SAVING
JASON
By
EJ Hanagan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Jason
Barnes is a free spirit. Underneath that fun-loving surface lurks a
severe case of PTSD, his personal souvenir from the war on terror.
After his young marriage breaks up, he bounces from girlfriend to
girlfriend, never allowing himself to get too close, all while
maintaining a friendship with his ex-wife, Samantha Colton.
Everything
changes when he meets Abby Jacobsen, a smart and sassy artist – but
with love comes jealousy, and Abby doesn’t stand for Jason’s cozy
friendship with Samantha. Two hours after a heated argument causes
Jason to storm out of their apartment, Abby receives a phone call
from the intensive care unit of a New Hampshire hospital. The
hospital walls close in on Abby and Samantha as they are forced to
make tough decisions while trying hard not to kill each other. The
two form a rare bond when Emma Jane, Jason’s mom, arrives on the
scene. Three weeks after Jason’s accident, Abby is left alone and
hovering over a handful of positive pregnancy tests. During her
pregnancy, Abby works with Samantha to dig up clues of Jason’s
past. As the truth is discovered, their worlds are irreversibly
changed.
An
emotionally-moving look at PTSD and the intersection of three lives,
Saving Jason is a riveting glimpse into unexpected friendships and
the ripples we leave without our knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Samantha
is nice. I don’t know why I ever worried about the two of them. If
they were the last two strangers on earth, I couldn’t picture them
together. She is so conservative and softspoken, where Jason is
loud and uninhibited. I suppose I could see them young together,
before life got real. Maybe they fit together like two puzzle
pieces—where she had spaces and indents, he extended himself to fit
into them smoothly, if only for a few years before their shapes grew
and formed into different configurations.
"Good
morning." I look up as Samantha folds herself into the booth in
the hospital café, our official meeting spot.
"I
snuck in some good coffee from my dad’s house. Godiva, my
favorite." She slides a plastic togo mug over to me,
suspicious eyes darting around the cafeteria as if she’s committing
a crime. "Cream and two Splenda, just the way you like it.”
"This
is a tiny slice of heaven." I take a sip of the smoldering rich
coffee, robust flavors of hazelnut dominating my taste buds. "You’ve
spoiled me; I’ll never be able to drink this hospital mud again."
"Alex
calls me a coffee snob. And I certainly cannot deny it."
For a
moment the two of us are just friends exchanging trinkets of our
lives and we forget why we are here. Jason is our common bond. She
has his past, and I am hanging on to what he may or may not have of a
future.
My Review:
My Review:
Saving Jason by E.J. HanaganMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Saving Jason by E. J Hanagan is a 2014 Booktrope publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is incredibly well written and so emotional. I confess I cried nearly all the way through it. At the center of our story is Jason, a young man who returned home from his stint in the military with PTSD. This issue tore apart his marriage to Samantha. However, Jason and Samantha still love one another deeply and remain very close friends, almost like siblings.
Samantha moved forward with her life, getting married to a wonderful guy named Alex. But, the bottom drops out of her world when Jason's current girlfriend text her in the middle of the night explaining that Jason was in an accident and may not pull through.
Abby was so jealous of Samantha, she and Jason had argued about her right before his accident. Now, Abby has to contend with Samantha's presence at the hospital too.
Factor in Jason's self absorbed, money and man hungry mom and the combination was almost lethal. While Jason lies in a coma, Abby and Samantha slowly begin to bond and soon become the best of friends.
While the situation the book is built upon is bleak, depressing, and sad, the story becomes something truly inspiring as people who were thrown a curve ball learn to cope and deal with a senseless tragedy. Not everyone in the story is nice, but most of the characters are so human and real it was like I was living through the experience right along with them. The author wisely chooses to put the story into alternate first person narratives and this works beautifully. Samantha's memories of her life with Jason when they were married were especially poignant.
“We Loved to hate each other and hated to love each other. It was as if we sat in the cart of a creaky, old roller coaster together from ages twenty to twenty-five- a roller coaster that dipped and twisted at such sharp angles that we had to grasp on to one another just to make it through the painful, gut-wrenching ride.”
Abby's character grows in leaps and bounds as she goes through some incredible life changes and suffers over Jason's long term outlook. She goes from being oversensitive, a bit immature, and suffering through personal insecurities, to being a strong, resilient young woman, with an determination to work hard to make the best of the cards she has been dealt.
There are many twist and turns in the story as those affected by Jason, his life, his choices, and by those who were on the fringes of his life, all cope in different ways, and cope together. Life long bonds were forged and so many lives were touched by this young man. The story left me feeling nearly weak with all those intense emotions swirling around but man, what a story! A really deep tale I can't even seem to classify within a set genre or explain it's affect on me, but I am glad I found this book and really enjoyed reading something so well written and with such depth and meaning. Overall 5 stars.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
EJ
Hanagan is a fitness fanatic, obsessive reader and animal lover. She
currently lives in a sleepy little beach town just outside of Boston
with her husband, their new aughter, and the family’s two giant
Newfoundland dogs. After spending four years in the Air Force, she
put her fire for fitness to good use and worked as a personal trainer
while attending college. EJ credits the amazing, brave people she met
in the military for giving her the passion and focus to raise
awareness for veterans with PTSD. Her hope is to bring the invisible
scars of war to the surface through her writing and community
involvement.
Connect
with EJ online
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EJHanagan
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/EJHanaganbooks
Amazon
Print:
http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Jason-E-J-Hanagan/dp/1620155125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411364776&sr=8-1&keywords=Saving+Jason
Barnes
and Noble Print:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saving-jason-ej-hanagan/1120261539?ean=9781620155127&itm=1&usri=saving+jason
Barnes
and Noble Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saving-jason-ej-hanagan/1120261539?ean=2940150340725&itm=1&usri=saving+Jason
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletecool giveaway! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove the blurb and excerpt, sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteOh, your blog isn't very good for my TBR list at all! I can't stop thinking about what an emotional read this is going to be, and I know I have to read it. I love a good emotional book, especially ones about mental or physical disability because those are topics I want to know more about and truly understand. Thanks so much for the awesome review.
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