All For You

Starred review from May 4, 2015
Scott delivers another sensitive, touching look at the trials and tribulations of modern military life at Fort Hood, Texas with the fourth Coming Home contemporary (after Back to You), tackling military suicides and the macho culture that contributes to them. Sgt. Reza Iaconelli had a drinking problem and a spate of personal demons well before he joined the army, and four deployments only layered on the trauma and damage. Emily Lindberg left her cushy, sheltered life as an East Coast therapist for the rich and privileged, hoping to live a meaningful life helping the army take care of its own. When they're both involved in a tragedy with a soldier who was abused by the system, they're forced to overcome the differences in their experiences to find a better way for the army, and for each other. Scott displays a deft touch with her main and supporting characters, and a realistic, moving development of Reza and Emily's romance. Readers will ache, cheer, and worry in all the right places. Agent: Donna Bagdasarian, Publication Riot Group.

Starred review from October 15, 2014
Sergeant First Class Reza Iaconelli is losing his battle with alcohol, his commander, and at least two of his men, both of whom keep getting referred to army psychologists for behavioral issues. This brings him into contact with Captain Emily Lindberg, Fort Hood's newest shrink, who asks him, after one of their arguments, to help her understand what her patients go through so she can better help them. In the process of taking her on a training mission, they end up having adrenaline rushaugmented sex which leads to more involvement, despite Reza's attempts to push her away from the childhood and wartime demons that haunt him. But Emily stands her ground and helps him, not only into recovery but also to realizing that, tormented though he is, he is worthy of being loved and cared for. Scott, an army officer who served in Iraq, not only presents a wonderful love story about two very different people finding each other but also offers an incredibly moving book about the difficulties resulting from multiple deployments, and military suicides, and the toll they take on soldiers' souls and psyches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)