Last One Home has a cover and a blurb!

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?

I’ve been dying to share more information about this book for a while now, but for my sanity, I needed to finish writing before spouting off about it all. Now that I’m through, I feel great about the story.

The official release date is March 22, 2021 and I’ll be biting my nails until then!

In the meantime, here is the blurb:

Add Last One Home to your TBR

After I wrote the Last Words Series, I found a passion for learning about this historical era during World War II. If I told my nineteen-year-old college-girl-self that I would someday find history fascinating, I might have paid better attention in my classes :). I guess we all learn at a unique pace and when we’re ready.

I’m truly fascinated at the how far society has come over the last eighty years, with an emphasis on gender equality, technology, and science. However, there are parts of the 1940s I wish we still had around. There was a different type of appreciation for the “little things,” in life, and the music—especially Big Band Swing—just makes me smile from ear to ear. I even love the way they spoke to one another back then. There was a certain sense of comradery between people that is hard to find these days, but maybe after the pandemic is behind us, we’ll find a similar sense of appreciation again.

I think one of the biggest differences between now and then is gender equality. There’s a nickname one character calls another throughout the book, and at first, I kept thinking to myself—this is so degrading, but I realize it was a term of endearment back then and came to like it more by the end. However, from a person who has spent most of her life trying to prove my capabilities as a woman, I’m not sure my attitude would have fared well for me back then. I sometimes live to prove people wrong (maybe not one of my best traits, but a fun one at times). When I took a good look back on the 40’s and saw the natural lifestyle of a women tending to all household chores and being the glue of her family, it made me realize I would be the type of woman who would be fighting for a right to feel success in whatever it is I wanted to accomplish in life. I did come to realize throughout writing the story that while my career is very important to me, I do have an intense desire to nurture my family. It wasn’t as easy to fulfill a career and care for a household back then. We’re lucky to be living in a time when these two tasks can happen simultaneously. We’ve definitely come a long way in this aspect.

Anyway, that’s enough babbling for now. I just wanted you to know where my story stemmed from, and I placed myself in the 1940s to see how I would live through the times of Pearl Harbor and World War II. Would I have been a strong enough woman to endure what my main character did? I’m not sure, but I’d certainly like to think so :). To see more information about Last One Home, visit the dedicated page: here !