Reckless

This is the second book in the Forrest brothers trilogy from Ruth Wind. It nicely follows the first but you don't need to have read Marriage Material before trying this one. There's a lot of ground to cover in a 250 page book but Wind manages it very well. Back Blurb: Jake Forrest had always believed in honor. It was how he lived his life, made his choices. Dressed in army greens, he stood tall and proud, his startling blue eyes focused on the task at hand, his broad chest swelled with pride. Then it all disappeared, and Jake wanted only to forget. It was only in the arms of Ramona Hardy that Jake found peace. But the small-town doctor had fought demons of her own, and she knew the love growing between them could never last...until Jake stopped running from his past. Their future depended on it." Jake had always wanted to be a soldier. Growing up listening to the stories of Harry, a WWII vet, Jake had dreamed of being one of the good guys who made the world safe. Only his dream has turned into nightmares which haunt his days and won't allow him to sleep. Not unless he's got more than a few belts of Scotch to help. Ramona Hardy is sure she's looking at a man with a classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and if Jake doesn't seek help soon, his demons will drive him into even worse reckless behavior. But Ramona has some demons** from her own past. Ones which she's dealt with allowing her to create a nice, safe life as a country doctor. She and Jake both know they aren't each other's usual type. But the physical attraction is as strong as the emotional one and they find themselves seeking the other out. Any chance they have for happiness depends on Jake finally coming to terms with what happened to him and he's the only one who can do that. As I said earlier, Wind covers a lot of territory in this book but manages to do it without rushing the ending or shortchanging anything. I really like that Ramona is different from Jake's usual tall, leggy blondes. She's short, a little plump and by golly, she stays that way. And in Jake's eyes she goes from a little Miss Wren to the best woman in the world. It's not overnight but nice and slow and believable. And I like that Jake's healing isn't a miraculous, sudden change. The boy has some serious problems but I felt he was well on his way to dealing with them. Not there yet but the light at the end of the tunnel is sunshine and not a train. As with Marriage Material, the Forrest family plays a background role in the story but never crowds out Jake and Ramona's book. Plus it has cats! And dogs! I'd give this one a B+. Spoiler follows: ** Just in case anyone wants to know (and it's revealed fairly early in the book), Ramona was raped as a teenager. We don't see the event and it's not told in flashbacks or anything but we do see how it still affects her and learn how she battled past the event.

I was pleasantly suprised by how wonderful this book was. I normally don't read the category romances because the stories are a tad trite. But this book packed a bang. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a heavy subject to be addressed, normally. But Ms. Wind did an incredible job honoring veterans and creating characters readers could sympathize and empathize with. The heroine in this novel is one I'll remember for some time because the author made her into someone that I'm sure I've met before. She was plump, loved animals and had worked very hard to overcome obsticles in her life.

Boy, two folks as different as Jake and Ramona have no businesss necking at a wedding. Ramona a "healer has always had a crush on Jake the soldier. Now the real risk is her heart and Jakes life. The chemisty is realistic and the story real.