Title: Heartbreak Warfare
Authors: Heather M. Orgeron & Kate Stewart
Genre: Contemporary Military Romance
Release Date: November 2, 2018
Blurb
Briggs,
Remember when I said we couldn’t speak after parting ways in Germany? It was 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
Remember when I said we couldn’t speak after parting ways in Germany? It was 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
Okay, enough about my shortcomings. If you know me, you know that I don't go looking for books that are going to make me cry. In fact, I usually avoid them as much as possible, but after my friend mentioned this book to me, I read the blurb and an excerpt of it on Facebook. To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. It seemed like the heroine would have an impossible choice to make, and well, that sold me immediately.
When I teared up on page two, that should have given me a clue as to how emotional this book was going to be. Lol I foolishly thought it wouldn't be as heartwrenching for me as it was for others I knew that read it. I was wrong. VERY wrong. This book tore me apart! My heart was shredded into ribbons before it was only partially mended into some semblance of what it once was by the time I reached the end.
You see, it wasn't just Katy affected by her time overseas. It changed the lives of her husband and her son, too. Gavin is the face of so many military spouses that watch their loved ones walk out the door praying that who returns is the same person that left them.
Not everyone will be affected to the extent Katy was. Don't get me wrong. Katy and Briggs' fate is something that every soldier prays will never befall them. The fact is it does happen to some people. We never really hear their stories much though, do we? There are men in my own family that were prisoners of war, and the rest of the family doesn't have a clue what really happened to them. Katy, Briggs, and Gavin's story is a fictional one, but it makes you think. It makes you FEEL...and there is nothing I love more than a book that does exactly that.
Fiction gives you the unique opportunity to step into the shoes of someone whose life is nothing like yours and experience what it might be like to be them for just a moment, and it's honestly, what I love most about it. Heather and Kate slayed that task! The skill it must take to be able to do so at the level they accomplished leaves me in awe! I don't know if I've ever been more moved by any characters in my entire life.
Make no mistake about it though. These authors do not take the easy way out. There is no clear right or wrong. No simple answers. No choices without severe, life altering, and painful consequences. Everything about this story is difficult, but after reading it, I felt like I was given a gift. I think you will, too.
Heartbreak Warfare obliterated my expectations, destroyed my heart, and owned my soul! I recommend it not only to fans of military romance but to anyone that enjoys a damn good story. Fiction readers of all kinds will be able to appreciate this one. If you give one more book a try before the end of the year, let it be this one.
Purchase Links
Free in Kindle Unlimited
Excerpt
“I need you
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.”
She is dead
serious.
Lifting her
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.”
“No.” I
shake my head. “Hell no.”
“Oh, please,
Briggs. How long did you wait? A few days?” She laughs sarcastically. “I bet
you didn’t even make it a day.”
She’s
coming out guns blazing, and I can see it’s physically killing her to do it.
“Are we
playing the guessing game? Do I get to ask how many times you’ve fucked your
husband?”
“Sure,” she
says with a shrug. “We’ll trade. You go first.”
She’s
bluffing, and I’m calling her on it.
“Don’t do
this, Scottie. You don’t really want to hear about that.”
“Humor me,
Briggs.” Her eyes plead with mine. “I need to hear this.”
“Fine. You
want the truth?”
She nods.
“Complete
honesty?”
Again, she
bobs her head.
She stands
stock-still as I pace the small room, feeling the blood begin to boil beneath
my overheated skin.
Fuck it.
I stalk
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.”
She swats
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.
I jerk
myself away and brand that touch to memory.
In about
forty-five seconds, my heart is going to implode. I start ticking them down.
“You want
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.”
Thirty
seconds.
“Is that enough?” Her eyes snap to mine. “Hate
me yet?”
Face
crumbling, she gasps out a sob, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
“Come on,
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?”
Taking
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.”
She
flinches visibly, and my heart bottoms out.
Fifteen.
I cut my
hand through the air. “At the end of the day, this was nothing but a big
mistake. And we never would have happened if—”
“Stop,” she
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.
An
identical tear runs down her cheek. “Thank you.”
Three. Two.
One.
Heather M. Orgeron
Heather M. Orgeron is a Cajun girl with a big heart and a passion for romance. She married her high school sweetheart two months after graduation and her life has been a fairytale ever since. She’s the queen of her castle, reigning over five sons and one bossy little princess who has made it her mission in life to steal her Momma’s throne. When she’s not writing, you will find her hidden beneath mounds of laundry and piles of dirty dishes or locked in her tower(aka the bathroom) soaking in the tub with a good book. She’s always been an avid reader and has recently discovered a love for cultivating romantic stories of her own.
Kate Stewart
A Texas native, Kate Stewart lives in North Carolina with
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.
Kate is a lover of all things '80s and '90s, especially John Hughes films and
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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