Shari J. Ryan | Shari J Ryan

SHARI J. RYAN

—INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR—


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Everything You Need to Know About Last One Home

Shari Ryan • Mar 22, 2021

LAST ONE HOME IS NOW AVAILABLE

Whenever I start a blog post, I rarely know how it’s going to twist and turn, then conclude. So, I must warn you, today is no different, especially because my book released today. Last One Home isn’t just any book, it’s my 30th written novel over the last decade. When people ask how many books I’ve written, I often lose count because writing is a part of my everyday life and I stopped looking at books as milestones, and instead see them as steps toward a higher level of knowledge. I’ve learned to appreciate the details woven into history, the craft of writing, unique styles from other writers, and developing my “voice.”

Years ago, an editor told me I wouldn’t succeed until I found my voice. I was about four or five books into my career and the statement gutted me. I didn’t know what this editor meant, and I took it as an insult. Once I wiped the tears and got back up, I became determined to understand the meaning of having “a voice.” At that time, it was like learning a foreign language without knowing the alphabet first. I had so much to learn. It didn’t come all at once or even over the next year or two. I truly believe I didn’t find “my voice” until about three years ago when I wrote Last Words. I pulled a story out of my heart that was so meaningful and impactful to my soul that it carried my voice through the words. That’s when I understood what that editor was trying to tell me.

Anyway, I digress because today isn’t about Last Words or letting you know that I have found my voice after all these years, but my root to Last One Home was Last Words—my first Historical Fiction. I didn’t think I could write a story that took place in another era, one I wasn’t alive during, but as I research and listen to stories, I see the scenes in my head and it helps me re-recreate the images so I can transpose them into words. It’s my favorite form of art.

Over the last seven months, I have spent countless hours watching documentaries, interviews, reading biographies, and scouring the internet for research on Pearl Harbor and the journey of one evacuation hospital and one Army Air Corps unit. These two parts of WWII were only pieces of what made up the war, but there was enough research to write several books, let alone one.

I then considered whether to follow a traditional route of writing in 3rd person or if I should continue to do as I prefer and write a Historical Fiction in first-person. My way isn’t necessarily ordinary, but it’s authentic to me. I have an easier time placing myself inside the mind of a character and writing what I think he or she will experience through all senses. I think about these characters day and night and create binders full of notes to make these figments of my imagination as real as they appear in my head.

The genuine challenge is taking the characters back to the time when the story takes place. Speech was different. The sense of sarcasm, anger, grief, and sadness were displayed in different forms than what is natural for me to assume. To me, this part is like being in a theatre production—one where I don’t have to feel stage fright.

Last One Home is a compilation of various forms of art and research and has come together int the form of a novel which still feels miraculous to me some days. It’s hard to remember each step I took to arrive where I am, but yet, the proof sits in front of me.

I write to entertain. The feeling of bringing a smile to a reader’s face, or sharing emotions cooked up through a character’s internal battles, brings me excitement. Sometimes, I feel like a five-year-old who has just completed her best masterpiece: stick-figure drawing and trips, running to show everyone what she has created. That’s how I feel the second I write the last word in my story. I know it’s a mess and unedited, but I just want to share it with someone else.

On release day, after sharing the book with a select few and the manuscript has gone through edits and is polished, I place it out on display and wait to see what the rest of the world thinks. I don’t think there will ever come a day when I don’t feel like a five-year-old with a stick-figure-drawing standing in the middle of an art gallery, holding up my drawing in between all the Picasso’s, Monet’s, and Van Gogh’s of the world, but that’s okay because I will always have a continuous drive to improve.

While I have stepped away from the Romance genre, there is still an element of romance within Last One Home between my leading characters. This type of romance is raw and the type that is put through the ringer of war catastrophes. Along with Lizzie and Everett’s love, there is a truth about life, family, friendship, war, and everything in between. There were parts of this book that felt similar to our current state of living, and it was a reminder of how easily history can and will repeat itself if we don’t learn from our past mistakes.

I hope you find parts of this book that resonate with your heart, and I hope my words bring back to the 40s when life was completely different but also a little familiar.

After you’ve read Last One Home, let me know if there is a character in this book who you think needs their own story :). I’m eager to get writing the next book!

Thank you for your continuous support on my writing journey! Please share the book with your friends and family and help me spread the word!

xoxo,

Shari

AVAILABLE NOW Free with Kindle Unlimited

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Last One Home is a spectacular story that will take you back to a heartbreaking time where extraordinary people stepped up and made a difference against all odds. This book may take you on a journey of devastation, heartbreak and fear, but it will also show you so much courage, strength and resiliency. […] If you don’t feel every emotion reading this book and the breathtaking way it was written, I would be shocked.
— Tracey Vuolo, Life Reads With Friends
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This book absolutely destroyed me and had me sobbing by the end. Everything about it is just heart breaking and beautiful and just filled me with so much emotion. The story, the setting, the characters, it just all comes together to make one of the best historical fiction romances I’ve read in a long time. This is one of those books that will always stick with you once you’ve read it, it’s been days and I still can’t get this breathtaking story out of my head. I honestly don’t think there are words adequate enough to describe how hard I fell for this book and the beautiful story of holds.
— Ashley Daviau, Bookstagrammer and Top Goodreads Reviewer

Back Cover Description:

From the author of  Last Words, USA Today  Bestselling Author Shari J. Ryan brings readers a new, unforgettable novel.  Last One Home  was inspired by true events of the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II.

AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Piercing sirens led to cries for help. The pungent scents of burning oil would be seared into our memories forever, and the meaning behind loss was incomprehensible on that infamous day in history.

Twenty-year-old Elizabeth Salzberg, a nursing student and strong-willed Jewish woman, lived under the strict guidance of her father, a naval commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Oahu, Hawaii. For the five years following her mother's untimely death, Elizabeth had struggled to abide by society's expectations of a woman's duties. While spending her days preparing meals and keeping a clean house for her father and brothers, Elizabeth desired a more profound sense of worth and purpose in life.

Elizabeth's dream of escaping the rigorous daily grind was drifting out to sea just before her unexpected encounter with the new handsome lieutenant on base. Everett Anderson, a former Hollywood actor who put his career on hold to serve in the Army is the talk of the town as women gossip over his arrival. Despite the attention, Everett fell for Elizabeth at first sight, but unbeknownst to him, she was the commander's daughter and off-limits to all servicemen on base.

On the morning of December 7th, 1941, a forbidden romance was the least of Elizabeth and Everett's worries when they found themselves fearing for their lives as they dropped to the ground beneath the air attack that would wipe out the U.S. Fleet within hours.

Elizabeth saw this pivotal moment as a turning point in her life. An opportunity to join the Army Nurse Corps was the purpose she had been seeking. She knew the country needed her services. This path was in resistance to her father's wishes and would likely disrupt any future plans between her and Everett, but despite the internal battle to make a life-altering decision, Elizabeth felt an overwhelming need to prove her strength as a coming of age woman at a time when equality was more important than ever.

Could Elizabeth and Everett survive the bloodshed and tears of war, or would one have to come home without the other?



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