Aloha to Jayne Fresina and SINFULLY EVER AFTER

 

Teaching scandalous young men a lesson? This is not your typical book club ...

To Rebecca Sherringham, all men are open books—read quickly and forgotten. Perhaps she’s just too practical for love. The last thing she needs is another bore around—especially one that’s supposed to be dead.

Captain Lucius “Luke” Wainwright turns up a decade after disappearing without a trace. He’s on a mission to claim his birthright and he’s not going away again until he gets it. But Becky and the ladies of the village Book Club Belles Society won’t let this rogue get away with his sins. He’ll soon find that certain young ladies are accustomed to dealing with villains.

Amazon: link
Apple: link
BAM: link
B&N: link
Chapters: link
Indiebound: link

I am giving away "book club" swag to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about book clubs - have you participated in one?  I hosted a "literary salon" at the Pearl Harbor base library when I lived in Hawaii.  We chatted about books in general rather than one specific book.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, December 6, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, December 7.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Sourcebooks offers an excerpt from SINFULLY EVER AFTER:

He was going to kiss her.

Her skin shivered with anticipation until she could barely sit still. There was something proprietary about his gaze, the way it claimed her as surely as an arm around the waist.

After the meal, she left the table and Lucky Luke stayed to talk with her father. Becky found the dog Ness, now with a full belly, snoring happily by the fire, his paws twitching. The scene was peaceful for once with no Mrs. Jarvis angrily crashing her pots and pans about. Snow piled up against the window, and a stronger wind had sprung up to send the flakes spinning and spattering against the glass panes, but it was warm and cozy in that kitchen, and her smile, reflected in the window, was sunny. It was pleasant to hear her father’s distant laughter and the low murmur of male voices in the house.

She took three leaves from the pot of mint on the windowsill. If he was going to kiss her, she ought to have sweeter breath. Several other leaves had also been very recently ripped from the stems, she noted. Had he also taken some to be prepared? Smiling, she chewed the mint and resumed wiping down the table.

When Luke came in, she was still cleaning up the kitchen.

“Your father has fallen asleep, Miss Sherringham. I hope I didn’t bore him too badly.”

“Oh, it’s quite normal for my father to drift off midsentence. I’ll see him up to bed shortly.”

Becky had extinguished the lamps in the kitchen, and now light came only from the fire and the soft glow of the hall sconces through the open door behind him. He cast a great, bulky shadow across the flagged floor, a black, three-legged spider. His eyes were very dark and wary again as he paused there, just inside the kitchen doorway, leaning on his cane.

“Thank you for preparing the dinner,” she said. “It would have been cold game pie if you weren’t here to share your talents.”

“Well, I had to repay your kindness somehow, Miss Sherringham.”

He was being very polite now, she noted. His tone changed back and forth, one minute casual and even too familiar, the next formal, distant, as if he couldn’t decide what he ought to be. When she’d first met him in Brighton, she’d never imagined that he even knew how to be courteous, but now, seeing him converse civilly with her father, she suspected there were hidden sides to Lucky Luke.

She looked at his scars, his watchful eyes, and then his lips.

I tell you what…you’ll owe me a kiss…One kiss. To clear your brother’s debt to me.

Becky swallowed hard, tasting the cooling mint on her tongue. She reached into a drawer of the Welsh dresser, fumbled to the very back of it, and brought out the playing card he had once given her. She placed the IOU, writing side up, on the kitchen table.

Aloha to Regan Walker and THE TWELFTH NIGHT WAGER

Christmas Dinner in Regency England 

By Regan Walker 

Christmas in Regency England, during the period from 1811to 1820, when Prince George reigned in his father’s place, was a more subtle celebration than the one we observe today. Christmastide, as they called the season, began with Christmas Eve and continued to Twelfth Night, or January 5th, followed by the Feast of the Epiphany the next day, the official end of the Yule season.

The house would be decorated with greenery and Christmas Eve might find folks sipping cups of hot wassail (spiced cider) or eggnog as they watched a performance by traveling actors, called “mummers.” 

