BECAUSE OF YOU (Coming Home Book #1) by Jessica Scott is an emotional contemporary romance and the first in the Coming Home series featuring a badly wounded military Sergeant coming home from Iraq and the nurse who cares for him but has scars of her own. I cannot believe I have not read any of these books previously because they are so well written with everything I want in a romance and the lives of the military personnel are so realistically portrayed.
Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison takes the care, training, and safety of his men very seriously. Four months into the surge in Iraq, he is seriously injured by an IED and shipped back home to the hospital at Ft. Hood. With one arm in a cast and both legs in pin traction, he is afraid he will never get back to his men.
Jen St. James is a nurse at Ft. Hood’s hospital and has taken care of many soldiers returning home. When she sees Shane in the hospital there is still an attraction that was there when they met at a deployment party before he shipped out. Jen pushes Shane to fight not only to heal physically, but to find how to move forward. But Jen is hiding scars from a battle of her own and needs to learn to move on, also.
I could not put this book down! Shane and Jen were both compelling main characters that kept me on their emotional roller coaster from their first meeting until the end of the book. The secondary characters are just as vividly drawn and believable. I was pulled into the lives of them all. The author shines a realistic light on many of the daily problems facing military personnel and their family members. The dialogue was stark and graphic on some difficult topics, but also had moments of humor. The romance progressed at a believable pace with the emotional trust that had to be achieved with eventual sex scenes that were explicit, but not gratuitous.
I highly recommend this contemporary military romance! One good thing about finding this series now is that I have several more books already available to read in the series.
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About the Author
Jessica Scott is the USA Today bestselling author of novels set in the heart of America’s Army. She is an active duty army officer, a veteran of the Iraq war, is the mother of two daughters, a small zoo consisting of too many cats, dogs and the occasional domesticated rodent, and wife to a retired NCO.
Her stories are centered on soldiers returning from the nation’s wars and their struggles and triumphs and come from her personal experiences as a soldier, a mother and a military wife. She and her family are currently wherever the army has sent her.
She’s also written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View Regarding War, and IAVA. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/New Dawn and has had the honor of serving as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas twice.
She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and she’s been featured as one of Esquire Magazine’s Americans of the Year for 2012.
To find a Russian mole in the White House, an FBI agent must question everything. . . and trust no one
To save America from a catastrophic betrayal, an idealistic young FBI agent must stop a Russian mole in the White House in this exhilarating political thriller reminiscent of the early novels of John Grisham and David Baldacci.
No one was more surprised than FBI Agent Peter Sutherland when he’s tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. From his earliest days as a surveillance specialist, Peter has scrupulously done everything by the book, hoping his record will help him escape the taint of his past. When Peter was a boy, his father, a section chief in FBI counterintelligence, was suspected of selling secrets to the Russians—a catastrophic breach that had cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life.
Peter knows intimately how one broken rule can cost lives. Nowhere is he more vigilant than in this room, the sanctum of America’s secrets. Staffing the night action desk, his job is monitoring an emergency line for a call that has not—and might never—come.
Until tonight.
At 1:05 a.m. the phone rings. A terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle have just been murdered and that the killer is still in the house with her. Before their deaths, they gave her this phone number with urgent instructions: “Tell them OSPREY was right. It’s happening. . . “
The call thrusts Peter into the heart of a conspiracy years in the making, involving a Russian mole at the highest levels of the government. Anyone in the White House could be the traitor. Anyone could be corrupted. To save the nation, Peter must take the rules into his own hands and do the right thing, no matter the cost. He plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor—a treacherous odyssey that pits him and Rose against some of Russia’s most skilled and ruthless operatives and the full force of the FBI itself.
Peter knows that the wider a secret is broadcast, the more dangerous it gets for the people at the center. With the fate of the country on the line, he and Rose must evade seasoned assassins and maneuver past jolting betrayals to find the shocking truth—and stop the threat from inside before it’s too late.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk was published in 2021. It has been made into a Netflix TV series, http://www.netflix.com/thenightagent, and was released on March 23rd. Both the show and book are riveting thrillers that delve into corruption at the highest levels of government.
The plot has FBI Agent Peter Sutherland tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. When Peter was a boy, his father was suspected of being a traitor, a breach that cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life. Now Peter’s job is monitoring an emergency telephone line from US diplomats or assets in trouble. The phone never rings until one night a terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle are being threatened and the perpetrator is after her. Peter believes her and decides to help, thrusting him and Rose into danger as they try to find out if there is a traitor in the White House.
