Just another day without the Soldier...

Last year when we said goodbye to the Soldier, I never anticipated that we would be going into a second year of holidays without him. Yet, last night I carved pumpkins with the kids while the Soldier watched on Skype. I am not much of a Halloween person (a little too much work and sugar for me), but Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up fast with no clue when they will send him home.

On Saturday, I said goodbye for the fourth time. Once when he left last year in September, once when I flew to New Orleans for his four day pass and once again in May when he was home on leave. The first three times were hard enough, but we always had a date to anticipate his homecoming.

How do you tell six children - when they keep asking when daddy will be home - that we have no idea?

The Soldier has been on U.S. soil, for two months, in Army limbo. While the doctors and case managers and everyone else and their brother argue where and when the Army is going to fix what they broke. He has been denied leave and had surgeries scheduled and then cancelled. All while he sits and we wonder.

This isn't my first rodeo and I know it takes time for papers to process and orders to come through, but this is bordering on craziness. And he isn't the only one. There are dozens of other Soldiers, returning home from war, being kept from their families by red tape.

He has told me stories of wheel chairs too small for Soldiers, chow halls not handicapped accessible and other Soldiers having to take care of those who have had surgeries and are sent back to the barracks to recover. And in their brand new, 53 million dollar barracks, the Soldier has changed rooms three times for issues like no cold water in the shower and his fire alarm going off for three days (while the work order got passed along to several different people). What a joke.

I am tired of saying goodbye.

I am tired of the Army.

I am just so tired and ready for this to be over.



Love,

Semi Wordless Wednesday #WW - Seattle!

First, I want to say a big thank you to Brea at Utterly Chaotic Designs for my new look! She was wonderful (I am not easy to work with) and has the best prices on the web (trust me, I looked). And she has an amazing military discount.

Not all of the pages are up and going yet, I promise to get everything done soon...

But I am leaving in the morning for Seattle!

Photo borrowed from Wikipedia :)

Unfortunately, it is only for a few days and it is to see a new specialist - but I will get to see my Soldier!! He is still on a medical hold and trying hard to get sent to a Community Based Warrior Transition Unit, so he can have his surgeries at home.

Don't miss my current contests while you are here. Enter to win a copy of Susan May Warren's Baby, It's Cold Outside and Laurie Alice Eakes A Necessary Deception.

October's list still has some free books on it (please check prices before you download, so there aren't any surprises!) and I promise a new list the first week of November.

Linking up for Semi Wordless Wednesday with Flip Flops & Pearls!

Love,

"A Necessary Deception" Book Review & Giveaway

*Don’t miss my other book giveaway going on now! Enter to win a copy of Susan May Warren’s Baby, It’s Cold Outside.  

*If you haven't read it, check out my review of Laurie Alice Eakes’ Lady in the Mist and then download it for FREE from Amazon. 

With as crazy as life has been here, I appreciate being able to disappear for a few hours to another place. Thanks to Laurie Alice Eakes, I was whisked back to a time when the ‘ton’ spent their nights at Masquerade Balls and Covent Garden.   

About the book:  

Who Can a Lady Really Trust? 

 A young widow, a mysterious Frenchman, and the threat of
blackmail keep readers guessing in this Regency romance.

 When young widow Lady Lydia Gale helps a French prisoner obtain parole, she never expected doing so would put her family in jeopardy. But that’s just what happens when a shadowy figure corners her during an evening stroll and blackmails her with the threat of treason.

She returns to her family just as the London Season is getting underway, and is shocked when the French prisoner appears in her parlor calling himself by a new name, Christien de Meuse, and carrying a letter from the shadowy man.

While she should be helping her younger sisters, bookish Cassandra, who’s about to get married, and headstrong Honore, who’s about to enter into London society, Lydia can’t help being preoccupied with the mysterious Frenchman. Nor can she deny her attraction to him. Is he a spy or a suitor? Can he be trusted? Is she putting her family in danger or sparing them from harm? 

With an eye for detail and in-depth knowledge of the period, Laurie Alice Eakes brings alive the drawing rooms of London’s elite. 

Read an excerpt here. 

My thoughts: 

A Necessary Deception was a wonderful book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is filled with everything a good book needs – romance, intrigue, a few parties, the heroine falling for a spy…   

Lydia doesn’t want to be in London for the season with her two younger sisters and now she is being blackmailed. She would much rather be back in the country - in her cottage with her cat – where she doesn’t have to think about the French spy who is turning her world upside down.

I really appreciate that Laurie Alice Eakes’ is historically accurate in her writing and is able to weave details throughout the book without them overpowering the story. It is a hard balance and she does an amazing job.

A Necessary Deception will keep you on edge and guessing as it twists and turns. Can Lydia keep her sisters out of trouble? Can the Frenchman trusted with her heart?  I’ll bet you won’t put the book down until you find out! 

About the author: 

Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes wanted to be a writer since knowing what one was. 

Her first book won the National Readers Choice Award in 2007 and her third book was a Carol Award finalist in 2010. Between December of 2008 and January of 2010, she sold thirteen books to Barbour Publishing, Avalon Books, and Baker/Revell, making her total sales fifteen. Recently, she added two novella sales to that collection, as well as having her first book with Baker/Revell, Lady in the Mist, picked up by Crossings Book Club, and six of her books chosen for large print editions by Thorndike Press.

She has been a public speaker for as long as she can remember; thus, only suffers enough stage fright to keep her sharp. In 2002, while in graduate school for writing fiction, she began to teach fiction in person and online. She lives in Texas with her husband, two dogs, and probably too many cats. 

Find her online at www.lauriealiceeakes.com.  

A Necessary Deception is available starting October 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. 

Now for the book giveaway!

Trying out a new gadget - enter below :)