Christmas Day would, typically, begin with a trip to church. Afterward, there would be a grand dinner of roast goose, boar’s head (really the head of a pig, as wild boars became extinct in England as of 1185), and perhaps turkey (brought to England from the New World in 1550). Vegetables such as potatoes, squash, Brussels sprouts and carrots were also served, along with stuffing for the fowl.

If you were dining at an estate that maintained an orangery or a hot house, there might be fresh fruit, too.

Wine would be served, of course. There would be champagne, burgundy, claret and perhaps a good Madeira (like that Lady Emily Picton shops for in my short story The Holly & The Thistle. There might also be a homemade Elderberry wine. Folks in Regency England were notorious imbibers of liquor. In addition to wines, port, brandy, sherry and whiskey would be readily available, though the whiskey was likely Irish and not the Scottish “whisky” that would be perfected later in the century. 

Wonderful desserts ended the meal, including marchpane (what we call marzipan), and gingerbread. Another favorite dessert was Christmas plum pudding, a mixture of 13 ingredients (representing Christ and the twelve apostles) made with suet, brown sugar, raisins, currants, citron, lemon and orange peels, spices, crumbs, flour, eggs, milk and brandy. All this was boiled in a pudding cloth. Very tasty. You can see the recipe on my website at this link.

Another dessert that would often appear was Mince pie. While recipes varied by region, ingredients usually included beef, suet, sugar, raisins, lemons, spices, orange peel, goose, tongue, fowls, eggs, apples and brandy. This was also called “Twelfth Night Pie” because it was originally made with the leftovers of the Christmas dinner. The pies were eaten every day during Christmastide to ensure good luck for the twelve months of the New Year. 

After dinner the ladies would adjourn for tea and the men would gather together for port and perhaps a cigar.

When they came back together, they might sing carols around the piano to include Deck the Halls, Here We Come a-Wassailing and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. Joy to the World, though first published by Isaac Watts in 1719, wasn’t in the modern version until 1836. Hark the Harold Angels Sing was first written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, and amended in 1753 by George Whitfield. However, Mendelssohn didn’t write the modern version we sing today until 1840. Silent Night was written in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, but wasn't translated into English until 1863.

Christmas in the Regency era was characterized by the simple traditions of holly and candles and a roaring fire in the hearth, the smell of wassail steaming in a large bowl over the grate, and the pungent aroma of the Christmas pudding and roast goose watering the mouth. Children home from school might add the typical noise to the family gathering but the emphasis was on social interaction that is, unfortunately, so often missing in our celebrations today. 

Bestselling author Regan Walker loved to write stories as a child, particularly those about adventure-loving girls, but by the time she got to college more serious pursuits took priority. One of her professors encouraged her to pursue the profession of law, which she did. Years of serving clients in private practice and several stints in high levels of government gave her a love of international travel and a feel for the demands of the “Crown” on its subjects. Hence her romance novels often involve a demanding sovereign who taps his subjects for “special assignments.” And in each of her novels, there is always real history and real historic figures. Regan lives in San Diego with her golden retriever, Link, whom she says inspires her every day to relax and smell the roses. For more information please visit Regan Walker’s website and blog. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

THE REDHEADED RAKE

It was a dull day at White’s, the day he agreed to the wager: seduce bed and walk away from the lovely Lady Leisterfield, all by Twelfth Night. This holiday season, Christopher St. Ives, Viscount Eustace, planned to give himself a gift.

THE INNOCENT WIDOW

She was too proper by half—or so was the accusation of her friends, which was why her father had to find her a husband. But Lord Leisterfield was now gone a year, and Grace was at last shedding the drab colors of mourning. The house felt empty, more so during the coming Christmastide, and so tonight her coming out would begin with a scandalous piece of theater. The play would attract rogues, or so promised her friend the dowager countess. It would indeed. The night would bring about the greatest danger—and the greatest happiness—that Grace had ever known.

