Anna!

Please email me at jessica AT jessicascott DOT net and send me your snail mail address. I’ll get Stephanie’s Hard to Hold Trilogy in the mail to you, STAT!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and passed the word about Steph and Romance Roll Call!

Contest: Win Stephanie Tyler’s Hard to Hold Trilogy

Stephanie Tyler is one of the founding members of Romance Roll Call. I emailed her out of the blue in Iraq and said hey, I’ve got this idea and she jumped on board. Look for her to start blogging with us later this month and regularly after that.

So it’s with great pleasure that I’m announcing Romance Roll Call’s first giveaway. We’re spotlighting Stephanie’s new back to back Hard to Hold Trilogy, featuring her sexy Navy SEALS Jake, Nick and Chris.

Lt. Jake Hansen has survived some of the riskiest missions known to man. But now the wounded Navy SEAL faces his toughest job yet: Smuggling Dr. Isabelle Markham out of Africa without triggering an international incident. Not easy to do when the gorgeous hostage happens to be a senator’s daughter —and about as easy to resist as an oasis in the desert…
If it weren’t for Jake, Isabelle would still be halfway across the world, where rebel forces left her for dead. The Special Ops warrior may have saved her life, but she doesn’t need him to protect her now. Tell that to the ruggedly handsome hunk in full battle fatigues who’s just been assigned Isabelle’s personal bodyguard. Close quarters aside, Isabelle won’t let Jake anywhere near her heart — until danger throws them together again…and nothing in the jungles of wildest Africa could prepare them for a passion this wild. This crazy. This hot….

He’s an elite Navy SEAL living a risky double life. She’s the gorgeous reporter hot on his trail.

Nick Devane’s life is one big, classified secret. Until Kaylee Smith busts his covert world wide open, threatening to blow his cover. Digging around where she doesn’t belong could get them both killed…especially when the beautiful journalist uncovers top-secret information that could set off a global disaster if it falls into the wrong hands. Nick can’t let that happen, even if he has to battle deadly mercenaries and an irresistible attraction that is all consuming…
Kaylee didn’t expect her search for her missing ex-husband to lead to this sexy and dangerous SEAL. Now she’s teamed up with Nick on a mission that takes them into deepest Africa–and into the middle of a massive government cover-up. With rogue agents hot on their trail, Kaylee’s going to unearth all Nick’s secrets. Before they both vanish without a trace. Before the passion burning between them sets off an explosion no one may survive…

Chris Waldron, an elite U.S. Navy SEAL, is used to getting out of tight spots. But all his years of training can’t prepare him for the crisis he now faces. When a mission to rescue a kidnapped ambassador and his wife goes tragically awry, an FBI hostage negotiator is killed and Chris finds himself at the center of the ensuing investigation. Leading the charge is the blistering hot special agent and onetime lover who has re-ignited their mutual attraction.
Jamie Michaels is determined to keep things professional with Chris Waldron this time. But seeing him bruised and battered in that hospital bed has rekindled all those feelings she thought she’d left behind during their brief, passionate encounter in Africa. Now Jamie must keep her craving for danger at bay as she spearheads a search for the truth that just may blow Chris’s career to bits—and put them both in the crosshairs of an unseen enemy.

So stop by RRC all this week and tell us what your favorite thing about Navy SEAL books is. Tell us why you want to read Ms Tyler’s series, what you love about them if you’ve read them and why you can’t wait to get your hands on Hold on Tight BEFORE IT’S RELEASED.

Winner to be announced Monday, January 25th!

Hi everyone

I’m thrilled to be blogging here with Jessica today and so glad to welcome her home from Iraq. I’m also a woman on a mission.

First, I want to wish you all Merry Christmas and happy holidays and to thank you all for being such loyal readers and spreading the word about my books! So Merry Christmas!! And thanks! You all are the best and I hope this coming year brings all things wonderful and good your way!

My second reason is just as heartfelt and very important. I want to remind you all that we sleep in peace on the home front at night due to the brave and valiant efforts of our military who defend our freedom against terrorism every day.

That said, I want to call your attention to the plight of the 3 Navy SEALS who will soon be on trial for doing their job and defending our country during the capture of a known terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed.

Abed is the accused brains behind the grisly ambush of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah in 2004. The contractors were protecting a convoy when they were attacked by Iraqi insurgents. Their bodies were burned inside their vehicle, dragged through the streets by a chanting mob, then hanged from a Euphrates River bridge. The cruel episode was photographed and posted online as a warning to the Big Bad West.

Abed has cried foul, accusing the SEALS of abuse during his capture. The trumped-up charges against them range from dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, hitting a detainee, and lying to investigators.