People can watch the Netflix episodes first and then read the book or vice versa. In both cases there is a riveting story that has some different aspects between the book and the series. Below is an interview with the stars of the show, Gabriel Basso (Peter Sutherland), Luciane Buchanan (Rose Larkin), the creator/showrunner/executive producer, Shawn Ryan, and the author, Matthew Quirk.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: After watching the Netflix episodes people could still go back and read the book because of the differences. Do you agree?
Matthew Quirk: People are not watching a rendition of the book. The show and the book are on their own terms. It is wild to see a scene I have written on screen, but there were also things that happened I did not write. I really loved the series. My wife and I were able to watch all ten episodes. I forgot it was my book. We were completely hooked. I am grateful to everyone involved in the production. The fun of it was seeing some of my scenes filmed and bringing in new stuff to give it a second life. It was fascinating to see how they did it and bring all the pieces together. Yet, both the book and the series have a man/woman on the run. They have the same spirit.
Shawn Ryan: I encourage people to read the book and watch the series. Matthew was great telling me to change what I wanted to change. For instance, the Metro bombing in the book is almost like a memory, whereas in the show I elevated it to a crucial event. There is a lot in the spine of the book that provides the spine of the show, a lot we filled in, and some things we felt we changed for the better. The book and the show are very much related, but they are also different artistic endeavors. I think you can enjoy both independently.
EC: What was your idea for the story?
Matthew: The world of the Night Agent does come from real life although I did take some liberties. It is something that is put on diplomatic cables to indicate the importance. Someone like Peter must wake-up an important official including the President. A relatively junior person on the Situation Room desk, if it happens in the middle of the night, that person could be briefing the President, the first point of contact of a global disaster.
Shawn: The story of a young man who wishes he knew more about his deceased father. I had an experience where my father died suddenly. As I cleaned up his house, I found some stuff that had me wanting to ask him questions about his past, but I knew I would not have that chance. I think I worked out my personal stuff through this story.
Matthew: I also wanted to have the accusations against Peter’s father as a cloud over him. His loyalty is being questioned for the sins of his father. I had friends whose stories are not dissimilar. The evil states try to entrap Americans and their tactics are very brutal. I tried to show how the Cold War was played out between the generations of Peter and his father.
EC: How did you come by the story?
Shawn: I read thrillers and have a couple of friends who are authors, Gregg Hurwitz, and Robert Crais. In this case I had a meeting with Jamie Vanderbilt, the writer and producer whose company optioned the book. He asked if I would be interested. After reading this book I fell in love with the characters and saw an opportunity for the Secret Service arc I had been working on. I did not feel there was enough in the book for ten episodes.
Matthew: I had a friend who worked for the FBI in DC and would disappear every night around ten pm. People would whisper what was his job. This idea stuck with me even though I did not know what his actual job was. After speaking with my agent and friends, we all thought this is a good premise for a book. I came up with the story including the phone that never rings. The whole story is based on my imagination of what my friend did. I wanted to write something like classic 70s thrillers, written by Robert Ludlum.
EC: What about the Secret Service arc that was not in the book?
Shawn: I had been working on a Secret Service story independently but did not have enough for one show. I did not want to do a Secret Service story about protecting the President considering we see that a lot. I thought what jobs would not be prestigious in the protection part of that organization. I always have been fascinated in children of Presidents going off to college. How would that work? I did speak to someone on Chelsea Clinton’s detail. I essentially said this is how I imagine it and he thought I was close to reality.
Matthew: This made it fun because now I am watching as a viewer, with all the surprises. Shawn and I did talk a little bit on where the story was going. But overall, my attitude was ‘go for it’ since ‘I love your stuff and trust you.’ I also was invited to the set to watch some of the filming. I did chat with the actors and actresses briefly on the set.
EC: What about this quote in the show, “The Secret Service’s job is to protect the institution.”
Shawn: Those in the Secret Service must be different political types. Someone is willing to give up their life for Barack Obama, then Donald Trump, and then Joe Biden. I have always been interested in the mentality of this. They believe they are standing up for the institution of the Presidency and Democracy. The above quote by the Secret Service character Eric Monks is what he believes, standing up for a set of values.
EC: What were your favorite scenes in the series versus the book?
Matthew: The Secret Service arcs. The actors, D. B. Woodside who played Erik Monks, and Fola Evans-Akingbola, who played Chelsea Arrington, absolutely did a great job with their portrayals. This was all Shawn Ryan’s part of the story.
EC: Is it a David versus Goliath story?
Matthew: I think the espionage stuff mingled with the mundane. They are spies where on the weekends they would go to their children’s soccer games. They have suburban lives. The international intrigue intruded on the normal, boring, suburban life. It was a David versus Goliath story with a lowly analyst up against many powerful state actors.
