRUTALLY HONEST. Some parts I could not stomach and needed a break from reading. I felt sick because I know it is the absolute TRUTH!
Katy and her husband are both soldiers in the military. Katy left her husband and son for a tour of duty in Iraq. There she met a group of people and they bonded. One man Briggs, especially stood out from the group. Briggs is a shameless flirt. He has no problem letting Katy know how he felt and he knows the chemistry that is sizzling between them isn’t one way. Katy fights off her attraction for Briggs until the unthinkable happened. After months of tortuous nightmares and the trauma that Katy and Brigg suffer they finally come home. What they did not expect was that their lives were forever changed. No matter how hard they tried, what they shared on those fateful days in Iraq cannot be forgotten. God, I have to say I am very conflicted about Katy and Briggs relationship but you know the saying “you cannot judge people until you have walked in someone else’s shoes” – that is exactly how I feel. Blame it on the circumstances or whatever … but one thing’s for certain – the heart does not choose who to love. What I love most about Kate Stewart is that she is honest in her story – edgy, controversial, complicated – no APOLOGIES. Like it or not she is who she is!!!
Heartbreak Warfare is so much more than a love story though. It’s heartbreaking, raw, emotional, and haunting. It’s depicting what war can do to people. War is UGLY. It wrecked people, leaves SCARS and CHANGES people!!! It makes me think long and hard about the heroes out there protecting our country while I am in my warm bed at night. It is about forgiveness to others and oneself. I have read reviews that the ending wrapped up what appears to be happily ever after all around but personally I don’t think of it that way … I don’t think anyone can be “fixed” and “cured” after a few rounds of therapy. The hero and heroine are surviving. It will always be a work in progress of getting heathier each day. Am I sad that innocent people got hurt in the process? YES! But in reality, everyone moves on and that is part of life.
Heather and Kate are truly BRILLIANT in both their writing and creating this EPIC love story!
This book CHANGED ME! Thank you!
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 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
to break my heart,” she declares, wringing her hands nervously. “Give me a
reason to hate you, because wanting you this way is…it’s ruining me. It’s
ruining my life.”
serious.
chin, as if ready to take a blow, her turbulent eyes implore mine. “Tell me
about them. Tell me about all of the women you’ve been with since Germany.”
shake my head. “Hell no.”
Briggs. How long did you wait? A few days?” She laughs sarcastically. “I bet
you didn’t even make it a day.”
coming out guns blazing, and I can see it’s physically killing her to do it.
playing the guessing game? Do I get to ask how many times you’ve fucked your
husband?”
says with a shrug. “We’ll trade. You go first.”
bluffing, and I’m calling her on it.
this, Scottie. You don’t really want to hear about that.”
Briggs.” Her eyes plead with mine. “I need to hear this.”
want the truth?”
honesty?”
bobs her head.
stock-still as I pace the small room, feeling the blood begin to boil beneath
my overheated skin.
back toward her, stopping inches away. “You really want to know that there have
been so many that I’ve lost count? How they’re all blondes with blue eyes? But
the blue, it’s never right, and their smiles—all wrong.”
at the fresh tears that trail down her cheeks as her lips begin to tremble.
Reaching out, she places a hand on my chest, and I know that she must feel the
way my heart is pounding against my rib cage, reaching for her. Always reaching
for her.
myself away and brand that touch to memory.
forty-five seconds, my heart is going to implode. I start ticking them down.
me to tell you all about how I have to drink myself stupid, till their faces
blur enough that I can pretend…” I pause running a hand down my face. “So that
I can pretend they’re you? You want to know how fucking miserable I am? How
when I slide between their legs, I close my eyes, and it’s your face I see? How
I’m always careful not to kiss them because their lips are all wrong. How every
time I finish I want to fucking kill myself, because I can’t stand the pain of
wanting the one woman I can never have.”
seconds.
me yet?”
crumbling, she gasps out a sob, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
Scottie. Let’s not kid ourselves. I’m still the same prick you hated when we
met. Nothing’s changed. I think we’ve romanticized this situation long enough,
don’t you?”
another step away from her, I tilt my head. “You’re a housewife,” I say
snidely. “Someone else’s wife and I’m a career soldier. This isn’t exactly
ideal.”
flinches visibly, and my heart bottoms out.
hand through the air. “At the end of the day, this was nothing but a big
mistake. And we never would have happened if—”
cries out painfully, “stop, I’m good,” she whispers before rocketing toward the
door just as I reach for her, my fingers curling in the space she just left.
Handle in hand, she looks back at me with the sweep of her eyes until they meet
mine. That’s how we started, and it’s only fitting it’s how we should end. For
the moment, we’re right back there in the place we created, where we are
perfect. Where our souls line up without any visible smudge on the seams. In a
place where there is still so much love, so much that I can’t stop the tear
that slides out before batting it away with the back of my hand.
identical tear runs down her cheek. “Thank you.”
One.
her husband, Nick, and her naughty beagle, Sadie. She pens messy, sexy,
angst-filled contemporary romance, as well as romantic comedy and erotic
suspense because it’s what she loves as a reader.
rap. She dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for
necessity, and on occasion, does very well at whiskey.
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