Subsequently, on December 7th, two of the SEALs were arraigned in military court: Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, 24 and Petty Officer 1st class Julio Huertas, 28. The arraignment for Petty Officer 2nd class Jonathan Keefe, 25, has not yet been scheduled. All three SEALS were offered a simple reprimand if they admitted wrongdoing, but they rejected it, placing their faith and careers on exoneration at trial. If convicted, however, they face loss of rank, up to a year’s confinement and partial forfeiture of pay, and a bad conduct discharge.

The SEALS have received an outpouring of public support on the Internet, and a California congressman has led a campaign urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene. Dozens of protesters, including the mother of one of the slain contractors, stood outside the Norfolk Naval Station gate Monday morning, Dec 7, during their arraignment, holding signs of support.

One SEAL said he was gratified by support from the public and some of the members of congress who have been leading a campaign urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene.

“He’s been a hero — two tours of Iraq and one tour of Afghanistan — and now this is the thanks he gets,” Huertas’ civilian attorney, Monica Lombardi, told reporters after the arraignment.

I happen to agree. They are all heroes. I have written my Congressman and Senators about this deplorable situation. I’m urging you to do the same. I love my country. I’m proud to be an American but I take passionate issue with the way our government is handling of this situation.

Let’s all show these brave men that we support them. You can find your legislator’s addresses by simply googling their names then going to their web page and contacting them there.

Here’s my letter for reference. Feel free to use it as a guide and let your legislators know that you feel the same way!

Dear Senator Grassley:
My purpose for writing is to offer my support for the 3 Navy SEALS, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, Petty Officer 1st class Julio Huertas, and Petty Officer 2nd class Jonathan Keefe, who will soon be on trial for actions related to the capture of alleged terrorist, Ahmed Hashim Abed, the accused brains behind the grisly ambush of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah in 2004.
How sad it is that these heroes are being held accountable for actions they took in defense of our country and our freedom. If you have any influence at all over this travesty of a military trial, I urge you to intervene and request that all charges be dropped immediately.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my request and for all the work you do representing our interests.
Sincerely
Cindy Gerard

There you have it. I sincerely hope you will be able to find the time to speak out on behalf of these heroes!
Thanks!!! Have a wonderful year!

Best,
Cindy

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I have the utmost respect for women who’ve pledged their hearts to a man in the military, especially for the wives of Navy SEALs.  Every military spouse has to make amazing sacrifices. Having been married to both an Army officer a Navy petty officer, I know what it means to wait and worry. Lots of women do it, but the wives of Navy SEALs are a special breed. The first thing you notice when you meet them is they’re beautiful. All of them. But there’s usually an amazing brain behind that beauty. Like their Navy SEAL husbands they are all intelligent and accomplished human beings. And like their husbands, they are also impossibly brave. Imagine letting your husband go without a moment’s notice to face the worst imaginable and terrifying dangers halfway across the world. It takes faith to do that–faith that what your husband is doing is in America’s best interest; that it will save lives; that it is noble and worthy. 

     Two years ago, I had the privelege of meeting Laura and Patsy, the widows of Navy SEALs Michael McGreevy and Danny Dietz. Both men perished in Operatin Redwing, Afghanistan, 2005. Every year Laura and her friends raise money for a scholarship in memory of her husband. Both women have soldiered on without their husbands. Having made the choice to love them, they also made the choice to be just as brave–perhaps even more brave, for keeping it together when they were left behind. God bless you both, Ladies.

     Since the advent of Suzanne Brockmann, Navy SEAL books have enjoyed increasing popularity as readers everywhere discover the undying appeal of the world’s sexiest man. I’m proud to say I continue in Suzanne’s tradition by portraying heroes that will rock your world and leave you feeling privileged to know them.

For all that SEALs are capable of doing, for all the training they’ve endured, for all the crazy stunts they’ve pulled, for their fearlessness in facing down terror, who needs these guys to be vampires or reincarnated souls of pirates?? They are awesome just as they are. Who else would jump out of a helicopter in the dead of night or fast rope onto the stern of a smuggler’s yacht? Who else would slam into fifteen foot swells going fifty miles an hour to beat a shipment of illegal weapons? Who else could curl the toes of a woman with the mere act of stripping off his shirt?

Navy SEALs are the guardians of us lesser mortals. And yet…they are also painfully human. And when they fall in love they fall hard.

     Thanks to my proximity to East Coast SEALs in Virginia Beach and the fact that my husband is retired Navy, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know real SEALs and the women brave enough to love them. Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine edits my action scenes for authenticity without expecting a dime. That’s just the kind of guy he is. That’s the kind of guy they all are.

    Yes, a man in uniform looks good, but Navy SEALs are the best of the best. Feel free to disagree, but you’ll need to support your argument!