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Regan offers an excerpt from THE TWELFTH NIGHT WAGER:

Eustace had stated a truth. With each moment shared in the lodge they had grown closer, and not just as friends; Grace had seen the look in his eyes. He had wanted her since before they came to the lodge. But how much of that was her, and how much was ego? Could she give herself to such a man? God help her, she wanted to.

No. The wager was always between them.

She pulled back, and he looked at her, his copper eyes dark with desire and his breath coming in pants. “My lady?”

“Eustace, we mustn’t.”

He rose from the sofa in one leap, dragged a hand through his hair and let out a deep breath. “I cannot be so close to you and not want to touch you, not want to make love to you. I have tried and failed. Each night I lie in bed thinking of you, aware you are just on the other side of the wall and wondering if you are sleeping.”

Though she would not admit it, Grace too had lain awake thinking of him and wishing they were not in separate chambers or in separate beds. She wished there was no wager between them. But there was.

Muttering a curse, Eustace stormed out the door and into the night. Grace followed, feeling the lack of him, fearing she would lose what sweet intimacy they had gained. She had to try to keep him from leaving. But as she came through the front door, his back was to her. He walked across the gravel path and onto the grass, the moon’s bright light casting his shadow onto the ground. He was walking away. How could she bring him back?

“Eustace! What about the wager?”

Aloha to Kara Braden and THE DEEPEST NIGHT

Kara Braden joins me today for a cozy chat.  From her bio,
Kara Braden makes her debut in modern romance with a story of love in isolation. She believes that engaging, romantic fantasy can be found everywhere in the world, even in the most unlikely places. With the support of her wonderful husband, cats, and dogs, she writes from her home office outside Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends her time hiding from the sunlight and heat.
karabraden.com
karabraden.tumblr.com
pinterest.com/KaraBraden
facebook.com/karabradenauthor 

Twitter @KaraBraden 

Goodreads link

Kim:  Tell us about Arizona - what is your favorite sight, smell, and sound?

Kara:  I love those clear desert nights when the full moon turns the world into an alien landscape of silver. The moon is so bright in the desert that you hardly need a flashlight, and all the shades of brown and tan are bleached out, making you feel like you’re on another world. It’s quiet and peaceful, and if you’re far enough from civilization, the stars overhead are a wonder to see.

Kim:  Thank you for your family's service! I know first hand the entire family serves when one is a veteran.  What have you learned as an Air Force spouse that you can apply to your writing career?

Kara:  Thank you for your service, too!  I’ve learned that I love a military hero! My husband served for twenty-one years before retiring, and he went right back into working with the Air Force as an employee of Lockheed Martin. He brings the most unbelievable work ethic to anything he does. Failure or quitting isn’t an option, whether it’s troubleshooting our home network, fixing our sprinkler system, or putting in weekend overtime to make sure his job gets done.

Kim:  Who or what helped you along the path to publishing?

Kara:  I’ve been writing all my life, though it took forty-plus years for me to get published. Thankfully, I’ve had all that time to hone my craft, and it’s all because of my wonderful readers. My readers have given me feedback, encouragement, and critiques that have helped make every story I write better than the last one.

Most of all, though, the credit goes to the two most important men in my life, my father and my husband. My dad used to read to me every night, no matter how late he worked, until we reversed our roles and I’d read to him. When I got older, he bought me a computer so I could write more efficiently, and he’s supported me at every step of the way. And my husband has given me the incredible opportunity to work on writing full-time, encouraging me to keep writing, all while helping troubleshoot my website and funding my trips to conventions.

Kim:  Tell us about THE DEEPEST NIGHT - what inspired it?

Kara:  Richard Armitage.

No, really. Have you seen him? He’s the inspiration for my hero, Ray Powell, from the icy blue eyes and dark hair to the sexy British accent and gorgeous body.

Since I knew I wanted a British hero, I went looking for exotic British settings. I wanted to avoid the three most typical ones — London, a cottage in a little village, or a rainy castle — so I did some digging. That’s how I found the Isles of Scilly. As soon as I started browsing pictures, I fell in love. The islands are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, full of flowers fields, dolphins and seals, and even adorable puffins.

