A Soldier's Devotion (Steeple Hill Love Inspired by Cheryl WyattMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Back of the Book: U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper Vince Reardon was headed to a lifesaving mission. Until a too-pretty lawyer crashed her fancy car into his motorcycle--sidelining him for two weeks. Vince can barely accept Valentina Russo's heartfelt apologies. Ever since his brother was wrongly convicted--and killed in prison--Vince has lost respect for lawyers. But wait--is that Val volunteering at his refuge for underprivileged kids? If Vince isn't careful, this lady of the law might just earn his respect and his heart.
Recently Cheryl Wyatt released a new Love Inspired series called “Eagle Point”. When I picked it up, I realized that it was a spin-off of another widely popular series of Ms. Wyatt’s “Refuge”. While I came in late on the Refuge series and only got to pick up the last two books, the Refuge series was why I recognized Cheryl Wyatt’s name on this book and picked it up. Therefore, I’m going to take you back to those two books before I start on this new series, but I can already tell you that I’m looking forward to the “Eagle Point” series.
The first Cheryl Wyatt book I read actually was, I believe, the fifth or sixth in the series, but “A Soldier’s Devotion” starts off with a bang. Literally! While on the phone, Val Russo missed a red light and ran smack dab into PJ Vince and not only totaled his motorcycle custom made by his now deceased brother, but nearly totaled Vince as well.
Personal prejudices hit home for me here as I really wanted to side with Vince in his anger toward Val for the accident. While I don’t ride, two of my brothers do and negligence by four wheeled (or more) drivers tend to be a major cause for accidents for motorcycle riders. My younger brother had an accident not too long ago when a driver, distracted by her cellphone, pulled out in front of him and sent him tumbling over the hood of her car onto the road where he was nearly hit by another car.
Needless to say, distracted driving really gets by ire up and Val’s apologies to Vince seemed hollow. Was she sorry for being distracted and hitting him? Or was she sorry that even though she was distracted she couldn’t avoid hitting him? A little cynical (okay, a lot!) but I was curious to see how to author expected to redeem Val after something like this.
I didn’t have long to wait and boy, did I feel this small *holds two fingers barely apart from each other*. Turned out Val wasn’t chatting with a girlfriend about the latest fashions or what happened on TV last night. She wasn’t even taking to her boss about work that needed to be finished. Nope, Val was on the phone with her aunt’s doctor. Seems her aunt fell down the basement stairs and needed surgery. Serious enough surgery that they couldn’t wait for Val to get to the hospital.
Yup, while Vince (and I) sat there condemning her for the accident, she stayed by Vince’s side until help came despite really needing to be at the hospital with her aunt. I mistook her totally self-less act as an attempt to cover her butt and possibly make Vince think she was truly repentant so he didn’t sue her for the accident. She took full responsibility for her actions, getting tickets in the process which has to be embarrassing for a prosecutor to have to pay. Still there were extenuating circumstances behind the situation that played an important role in her situation.
Sometimes I think we get caught up in the evidence before us sometimes that we forget to see what’s really behind the situation and rush to judgment based on a few facts. I’ve been in that situation before myself so you’d think I’d have learned by now but I’m still being taught valuable lessons. I guess that’s why I’m still here. *grin*
Anyway, I think I’ve pretty much gotten you through the first chapter. At this rate, it might be quicker just to pick up the book and read it yourself. LOL. It is worth it but since you came here looking for a review, let’s see if I can move things along and just hit the high points.
When Val learns that the bike she just totaled was custom made by Vince’s brother who died while imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, she decides to take it upon herself to get the motorcycle fixed. Unfortunately, the only other person remotely capable of repairing the bike back to its original custom condition happens to be Vince’s estranged sister.
Vince and his sister Victoria (like all the V names…lol) haven’t talked since their brother’s death so Val’s task isn’t an easy one. Still, she doesn’t give up on repairing the bike or on getting Vince to see he has some value beyond being a big tough parajumper.
Vince’s lack of self-worth is quite evident from the beginning of the story when he doesn’t understand why his team would forgo their mission to save a pilot in order to be with him after his accident. The other PJ team sent in to rescue the pilot ends up failing, adding more guilt to Vince’s shoulders. He doesn’t grasp why Val would seem to care about what happens to him. Instead he figures he must be some kind of pet project that she’ll soon grow tired of and then she’ll leave him alone.
Not the case. Val notices the way he is with the at-risk kids she brings to the swimming pool for lessons. His tattoos make his approachable to the teens while his easy manner with them makes him an adult they can trust. From the sound of things, they don’t have very many adults they can count on in tough situations.
In fact, one of the kids, Logan, is being abused by his mother’s boyfriend. Like most cases I’ve heard of personally involving boyfriends and stepfathers, Logan’s mom isn’t aware of the abuse and her Moron (as Logan calls her boyfriend) has threatened to hurt the mother if the boy squeals. But after getting his arm broken by the boyfriend, Logan has no choice and Val and Vince are there to not only help get the boyfriend out of their lives but to help get him arrested for dealing drugs as well.
Vince starts finally seeing what Val has been saying about him being the answer to someone’s prayers. I want to say this is the start of Vince’s journey towards God but I think there has been a little bit here and there throughout the story leading up to this. The transition of Vince from lost rebel biker to a faith devoted military man is well developed throughout this story and the change is so believable that you want to weep along with Val and his friends when he finally takes that step towards becoming a godly man.
Now Val isn’t without her own conflicts in this story but I’ll let you read it to find out where she falters and where she triumphs. Her story isn’t as much finding faith as it is retaining faith in tough times. But the reunion between brother and sister and the union between Val and Vince is well worth reading to the end.
After reading just this story, I knew Cheryl Wyatt was going to be an author I picked up again in the future.
If you want to find out more about Cheryl Wyatt and her booklist, please look her up at http://www.cherylwyatt.com/
Note: You can pick up any or all of Cheryl's books at the Harlequin E-book store HERE.
View all my reviews on Goodreads.com
