Book Review: The Education of Caroline by Jane Harvey-Berrick

The Education of Caroline
The Education of...#2
Author: Jane Harvey-Berrick
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Erotica
Released: February 7th 2013
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Ten years after their broken affair, Sebastian and Caroline meet again: this time in very different circumstances, against the background of the war in Afghanistan.

Now a successful journalist, Caroline meets Chief Sebastian Hunter, US Marine. Will this chance encounter rekindle the erotic madness of her passionate affair with a younger man?

First of all, I absolutely loved this book and found it better than the first. In the first of the series we meet Caroline whom then was a Navy wife that befriended Sebastian, a little boy in her neighborhood. He had a bad childhood so Caroline was like a mentor to him. That was until her husband had orders to move. They eventually ended up back in the same base years later and met up with Sebastian again, only this time he was just shy of turning 18. Caroline and Sebastian ended up having an affair and let me tell you it was a steamy affair but in the end Caroline had to leave and have no contact with Sebastian. Which she thought was for the best so that maybe Sebastian could go to college and make something with his life.

This book started off ten years later with Caroline being a successful journalist living in Long Beach, New York. She also has a knack for the military life and most women journalists don’t get reporting jobs with deployed overseas troops. Therefore Caroline changed her first name to Lee in hopes for an assignment with the troops. She is sent on a job which starts out in Switzerland and after arriving she goes through protocol briefings. That’s when Caroline realizes the US Marine translator is Sebastian!!

At first Sebastian was kind of a jerk to Caroline because she never came back for him. His father made him join the Marines as a punishment for embarrassing him with his foolishness for having an affair with a married woman. Sebastian turned into a bitter man that is until he was reunited with Caroline. He took three weeks off from work and had Caroline accompany him on his motorcycle to Italy. But their trip ended early because Sebastian was called back to work.

It turned out both Sebastian and Caroline ended up going to the same base in Afghanistan. Since it would cause problems for both of their careers they decided not to reveal being a couple. Sebastian did his best to keep an eye on Caroline. The Taliban found out that there was a woman journalist embedded with the troop so they were making her a target to get some publicity. Safety issues sent Caroline much home earlier than expected. She made it out just fine but Sebastian ended up being caught in the middle of a suicide bomber.

This book was a great read. I would recommend it to any adult that loves romance and passion. Just make sure you have your tissues ready because if you are a sap like me you will cry your eyes out. I won’t tell you how it ends because that would give away everything but I will leave you with this quote that tore me to pieces, but you will have to read the book to know exactly how it ends.

“Caro, my love,
Just writing these words makes me happier than I can remember being for a very long time-ten years, in fact.
I am not one for words-I leave that to you-my beautiful, talented Caro. But we’ll be heading out. I hope you never have to read this letter, but if you do, it means I have gone on to the next big adventure.”