From there, everything else fell into place. A closed bed and breakfast provided the “cabin” in this cabin romance, and the island’s starry skies and fields of flowers were the perfect backdrop for Ray and Michelle to fall in love, one step at a time.

Kim:  What's next for Kara Braden?

Kara:  I have many more stories to tell in this world, especially Preston’s. He’s the brother of the hero from book 1 and Ray’s business partner at their military contracting company, Samaritan International Security. I’ll also be writing Marguerite’s story and hopefully answering some questions about her mysterious past and what brought her to Pinelake.

In May, I’ll be at the 2015 RT Booklovers Convention in Dallas. If you’re going to be there, please stop by to see me!

I’m also excited to announce that I’m co-writing m/m romance under the name Jordan S. Brock with my writing partner, Ray Van Fox. Our first free story, Science and Fiction, is already available as part of the M/M Romance Group’s Love’s Landscapes event (link), and we hope to have our first full-length book out before the end of the year.

Vintage image of Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly
Public Domain (link)

Mahalo, Kara!  I'll see you in Dallas!   Kara is celebrating the release of THE DEEPEST NIGHT:

When everything you love is on the line…

The Isles of Scilly off the coast of England are remote, windswept and wild. They’re the perfect place for Ray Powell to recuperate after the toughest Afghanistan mission the military contractor has ever run. Except instead of the peace and quiet he so desperately needs, he’s faced with a beautiful American woman who instantly challenges his iron control.

It’s best to proceed with caution…

Seeking her own safe haven, Michelle Cole is intrigued and flustered by the intensely compelling and irresistible man.

As their cautious friendship slowly builds into simmering attraction, their hearts and souls are about to be broken open...if they’ll allow it.

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Aloha to Collette Cameron and TRIUMPH AND TREASURE

My Top Ten Most Atrocious Historical Beliefs and Practices 

I’ve come across the most, er, interesting facts while researching my historical novels. I’ve chuckled at some, grimaced at others, and had WTF (White Turkey Feathers) moments with others.

I can’t help shake my head and ponder what it really would have been like to live a few centuries ago. Some beliefs and practices were rather astonishing, if not downright macabre.

Here’s my list of the top ten most atrocious:

1. Drugging children with “soothing syrups” which contained quantities of morphine, heroin, cocaine, and other lovely drugs. (Gee, and to think I struggled with giving my kidlets Tylenol or Benadryl.)

2. The consumption or application of mercury for nearly everything. (Yep, that highly toxic stuff that’s guaranteed to send you six feet under.)

3. Wife selling-Say what? Seems that hubby could auction off wifey. You know, divorce was so frowned upon. So much better to sell one’s wife to be free of her.

4. The 19th century cure for ED (No, not eating disorder . . . erectile dysfunction) was ever so much more creative than taking a little pill. Strap on an electrical device meant to come in contact with a certain sensitive area of the male anatomy and ... ZAP!

5. Feeling like you’re coming down with cold? Try a tobacco smoke enema. Not going any farther with that one. I might lose my lunch.

6. And if the idea of a tobacco enema didn’t send you running for the door, there was always the good ole urine enema. Heck, you could bath in the stuff or even swig it to cure just about everything including body odor. Hmm, because urine smells so wonderful?

7. Okay, this one is so gross, I almost didn’t include it. Anthropodermic bibliopegy, which is just a fancy way to say binding books in human skin. What nut job came up with that one?

(I really shouldn’t have eaten before writing this.)

8. I’m blushing as I write this one, and so it will be very brief. The cure for female hysteria was quite simple. A doctor administered a massage to a certain part of a lady’s anatomy. Nuff said.

9. Know what a Tosher is? Well, I’m about to tell you. During the Victorian era, they tootled around the sewers looking for things to sell.

I’d laugh at this, or gag, except, I lost my wedding ring down the toilet. Really.

Don’t ask.

10. And last, post mortem pictures became all the vogue after the invention of photography, especially, pictures of children.

While I’m at it, I might as well mention, Mourning Jewelry, which either contained or was made of the dead person’s hair. Bleck!