Shawn: Ultimately what I really liked that emulates from Matthew’s book is that it is an underdog story. Peter is the least important person in a very important place, until that phone rings. This is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie where a very ordinary person is put in a very extraordinary circumstance. He is not a Jason Bourne or John Wick who would take on ten people in a room and come out victorious. I liked that Peter gets bruised and battered and yet keeps going. This could be a lesson for us: we might be overwhelmed at times with circumstances bigger than we can imagine yet we plow forward to do the right thing.
Gabriel who plays Peter: A better analogy is Hercules versus the Hydra. One head is cut off and more heads grow. It never feels like it’s a singular enemy and you do not know who it is, always being betrayed. This is what I likened it too.
EC: How would you describe Peter?
Shawn: This is a case where the collaboration between Matthew and me is very important. There is something noble about Peter, not wanting a lot of attention. He must be super careful because of the backstory involving his father. I absolutely think he is a bit naïve, which he must overcome throughout these ten episodes. I took pieces from my own marriage without realizing it. I tend to be like Peter in my life, immediately trust people until proven otherwise. Where my wife tends to be like Rose, justifiably skeptical.
Matthew: A rule follower, calm, bright, ambitious, curious, meticulous, confident, and honest to a fault. What I wanted to do with Peter, is force him to face the most difficult challenges. He was on the Metro train that was bombed, which lit a fire under him. He felt there was a conspiracy that drew him into the high stakes plot. Readers will question if he changed in the book, or did he have things bottled up most of his life?
Gabriel: Relentless, not caring about his own personal risk. He goes for it. He has become a rule follower because it was told to him by his dad that it matters. When you uphold the system, you uphold the principles behind the system. It does not make sense to him how those who took an oath are lying and manipulative. He feels betrayed by the whole process.
EC: How would you describe Rose?
Matthew: A survivor, sharp, tough, fearless, determined, and adaptable. She is a foil to Peter, because she is resourceful and does what it takes to get things done.
Shawn: I was having trouble with her characterization. I contacted Matthew and asked him what he was thinking with Rose. He told me something that really unlocked her for me, ‘I always thought of Peter as a rule follower and Rose is a rule breaker. The two of them must become a little more like each other to survive together.’ She had to live by her wits from a young age with no father and an absentee mother.
Luciane who played Rose: Very driven and ambitious. She is at a very, very low point in her life. I think she is like Peter; both are loners.
EC: Why did you choose the role?
Gabriel: I talked to Shawn, and he told me Peter will be real, grounded, and his hits will be grimy, with Peter out of his depth. Peter will not have to be Superman. I liked that a lot. I think it is more layered and nuanced than ‘I am the protagonist, get out of my way.’ It is more fun and serious. I was able to invest in the story. I think what helped is that I have been hit in real life, so I know what it is like. The tattoos are real; the scars are real. I am real. I did all the fighting and most of the other stuff. Except where insurance thought it too risky so the stunt coordinator would do it.
EC: Will there be a season two with the same actors?
Shawn: We would love to make a season two. I hope there are enough people to watch season one and like it. It is important to me that each season tells its own story with a new location. Peter will probably be one of those characters.
Luciane: We do not make the decisions, but Gabriel and I hope there will be a season two.
Matthew: Right now, I have no plans to write a sequel to The Night Agent.
Thank you!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Chicago Tribune reporters Emma and Grace have been best friends since college despite coming from different worlds. When Grace is assigned to cover an annual charity ball and auction being held at a lakeside mansion and her boyfriend bails on her, she brings Emma as her plus one. The night is going smoothly until Emma finds the host’s brother unconscious in the study. Though at first it is thought he was tipsy and stumbled, it soon becomes clear more is afoot, as the wall safe is empty and a three-million-dollar diamond necklace is missing. With visions of becoming ace investigative journalists, Emma and Grace set out to solve the mystery, much to the chagrin of the handsome local detective.
THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBERY (A Front Page Mystery Book #1) by Elizabeth McKenna is the start of a new cozy mystery series featuring two best friends who are reporters on the Chicago Tribune. This story has an easy to read writing style, amusing new main characters, and some surprises along the way.
Emma and Grace have very different life experiences but have been best friends since college and both now write for the Chicago times. Emma writes for the sports page and Grace writes for the society page. When Grace is assigned to cover a charity auction and ball and her date drops out, Emma becomes her plus one for the weekend. When the disappearance of the main jewelry collection for the auction is discovered, Grace sees this as her chance to get off the society page and become an investigative reporter, while Emma agrees to help, she keeps having run ins with handsome local detective.
