Until There Was You by Jessica Scott

Format Read: e-book provided courtesy of Author for Review
Length: 230 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Military Romance
Release Date: October 8, 2012
Publisher: Loveswept / Random House
Formats Available: eBook, Kindle, Nook, iTunes
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Powell’s Books

Book Blurb:

He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .

A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.

Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye. He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.

My Thoughts:

It’s July 2005 and Captain Evan Loher reluctantly attends a “hail and farewell”, which I learned is a traditional military event whereby those coming to and departing from an organization are celebrated. Evan is annoyed because there is a problem in his  company that must be dealt with that has nothing to do with shooting bad guys. Also attending said military event is the beautiful Captain Claire Montoya who proves to be a pleasant, enticing distraction. Evan thinks Claire is a civilian but later learns she is one of the officers being hailed, and new to the brigade.

Both these people avoid relationships with coworkers for a variety of reasons so when sparks fly between Claire and the handsome company commander, she shelves her hard and fast rule…for a moment:

Her mouth opened beneath his, her tongue sliding against his, signaling a salient desire that penetrated his defenses and made him no longer care that she was in his brigade. There were no rules against them doing any of this—whatever this was—but he didn’t date at work. As he lost himself in her taste and touch, he seriously reconsidered that personal rule. He captured her quite gasp against his mouth and felt the locks turning on the chains that held his restraint.

It was a long moment before Claire eased back, nibbling on his bottom lip before she broke the tentative connection between them.

“What was that?” he asked, his voice rough and unfamiliar to his own ears.

She smiled. “A mistake.” She swiped her thumb over his bottom lip. “But one I enjoyed.”

Fast-forward to Late 2008 and Claire is freezing her patuties off in Colorado Springs, Colorado where she had been ordered on a mission by her brigade commander to train a company of combat-inexperienced soldiers to ready them for deployment to Iraq. After three deployments Claire is well aware of what is facing the company commander who happens to be Sarah, her oldest friend.

Complicating matters is that Evan is the officer in charge assigned to the training mission and he and Claire now have a long and muddy history of butting heads when deployed. As he laments Claire is:

A woman who ate napalm and pissed razor wire and inspired Evan to want to throttle her every time they were in the same room together.

Basically there is a ying and yang thing going on with Claire and Evan, particularly with regard to their handling of combat situations , however the simmering sexual attraction ignited on that long ago night remains.

Also in attendance is Claire’s best friend and longtime NCO teammate Sergeant First Class Renza Iaconelli, who she adores like a brother. Iaconelli is a battle-honed respected warrior. Unfortunately he is also a known womanizer and drowns his demons in booze. Claire is fiercely protective of her friend and has covered for his extra curricular activities on more then one occasion. Claire and Evan’s confrontational rapport is amplified by her need to cover for Iaconelli’s escalating alcohol related incidents. I thought author Jessica Scott was very clever in this regard as while Claire and Renza’s relationship is purely platonic there is a triangle established due to her need to protect him at all costs which affects her budding relationship with Evan.

In the background of a time sensitive mission that is thwarted by unrealistic limitations imposed by the brass, as well as numerous other problems, Evan or “Captain America” and Claire finally give in and enjoy an intimate relationship. Until There Was You has love scenes with what I would describe as light sexuality. However, above noted conflicts are coupled with painful personal histories that have made Evan and Claire into people that have self-imposed barriers regarding establishing emotional connections. While they are certainly opposites, in many ways I saw them has having a lot in common and they are both tormented and  lonely.

I did get bit mired in the military jargon and found some of the information regarding the mission confusing and slow. I really liked how Scott shaped Claire and Evan’s backgrounds that significantly impacted and shaped their personas outside of their combat experience. Certainly the author realistically depicts what its like to be a soldier deployed in a region marred by war, then decompressing when coming home after such a harrowing experience extremely well, but who better than a career Army officer to lend realism to her characters and share life as a soldier with us? I also loved the dry wit embedded in the story’s intelligent dialogue. I felt for Evan and Claire and wanted to see them overcome their issues and be happy together.

I haven’t read Scott’s first book Because of You and am looking forward to the read very much. While these books are part of a series, I had no difficulty reading Until There Was You as a standalone.

I give Until There Was You 4 Stars

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

About Lea

Lea is an animal loving, tree hugging vegetarian who lives in Toronto, Canada with her family, which includes three dogs. She is a prolific reader and has been blogging and reviewing since 2008. Lea is a contributor at the USA Today HEA Blog and an active member at Goodreads.

• View all posts by Lea →
• Blog
• Twitter