There you have it! I bet you are so grateful those practices have been abolishes. Well, most of them have. I’ll leave you to guess which ones are still being used. 

Blackness Castle - film location for Outlander

A disillusioned Scottish gentlewoman.

Angelina Ellsworth once believed in love—before she discovered her husband of mere hours was a slave-trader and already married. To avoid the scandal and disgrace, she escapes to her aunt and uncle’s, the Duke and Duchess of Waterford. When Angelina learns she is with child, she vows she’ll never trust a man again.

A privileged English lord.

Flynn, Earl of Luxmoore, led an enchanted life until his father committed suicide after losing everything to Waterford in a wager. Stripped of all but his title, Flynn is thrust into the role of marquis as well as provider for his disabled sister and invalid mother. Unable to pay his father’s astronomical gambling loss, Flynn must choose between social or financial ruin.

When the duke suggests he’ll forgive the debt if Flynn marries his niece, Flynn accepts the duke’s proposal. Reluctant to wed a stranger, but willing to do anything to protect her babe and escape the clutches of the madman who still pursues her, Angelina agrees to the union.

Can Flynn and Angelina find happiness and love in a marriage neither wanted, or is the chasm between them insurmountable?
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Award winning, best-selling author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching. Author of the Castle Brides Series and Highland Heather Romancing a Scot Series, Collette writes Regency and Scottish historicals and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and five mini-dachshunds. Mother to three and a self-proclaimed Cadbury Chocolate chocoholic, Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, trivia, and all things shabby chic. You'll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. 

Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers.

She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

Connect with Collette:

collettecameron.com
facebook.com/collettecameronauthor
blueroseromance.com
twitter.com/collette_author
Goodreads: link
Newsletter: link

Collette’s giving away a digital copy of The Earl’s Enticement to one commenter. To enter the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment about treasure - have you found any at the beach? Have you seen any at the museum?

2. Comments are open through Saturday, December 6, 10 pm in Baltimore

3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, December 7.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City 

Aloha to Susanna Fraser and A CHRISTMAS REUNION

Susanna Fraser wrote her first novel in fourth grade. It starred a family of talking horses who ruled a magical land. In high school she started, but never finished, a succession of tales of girls who were just like her, only with long, naturally curly and often unusually colored hair, who, perhaps because of the hair, had much greater success with boys than she ever did.

Along the way she read her hometown library’s entire collection of Regency romance, fell in love with the works of Jane Austen, and discovered in Patrick O’Brian’s and Bernard Cornwell’s novels another side of the opening decades of the 19th century. When she started to write again as an adult, she knew exactly where she wanted to set her books. Her writing has come a long way from her youthful efforts, but she still gives her heroines great hair.

Susanna grew up in rural Alabama. After high school she left home for the University of Pennsylvania and has been a city girl ever since. She worked in England for a year after college, using her days off to explore history from ancient stone circles to Jane Austen’s Bath.

Susanna lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading, she goes to baseball games, sings alto in a local choir and watches cooking competition shows.

For more information please visit Susanna’s website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Thank you for having me here on SOS Aloha today!

When I'm trying to get a grasp on the characters in my historical romances, I often imagine what they might be if they were living in the 21st century, with a full range of 21st century opportunities. For example, Will Atkins, the hero of my debut novel The Sergeant's Lady, would still have a military career, but instead of enlisting at sixteen he would secure an appointment to West Point out of high school and become a career officer. His heroine, Anna Arrington, would most likely go into international development or diplomacy.

In my new holiday novella, A Christmas Reunion, the heroine, Lady Catherine Trevilian, is a smart, savvy young woman who's grown up in a politically active family. Her goal at the beginning of the story is to shape the direction of her country by becoming an influential political hostess. If she lived in the 21st century, she wouldn't need to stay behind the scenes, and I picture her getting her law degree and pursuing elective office.