This is a fast-paced cozy mystery with plenty of suspects and red herrings. Emma and Grace are very likable protagonists, and I enjoyed the differences in their backgrounds did not matter to their friendship. The pace was consistent throughout and the conclusion tied up all the loose threads.
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About the Author
Elizabeth McKenna’s love of books reaches back to her childhood, where her tastes ranged from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to Stephen King’s horror stories. She had never read a romance novel until one Christmas when her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene).
Her novels reflect her mercurial temperament and include historical romances, contemporary romances, cozy mysteries, and dark mysteries. With some being “clean” and some being “naughty,” she has a book for your every mood.
Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband and Sidney, the rescue dog from Tennessee. When she isn’t writing, reading, editing, or walking the dog that never tires, she’s sleeping.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE WHISPERINGWOMEN (Delafield & Mallory Investigations Book #1) by Trish MacEnulty on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Born into a once-wealthy Manhattan family, Louisa Delafield survives by doing the one thing she’s suited for: writing a society column. But in January 1913, the death of a police matron in a bombed brownstone convinces Louisa to write about darker subjects. “Muckraking” goes against her upbringing, but once her blinders are off, she can’t continue to protect the privileged.
Ellen Malloy came to America to escape the priests who told her she would go to hell for loving women. However, her job as a debutante’s personal maid affords her no opportunity for a life, much less for finding love. After witnessing the death of a fellow servant during an illegal abortion, she flees her comfortable position in fear for her life.
When the two women are brought together by New York’s top bomb squad cop, Louisa and Ellen dive into a dangerous world of gangsters, bordellos, and back-alley abortions to find the connection between Ellen’s friend and the dead police matron. Their investigation makes them the target of powerful forces who will stop at nothing, even murder, to bury the truth.
This book is a timely reminder of an era when the legal system and social norms prevented women from enjoying the freedom to control their own destinies.
THE WHISPERING WOMEN (A Delafield & Mallory Investigation Book #1) by Trish MacEnulty is the first book in an exciting historical mystery series featuring two very different young women in early 20th century New York who come together to fight against injustice. This is a story set over a hundred years ago and is yet eerily relevant to the present.
Louisa Delafield was born into a Manhattan society family. Due to her father’s murder and her family’s financial downfall, she now earns her living and is supporting her mother by writing a society column for The Ledger. Ellen Mallory came to America from Ireland and is a lady’s maid to a young debutante. When Ellen witnesses the death of a fellow servant during an illegal abortion, she finds she must flee her position in fear of her life.
Louisa and Ellen stories converge as Louisa looks to discover why a police matron was blown up while investigating an abortionist and Ellen is running from those Louisa is investigating and wants to seek revenge for her friend. The two must learn to navigate the social class system to discover a way to combine their strengths and find the power to bring powerful evil into the light.
I loved this story and both Louisa and Ellen are great protagonists. Louisa and Ellen are well developed, and their differences make them a good pair that you want to succeed. You can tell the research into early 1900’s New York life and society is extensive and the descriptions pull you right into the story. The plot is well paced, and the investigation is believable. So many of the topics in this plot, such as illegal abortion, women’s rights, and LGBTQ issues are as discussion worthy then as they are today.
I highly recommend this wonderful start to a new series with memorable strong main characters, and I am looking forward to seeing where this author takes them next.
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About the Author
The Whispering Women is Trish MacEnulty’s debut as a historical fiction novelist. She has previously published four novels, a short story collection, and a memoir. A former Professor of English at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC, she currently lives in Florida with her husband, two dogs, and one cat and teaches journalism.
Spring, 1938: Café Mozart in the heart of Vienna is beloved by its clientele, including cousins Mathias Kraemer and Johannes Namal. The two writers are as close as brothers. They are also members of Freud’s Circle—a unique group of the famed psychiatrist’s friends and acquaintances who once gathered regularly at the bright and airy café to talk about books and ideas over coffee and pastries. But dark days are looming.
With Hitler’s annexation of Austria, Nazi edicts governing daily life become stricter and more punitive. Now Hitler has demanded that the “hidden Jews” of Vienna be tracked down, and Freud’s Circle has been targeted. The SS aims to use old group photos to identify Jewish intellectuals and subversives. With the vise tightening around them, Mathias and Johannes’s only option appears to be hiding in plain sight, using assumed names and identities to evade detection, aware that discovery would mean consignment to a camp or execution.
Faced with stark and desperate choices, Mathias, Johannes, their families and friends all find their loyalties and courage tested in unimaginable ways. But despite betrayal, heartache and imprisonment, hope remains, and with it, the determination to keep those they love alive, and Mathias and Johannes at the same time discovering that what originally condemned them—their writing—might also be their salvation.
