Blades of Bluegrass

By: D. Jackson Leigh

Narrated by: Hollis Elizabeth

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Captain Britt Story lost more than her left arm in Afghanistan. She lost faith in honor and humanity when her command’s failure to act cost a young soldier’s life, turning Britt into a ticking political time bomb the U.S. Army and her father, an influential senator, are desperate to disarm.

Occupational therapist First Lieutenant Teddy Alexander was thrust into the national spotlight when she successfully petitioned to receive survivor’s benefits after her wife was killed in Afghanistan days before DOMA was repealed. Six years later, she remains safely cocooned in the past by her military family until her assignment to rehab Captain Story drags them both into a confusing battle between duty, consequences, and hot attraction.

©2020 D. Jackson Leigh (P)2020 Bold Strokes Books Inc

Great Read/Listen

This book kept my interest and attention from start to finish. This is the 1st book I've read by Leigh, but I'll definitely be looking through her back catalog as well as new releases for future reads. It had a great blend of the struggles of a newly stateside disabled vet both physically and emotionally (without being too heavy or depressing), some political intrigue, family dynamics, a beautiful location and scenery, building a new life with an interesting family business of race horse breeding, and of course a great romance with the Physical & Occupational Therapist Prosthetic Guru Lieutenant who's working through a few of her own life struggles throughout the book. Hollis Elizabeth did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life in the audiobook, and I hope she and Leigh are paired up in Leigh's other books.

MST Warning

I liked the book until the end. As an MST surviver the ending was triggering.

More than five stars.

I loved Blades of Bluegrass. What's not to love. Set On a beautiful horse farm in Kentucky, a returning wounded warrior, political intrigue, and romance. Hollis Elizabeth does a great job with the narration.

Great Plot with timely focus

The writing here is superb and the characters are so true to life. I thought the Congressional hearing scene was exceptionally well done.

What's not to love?

First of all ... Wow! The amount of research that went into this book is pretty amazing. Covered topics about amputees and their recovery issues both physical and menta and breakthroughs on the horizon; thoroughbred breeding and running of the farm's business; complexities of being widow; a soldier with PTSD fighting the system, and the "family" behind the uniforms. I feel it really shows all the extra work and heart that was put into this one.

Secondly ... this book tackled some tough topics and I applaud this.These don't weigh down the story line, but it is integral to it particularly milistary sexual trauma. This is still a seriously broken system and the more this stays at the forefront the more we force the issue; and this is one that needs to be. Thank you for this, too many victims still need their voices heard

The insight into some of the personal demons the two main characters deal with really put depth and flesh to them. They became real and you could feel their scars both on the inside and out.

There is a lot of life that happens in these pages, it just really kept me hooked and less than 24 hours later ... I was done.

Took on some heavy issues but it wasn't dark or weighty, the flow of the storyline kept things moving right along; and what else can I say ... love wins!

I especially liked that when everything got chaotic two mature minds reached out and listened to each other and found the truth without getting all muddy in the process ... score one for open and honest communication!

Thank you for having a fresh voice for the narrator, she has a much more natural flow and feels/sounds more real when switching between characters. Good female narrators are hard to find, but you guys did a great job with finding her.

Words can't describe how good this book is.

I am a big fan of all LGBT novels. I rarely find ones that resonate so much with some of my own life experiences like this one did. Serving in the military as a lesbian during DADT was difficult, but serving as a female was more difficult. I know many women who had to deal with pompous men who believed they were a gift from God. Some were harassed, assaulted, abused mentally and/or physically, and made to feel inferior. This story made me happy and sad at the same time. Sad at how realistic some of the situations were and happy that those two amazing characters found each other and some justice was served. The storytelling was great! I really enjoyed how the narrator was able to portray the characters. Changing tone when the story demanded different emotions, not simply reading in a monotone voice. Excellent book!

The best of the books by D Jackson Leigh

This one was the best of the 4 books I read written by D Jackson Leigh. Loved the storyline, the characters, and narrations as always by Hollis Elizabeth was excellent