The hero, Gabriel Shepherd, was more of a challenge to slot into a 21st century career. Like most of my heroes and heroines, he has a strong drive to public service and leaving the world better than he found it. But he also has an abiding passion for music and the talent to match. I think if he had every opportunity set before him, including a family who saw music as a respectable career choice and encouraged his gifts, music would trump all else for him. And while he'd probably be happy as a band or choir director, I'm going to dream big on his behalf and make him a rock star who uses his fame and fortune for the greater good...which would make his eventual romance with 21st-century Catherine somewhat in the George Clooney-Amal Alamuddin mode.

Have you ever imagined what your favorite historical characters might've been if they'd been born in our time? Or what you might've been if you'd been born a few centuries earlier?

Lady Catherine Trevilian and Gabriel Shepherd met in the Earl of Edenwell’s household, he the earl’s bastard nephew adopted as an infant, and she the countess’s highborn niece taken in after being orphaned as a young lady. Though not a suitable match by society’s standards, they fell hopelessly in love – but everything ended when they were caught kissing under the mistletoe. To protect Cat from Gabe’s lowborn charms, the earl bought him an army commission and shipped him out of the country. Catherine eventually accepted an arranged engagement, but never stopped scouring casualty lists for Gabe’s name.

Five years later, Gabe is home on leave for Christmas. Catherine and Gabe quickly learn their feelings have not dimmed – and a forbidden kiss confirms they’ve deepened into passion. But with Cat due to be married in eight days and Gabe still far below her social station, it will take a Christmas miracle for the star-crossed lovers to find happiness…

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Susanna offers an excerpt from A CHRISTMAS REUNION at this link.

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Aloha to Leslie Wells and DANCING WITH MISTLETOE

When it comes to Christmas presents, it’s not the size that matters

A sparkling, entertaining story that will leave you laughing and in the holiday mood.

It’s December 21st, 1981 in New York City, and the holidays are approaching fast. But up-and-coming book editor Julia Nash isn’t too busy to notice that her boyfriend has only put one small gift under the tree. At least Jack has an excuse: as the lead guitarist of a famous British rock band, he is deep into rehearsals for their upcoming tour. But Julia was hoping for something a little more meaningful than the pair of mittens she can’t resist taking a peek at. 

Julia tries to ignore her friends egging her on about what Jack might have planned. But even with the distractions of a demanding boss, a steamy snowball fight, a baking flop involving rum balls, and a blizzard that shuts down the entire city, the question still torments her: Is a pair of gloves—the kind of thing you’d give to a friend—the only gift Jack is giving her? And if so, what does that say about their relationship? 

Brimming with laughter and an enticing dash of romantic spice, with vivid characters that reviewers have called “engaging” and “irresistible”, Dancing with Mistletoe puts you in the mood to kiss someone you love under a sprig of green. 

Also included is a sneak peek at KEEP DANCING, the hilarious and captivating new novel about Jack and Julia, to be published in Spring 2015.

DANCING WITH MISTLETOE is currently free on Amazon at this link.

I am giving away "holiday swag" to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway, 

1.  Leave a comment about your favorite dance to watch and/or perform yourself.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, December 6, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, December 7.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Check out my review of Leslie Wells' first book, COME DANCING, at this link.

Aloha to Jessica Scott and ALL FOR YOU

ALL FOR YOU by Jessica Scott (November 25, 2014; Forever Mass Market; $8.00)

Can a battle-scarred warrior . . .

Stay sober. Get deployed. Lead his platoon. Those are the only things that matter to Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli. What he wants is for everyone to stay out of his way; what he gets is Captain Emily Lindberg telling him how to deal with his men. Fort Hood's newest shrink is smart as a whip and sexy as hell. She's also full of questions-about the army, its soldiers, and the agony etched on Reza's body and soul.

. . . open his heart to love?

Emily has devoted her life to giving soldiers the care they need-and deserve. Little does she know that means facing down the fierce wall of muscle that is Sergeant Iaconelli like it's just another day at the office. When Reza agrees to help her understand what makes a soldier tick, she's thrilled. Too bad it doesn't help her unravel the sexy warrior in front of her who stokes her desire and touches a part of her she thought long dead. He's the man who thinks combat is the only escape from the demons that haunt him. The man who needs her most of all . . 