THE VIENNA WRITERS CIRCLE by J.C. Maetis is an incredibly intense historical fiction that kept me unnerved and on the edge of my seat through most of the book. This book is not for the faint of heart and describes scenes of man’s inhumanity to man is a stark way through the lens of two Jewish thriller writers in Vienna during WWII.
Cousins Mathias Kraemer and Johannes Namal are thriller writers and members of famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud’s Circle; intellectuals who meet at the Mozart Café to discuss books and current ideas on a variety of topics. When the Germans annex Austria, Freud is able to leave for England, but others must find their own ways to leave the country, hide under fake identities or be rounded up and deported to a concentration camp or be executed.
Mathias and Johannes are faced with anguishing choices to protect their families and friends. With the continual pursuit of an ambitious and sadistic SS officer and the constant fear of their true identities being revealed, their writing may be what ultimately saves them.
This book is a stark look at the daily terrorism faced by these two main characters and what they did to survive. I found the story more intriguing and disturbing because it is told only through the victims’ eyes. There are not a lot of breaks from the intensity of the plot pace and I found I had to put this book down a few times, not because it is not good, but to calm down emotionally. The research is evident and the characters memorable.
I highly recommend this WWII historical fiction!
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About the Author
J.C. Maetis is better known as British thriller writer John Matthews whose books have sold over 1.6 million copies and been translated in 14 languages. Maetis is his father’s original Jewish family name, which he felt was more fitting for this novel. His father’s family left Lithuania for London in 1919 in the wake of Jewish pogroms there, but many of his extended family perished when Hitler invaded Lithuania in 1941. Maetis lives in Surrey, UK.
Tasting wine is not enough: sommelier Giovanni D’Angelo wants to create it. To put his family first, he’s always deferred his dreams—a vineyard to run, a woman to marry. But a three-week vineyard tour in Italy could set him back on track.
For Emma Rutledge, wine is in her blood. Intent to run the family wine business one day, she finds that the men in her family are only intent to push her out of it. But that’s fine—she’s got a plan.
When Gio and Emma meet on a wine tour in Tuscany, their shared aspirations fuel an undeniable chemistry. Returning home to California, they work toward setting up Emma’s vineyard and a label of their own. But when Emma receives a life-altering diagnosis, she worries it’s all been for nothing.
As Emma works to cement her family legacy while dealing with this unexpected challenge, Gio tries to convince her that their future isn’t just wine.
BEGINNING OF FOREVER (The D’Angelos Book #3) by Catherine Bybee is another perfectly wonderful contemporary romance addition to The D’Angelo family series. This story features Giovanni D’Angelo and his discovery of that one true love traveling from the vineyards of Italy and back to California. This romance can be read as a standalone, but there are family member connections throughout tying to the first two books in the series.
Giovanni “Gio” D’Angelo has always loved everything connected to wine since his first visit with his grandfather in Italy. He has become a sommelier and works in his family’s restaurant, but his dream has always been to own a small vineyard of his own. For his thirtieth birthday, his family sends him on a three-week tour of Italian vineyards.
Emma Rutledge was born into a prominent Napa wine family and has worked hard for her place in the family business, but her father never sees her as an asset. For her thirtieth birthday her mother sends Emma and her best friend, Natalie, on a wine tour to take a break, but Emma is already making new plans for her future.
Gio has a house full of strong women in his family and the feisty, redheaded Emma catches his attention. Their shared love of wine and dreams of having their own vines connects them and only adds to the growing chemistry, but Emma is not looking for forever. When they return to California, Gio continues to show Emma he is a partner with suggestions, but never wants to make her decisions for her. When Emma receives a medical diagnosis that changes her life, Gio proves he is at her side for everything and anything, forever.
I love Emma and Gio’s journey to love and HEA! Every one of the stories in this series has been an absolute delight! Ms. Bybee knows how to bring a romance together even with all the messy things in life that can interfere. With the D’Angelos, like in many big Italian families, difficulties can be overcome with the help and love of family, friends and food and the comparisons between the D’Angelo and Rutledge families leave me with an easy decision of which I would rather belong to. I enjoyed catching up with all the other family member’s relationships and wish I could go to Little Italy and meet them all.
I highly recommend this delightful and heart-warming contemporary romance! The entire D’Angelos series is worth the read.
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About the Author
Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total she has written thirty-six beloved books that have collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, the Most Likely To series, and the First Wives series. Learn more about Catherine and her books at www.catherinebybee.com
