Jessica Scott - The Long Way Home

I'm thrilled to announce that after a long way, the cover for The Long Way Home is finally out. The fabulous Shawntelle Madison did an amazing job with this, didn't she? Want your own copy? Buy it at: Barnes & Noble| Smashwords | Amazon | Kobo 

 
The Long Way Home cover[/caption] From the back cover:

My name is Jessica Scott. I am a soldier. I am a mother. I am a wife. In 2009, Army second lieutenant Jessica Scott deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. She thought deploying was the hardest thing she'd ever do. She was wrong. This is the story of a mother coming home from war and learning to be a mom again. This is the story of a lieutenant making the grade and becoming a company commander. This is the journey of a writer persevering through a hundred rejections. This is the story of a soldier learning to be a woman again. This is the story of a wife waiting for the end of a war. This is the journey as it happened, without commentary. This is her blog. There are many blogs from the Iraq war, but this one is hers.

Check out the : Below is an exclusive look at :

The Long Way Home - Excerpt

Make sure you check out the reviews on Goodreads and if you haven't already, add it to your shelf! Get your copy today: Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Amazon | Kobo The rest of the bookstores links will be live soon!

About Jess

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 and someone liked some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are

pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy

house.

Oprah has called her. True story.

Her debut novel BECAUSE OF YOU launched Loveswept, the first Random House

digital imprint.

She's 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 OIF/New Dawn and is currently a

company commander stationed at Fort Hood.

Most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year

for 2012.

Connect with Jessica at

Website: http://www.jessicascott.net

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessicascott09

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jessicascottauthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5131118.Jessica_Scott

LUCK OF THE IRISH

It's been a crazy week around our house. It's spring break and we've had little guests. We've been on-the-go all week. In short, I'm exhausted. With everything going on I almost forgot that I'd agreed to participate in the Just Romantic Suspense Luck Of The Irish Giveaway. Thank God for Google Calendar!

So, here's the info. 30 of your favorite--well okay, 29 and me--authors have joined together to do a hard-copy give away. Simply head on over to JustRomanticSuspense.com and follow the directions to join in the fun. Also, don't forget that the March Madness Hop is still going on. Hopefully you've been participating. We've got some great prizes to give away there too.

March Madness: Technologically challenged

I'm guessing most of you are old enough to know who George Jetson is. The father from the animated Sitcom, The Jetson's, produced by Hanna-Barbera during the 60's and then again in the 80's.

If not, meet George Jetson:

If you know anything about the story line, George has issues with technology. Basically it's passed him by. From his robot maid to the space vehicle he commutes to work in, and everything in between. He struggles to keep up, thus allowing for some humorous events to unfold during each episode. That's kinda how I feel today. Like technology is passing me by, and I can't quite keep up. I've got a smart phone that requires a level of intelligence only my 9 year old daughter has managed to master, though she hates to talk on the thing. And I have a Wi-Fi-Blu-ray player and TV that requires the technical skills of my 8 year old son to operate. And forget about the parental controls. I'm constantly locking myself out of the devices, and having to have one of the kids let me back in. Ironically sad but true.

Am I smarter than a 5^th grader? Heck no! I'm pretty sure I'm not smarter than my 2^nd or 3^rd graders. Thus the reason I have avoided starting a blog. It requires mad internet skills, that I have not bothered to learn. Until recently. A few weeks ago, when I started thinking about hosting this blog hop I realized I needed to know what the heck it was all about. I mean, how can I expect other authors to do something I don't know how to do myself, right? So, I took a crash course in all things blog and “hop” related, and here I am. Still clueless, but a higher level of clueless than I was before. And pretty darned proud of myself. Amazing that I one point in my life I was a Senior Police-Fire-911 Dispatcher certified in hostage negotiation and suicide/crisis intervention, isn't it? Thankfully we worked in a fairly low-tech environment.

So, today, as I use these training-wheel level skills to blog to you from my front porch, which it's a beautiful 77*F here today—yes, I'm rubbing in our beautiful Arizona weather—I can help but wonder, am I the only one who technology has passed by? I'm thinking—hoping—not. So, tell me, what is something you struggle with technology wise? Leave an answer below to be entered into a drawing on my blog for this pretty box.

