Back To You (Coming Home, #3) by Jessica Scott
Romance Contemporary
E book, 304 pages
January 7, 2013
Forever

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “I was always coming back to you. It just took me awhile to get here.“

Army Captain Trent Davila thought he had it all. A beautiful wife, two wonderful children, and a fulfilling career in the military. When he is wounded in combat and almost dies, Trent finds pieces of himself missing. Unable to explain the dark thoughts and the emptiness he feels, he pushes away his wife and family, volunteering to deploy over and over again. It’s during his last deployment that Trent receives divorce papers and learns that his wife has had enough. Now facing a court martial for dereliction of duty, Trent has come home to try and repair the damage to his career and his family.

Laura Davila loves her husband and for the most part has been the perfect military wife, keeping the home fires burning while her husband left her to fight the good fight. But after his near fatality and finding out he volunteered repeatedly to leave her and kids, she can no longer live with the loneliness and heartache. She files for divorce, hoping that she can get on with her life without her other half. When she learns of the court martial, she agrees to portray the loving wife one last time to help Trent but only if he signs the papers and lets her go.

As Trent and Laura spend time together, Laura realizes that her love for Trent never died but she needs more than declarations. Trent will have to prove to her that she and their kids come first this time, or he will lose them for good.

I have waited a long time for Trent and Laura’s story. Throughout the series, Ms. Scott has given us clues hinting at the forces behind this couples downfall. Emotional and heartbreaking, we, like Laura, have been wondering what has caused Trent to shut his family out time and time again. Back To You finally gives us the whole story and what a story it is. We were all able to see that Trent was hiding something but the sheer magnitude of the secrets is overwhelming. Suffering from PTSD and survivors guilt, Trent is functioning on nothing more than a whisper and a prayer. Between Trent and Laura’s POVs, we learn exactly what both are feeling, how they came to this point, and the lengths they are willing to go through to try and repair their marriage.

A better man would walk away. Would release her from the purgatory of their sham of a marriage. But Trent wasn’t a better man.

Scott slowly and expertly reveals and dissects the deep pain Trent has been carrying for years; brought to a head by his near death experience. He is lost. Normality no longer has any meaning for him. All the death he has seen has led him to question his service to the military; especially when he learns of the reasons behind his court martial. Scott’s military experience shows in how she chooses to address Trent’s problems. On the whole, the public cheers the commitment these courageous men and women give to their country but forget that for them, coming home isn’t always a happy situation. They don’t automatically forget the horror they have seen once they set foot on home soil and I think sometimes that is what we expect of them. To basically “shake it off” and continue on with their lives. Scott shows us through Trent this isn’t always realistically possible.

“…Life back in the rear was too complicated, too loud, too chaotic. War was simpler.”

Laura is realistically portrayed as the grieving wife. She grieves the loss of the man she married and of her marriage. Her pain transcends the pages and I like that her feelings aren’t pushed aside or made to seem less important than Trent’s. We are intimately acquainted with what the spouses of deployed military members deal with daily. They take care of everything. The home, the kids, the repairs, the bills, ect…It’s tiring, time consuming, and at times thankless. Her reasons for divorce are valid and Scott gives them the necessary respect they deserve.

“I’m so tired of crying over you”

 

Passion and pain war together and make for a volatile mix. You never doubt Trent and Laura’s love for one another and their physical attraction is at a prime but I was still unsure if they could overcome this massive hurdle. Some beautiful and heartfelt love scenes add to the longing you feel as you watch these two broken people try to repair the damage done. *sniff*

“The fear came out of nowhere, stealing up from a dark place in his soul, raw and primal, ripping through him like a beast. Promising the loss of the thing he loved more than anything else in the world.”

 

The main conflict blends well with the second chance romance. Issues that were glossed over in previous books are addressed in full and resolve in an acceptable fashion. Friends of Trent and Laura make multiple appearances and help to facilitate the story lines, offering advice and laughter.  I enjoyed seeing Shane & Jen, along with Nicole and Carponti. Their lives are going ahead and we see positive things for their futures.

Scott pours her heart into Back To You and it shows in every word we read. Trent and Laura’s story is at times hard to read but the journey is well worth the heartache. I look forward to reading All For You which releases February 4, 2014 from Forever.

RATING: B+

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