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USA Today bestselling author Jessica Scott is a career army officer; mother of two daughters, three cats and three dogs; wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon. She's currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology in her spare time and most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.

She's written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View: Regarding War Blog, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and has served as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas.

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Jessica joins me for a insightful interview into Army life ...

Kim:  What is your favorite MRE "flavor"?

Jessica:  Tuna Caserole. Don’t ask me why but for some reason, I like that one.

Kim:  Career officers are required to read Professional Military Education (PME) - can you name one that has helped you as a commander?

Jessica:  Justice by Michael Sandel and The Long Road Home by Martha Raddatz. Justice makes you think though the big problems in life and what “right” really looks like. The Long Road Home is a really heartbreaking look at what happens during war when things go really bad not only for the soldiers downrange but for the families in the rear. 

Kim:  How do you relax from Army life, other than writing?

Jessica:  I’ve recently started coaching my daughter’s softball teams. It’s a lot of fun and I really enjoy the kids.

Mahalo, Jessica, for your service to your country!

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Jessica offers an excerpt from ALL FOR YOU ...

Emily watched her friend weave through the crowd of broad-shouldered Cavalrymen and toward the captain. Alone at the bar, Emily twirled her wine in the glass, staring into the swirling pale golden liquid.

She sipped her wine and glanced around the wide open space, feeling the warmth. She was comfortable in this place. A drink after work. A good friend. This was a good life. It was simple. It had purpose. So much better than the complicated mess she’d left behind.

She lifted her glass, savoring the freedom of her rebellion. She might not fit into her uniform just right but she fit here among these soldiers better than she’d ever fit back home.

She saw Olivia gyrating slowly with the captain across the dance floor. Her friend’s movements were slow and sensual, a sultry undulation that spoke of power and of sex. She smiled at her friend’s pleasure. It was enough that Emily could enjoy another’s happiness. She’d come here tonight to relax, to help Olivia celebrate.

“You don’t come here often, do you?”

Emily glanced at the man who’d appeared at her shoulder. He’d been standing with the group of captains that Olivia had just infiltrated.

“Not really,” she said, sipping her drink. She thought about easing away, putting space between where their upper arms touched.

Personal space much? she thought.

“Are you here with friends?” he asked. She caught a heavy scent of beer from his direction, beer mixed with cigar smoke. It was not unpleasant.

She glanced over at Olivia. “Yeah.”

“Not up for company?”

She smiled and finally glanced back at him. “Not really. Thank you though.”

He brushed the tip of his hat with two fingers. “My pleasure, ma’am.”

He swaggered off, leaving her alone at the bar. That had been nice. Too bad she wasn’t interested. Once upon a time, she might have danced but there was something missing from the way he’d carried himself.

He was missing that power that Sergeant Iaconelli wore like it was second nature.

She shook her head and took a long sip of her wine. She’d done nothing but argue with the man but now she was thinking about him in a way that was purely unprofessional.

The heavy iron door swung open at that moment and Emily’s breath caught in her throat.

“Speak of the devil,” she muttered.

Reza Iaconelli stood in the doorway, his gaze scanning the room as though he was taking a headcount. What was it about the man that he was always walking through doors at the wrong time? And this time, his gaze swept the bar and landed directly on her.

His eyes lit up, his mouth flattened. Just a faint flicker, but it was enough to tell her he’d recognized her.

And the familiar hostility was gone.

Her mouth went dry and she took another sip. He wasn’t going to come over. It was going to be fine.

They would keep the rampant hostility and no lines would be blurred.

It would be fine, right?

Except that he was now coming over. Weaving through the crowd, his Stetson adding to his height.

What the hell was she supposed to do about that? The closer he got, the more her stomach flipped beneath her ribs.

She was too tired to fight. And the alcohol would probably allow her to say something that she’d regret come Monday.

His clean white shirt accented his shoulders and made his skin look darker, more appealing. His face was shadowed by the brim of the Stetson.

He was there. A short space separated them. He radiated something—a power.

A rawness.

She was doomed.