Okay, you won't actually get the gold box, but you'll get the contents. A signed copy of Razing Kayne, a custom made ribbon bookmark, and goodies to enjoy with it. Read that as chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Hot cocoa, and yummy chocolate snacks to go with your book.

And, as an additional special gift for all of you visiting my site, I've gone "mad" and reduced Razing Kayne. Book 1 of my Walking a Thin Blue Line police series from $6.99 to $3.99USD on Amazon through the length of the Hop. Be sure to grab your copy while it's on sale.

ALSO, since I'm part of the March Madness Hop, be sure to follow the instructions below to be entered to win one of the awesome grand-prizes. Then, when you're done here, check out my fellow authors sites for more incredible prizes and additional chances to win the grand-prizes.

MARCH MADNESS HOP PRIZES:

March Madness: That time of year when women across the country are left to their own devices during the NCAA basketball playoff tournament.

Sure we could do some early spring cleaning, catch up on laundry, organize our closets, and throw out all the junk in the garage/attic while nobody is looking, but where's the fun in that? So, instead of work, we thought we'd host our own version of March Madness: A prize filled hop presented by some of the best names in romance. And we've made it easy for you to join in.

Simply hop from blog to blog--the links are below--and "follow", "like", "friend" etc. the authors sites, then leave a comment on their respective blog post. Each author is running their own giveaway as well as participating in the Rafflecopter Grand-Prize Giveaway of a Kindle Fire OR Nook Color, A $50 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, A $25 Amazon/B&N Gift Card, and 6 - $10 Amazon/B&N Gift Cards, as well as a "basket" of books (e-books/paperbacks). The event is live from March 5 - March 31st, 2013 to give you plenty of time to tour all the blogs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here are the participating authors so be sure to hop over and visit them. The more blogs you visit, the more chances you have of winning. See the rules below, and terms on the rafflecopter, for specifics of the contest.


Rules: You must be 18 years or older as of 12:01AM March 5, 2013. No purchase necessary. Avoid where prohibited by law. This event is open to worldwide participation (basket of books limited to US/Canada shipping addresses only) You are limited to one tweet, follow, like etc. per day, however you can follow one blog, tweet about another, and like a 3rd authors facebook page all on the same day. Be sure to follow the rules laid out by the individual authors about their respective giveaways, as they will vary from site to site. Rules and Terms are listed in the Rafflecopter. Grand-prizes will be announced on or about April 5th, 2013 on the SnSReviews.blogspot.com website. While we will make every effort to contact you, it is ultimately the winner's responsibility to check winning status and claim their prize. Posted winners will have 5 days from the date of the post to contact host and claim their respective prize. If the posted winner fails to contact host, prize may be forfeited and awarded to another randomly drawn entrant and distributed without further notice.

Sunday

Here goes. My first post on my new blog. I've played with a couple different blogs. Heck, I've even made a post or two, but I didn't like the lack of features they provided, so they fell by the wayside. However, a couple weeks ago I had this brilliant idea. Well, I'm not sure exactly which of us had the brilliant idea. You see, fellow author and friend, Hayden Braeburn and I were talking about March Madness and impending Basketball widowhood for many American's during the NCAA tournament that decides the "final four" for NCAA playoffs.

So, we tossed around the idea of having our own March Madness, and here it is, just two days before the launch of a pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, "HOP".  We've got some phenomenal authors participating, and some incredible prizes. A Kindle Fire or Nook Color, Gift Cards -- not 1 but 8 of them. And books. And this is on top of the giveaways happening on each authors individual blog.

Who's participating in the "hop" you ask? That's easy. I'll link to that below. And as far as my blog? Well expect to see me around a bit more. I've got lots of fun and exciting stuff to share. Most of it about the real life town of Payson, AZ, which is the setting for my Walking a Thin Blue Line police series. I'll try to add something fun and witty, though it will probably come out tactless and sarcastic, but I'll do my best. In the meantime, I hope everyone is having an awesome Sunday afternoon.

It's currently in the 70's here. I'm sitting on the porch, watching my kids play; they're wearing shorts and flipflops by the way. I absolutely love this time of year in the Phoenix area.

Okay, the list: