WOUNDED WARRIORS BLOG HOP!

THANK YOU, for stopping by. I have rounded my donation up to $50.00. Winners of books are: Jeanine McAdam, Kelsey Summer, Cindy Christiansen, Amber Dane and Angela Quarles. Please email me at sunnydaysbook@gmail.com with your choice of format: Kindle, Nook or PDF. Thank you all for entering and leaving comments. Following is the return email I received from Wounded Warriors for my donation:
We want to thank you for your generous donation to Wounded Warrior Project^®. Your gift enables us to provide comfort and aid to injured service members and their families.
Please help us spread the word about injured warriors’ needs and encourage your friends to learn more about Wounded Warrior Project by sending an email or posting on Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you again for your gift. This is a summary of the information that you provided.
Your Information
Name: Jean Joachim
Email: sunnydaysbook@gmail.com
Payment Information
Payment ID: 841424
Payment Type: CREDIT
Payment Date: 12/9/2012 5:30:55 PM EST
Donation Amount: $50.00

Jean Joachim 160 West 77th St. #1A New York, NY 10024 Thank you for your generous donation to Wounded Warrior Project, Inc. Your gift enables us to provide comfort and aid to injured warriors and their families. Contribution Summary: Payment Amount: $50.00 Reference ID: 841424

The full amount of your gift is tax-deductible under the Internal Revenue Code since Wounded Warrior Project Inc., a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3), did not provide goods or services of value to you in consideration of your contribution.

 

Christmas and Hanukkah are times for giving. To say THANK YOU to all our military personnel who serve so bravely, I am pledging one dollar to Wounded Warriors for each comment up to $100. Come on, let's get the comments rolling so we can raise money to help those who have given up so much in service to their country. You can also win a free book. Scroll down for details.

PTSD is an issue confronted in two of my books. Here are two excerpts pertaining to that lingering side effect of service.

I'll give a copy of either of my two military romances to five lucky commenters chosen at random, their choice. So leave your email address on your comment. 

The first is NOW AND FOREVER, THE BOOK OF DANNY.
After three years, Captain Danny Maine reconnected with Callie Richards, his dead brother's fiancee.   Callie was the sister he never had. This is their conversation:
“Why the military? After Kyle’s death…” Callie asked.
“I had a plan…a mission. I went there to kill the people who killed Kyle.”
“How could you know…?”
“All the snipers, suicide bombers, terrorists…they all killed him,” Danny said, clenching his fist.
“Did you get them?” she asked him, gently, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“You’re damn right I did. I killed them all…those bastards. Every time we went on patrol and came across the enemy, I was the first one there with my rifle. I’m a crack shot, a sniper, a detonator, an executioner. I shot them, I blew them up. I splattered their blood all over the Middle East,” he said, heatedly, his face growing red and a vein in his arm bulging as his fist closed tighter.

Callie saw the pain and fury on Danny’s face. She hardly recognized the new Danny. Where was the intellectual scholar Callie knew? An enraged, vengeful man faced her, clearly injured on the inside. Her friend never found respite from the pain of losing Kyle. Callie placed gentle hands on Danny’s shoulders.
“Only you could understand,” he said as he put his arms around her, laid his head on hers and wept uncontrollably. Callie held him, hugging him to her, as if she could squeeze the rage out of his body.

Now a snippet from the second military romance, written with retired Marine, Ben Tanner, called LOVE LOST AND FOUND. 

 Sgt. Mick Peterson is on a date with Tara. Walking in the moonlight, he starts explaining what his medals are for. Then he opens up about this horrifying experience: awards and decorations. Ben wrote this scene and it always moves me to tears.
"Won’t bore you with details on all of them, only a few. This first one, the Blue/white/red/white/blue one is The Silver Star. I received it in Fallujah. We were clearing houses of insurgents and terror suspects when we were ambushed at a two-story house along the primary north-south road in Fallujah.”
He paused for a ragged breath, almost a sigh. Tara rested her hand on his forearm for a moment.
“I dropped back into the courtyard, with gunfire spraying out of the house and from across the street. I was struck in the hip by shrapnel from two grenades that had been rolled through the front door.
My squad moved away from the courtyard, headed for the street. They continued firing on the house, I was the last to emerge. That's when my leg gave out on me, and I dropped. I huddled into a position alongside three wounded comrades in the middle of the road as multiple rounds flew all around us”
His eyes watered as he paused before continuing. She tightened her grip.
“I kept firing my weapon, just shooting, waiting to get hit. I'd pretty much figured it was all over. I kept firing but I didn't think I’d make it. When my ammunition was exhausted, I grabbed magazines from the wounded and managed to protect the position until another Bradley fighting vehicle arrived on the scene. I helped load the most seriously injured soldiers before letting them take me.”
He moved away from her, put his face in his hands…tears flowing freely, and said, almost inaudibly, “Crawford, Matthis, Chambers, and Blake…all…gone.”
She moved to him, opening her arms, gathering him in. He rested his head on hers, closing his arms around her shoulders. They stood together in silence. The breeze picked up, cooling the air, and the rustling of the palm leaves covered the sound of his soft shuddering sigh.

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