![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/collateral_9781451626384_hr.jpg\")
ABOUT THE BOOK<\/h3>\nABOUT THE BOOK<\/h3>\nMeet Ashley, a graduate student at San Diego State University. She was raised in northern California reading poetry and singing back-up in her best friend\u2019s band. The last thing she ever expected was to end up a military wife. But one night, she meets a handsome Marine named Cole. He doesn\u2019t match the stereotype of the aggressive military man she\u2019d always presumed to be true; he\u2019s passionate and romantic, and he even writes poetry. Their relationship evolves into a deeply felt, sexually charged love affair that goes on for five years and survives four deployments. Cole desperately wants Ashley to marry him, but when she meets another man, a college professor, with similar professional pursuits and values, she begins to see what life might be like outside the shadow of war.<\/p>\n
Written in Ellen Hopkins\u2019s stunning poetic verse style, Collateral captures the hearts of the soldiers on the battlefield and the minds of the friends, family, and lovers they leave behind. While those at home may be far from the relentless, sand-choked skies of the Middle East and the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, they too sacrifice their lives and happiness for their country at war. And all must eventually ask themselves if the collateral damage it causes is worth the fight.<\/p>\n
UGLY IN BLACK<\/p>\n
As Earth returns to chaos, her women brace to mourn, excavate their buried faith, tap reservoirs of grace, to mourn.<\/p>\n
Soldiers steady M-16s, search stillborn eyes for welcome or signs of commonality. Ferreting no trace, they mourn.<\/p>\n
Few are safe, where passions swell like gangrened limbs you cannot amputate. Sever one, another takes its place, and you mourn.<\/p>\n
Freefall into martyrdom, a bronze-skinned youth slips into the crowd, pulls the pin. He and destiny embrace, together mourn.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
Is extremely hard. Loving a Marine
\nwho\u2019s an aggressive front-line marksman<\/p>\n
is almost impossible, especially when
\nhe\u2019s deployed. That\u2019s not now. Currently,<\/p>\n
Cole is on base in Kaneohe, awaiting
\norders. The good thing about that is<\/p>\n
I get to talk to him pretty much every
\nday. The bad thing is, we both know<\/p>\n
he\u2019ll go back to the Middle East as soon
\nas some Pentagon strategist decides<\/p>\n
the time is right, again. Cole\u2019s battalion
\nhas already deployed twice to Iraq<\/p>\n
and once to Afghanistan. Draw-down
\nbe damned, Helmand Province and beyond<\/p>\n
looks likely for his fourth go-round.
\nYou\u2019d think it would get easier. But ask<\/p>\n
me, three scratch-free homecomings
\nmake another less likely in the future.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
Having triumphed last year with an adult novel, Triangles, YA phenomenon Hopkins returns with the story of two women, two men, and the military that comes between them. MFA student\/band backup singer Ashley never thought she would fall for a soldier until she met Cole and then endures five years’ worth of deployments, uncertain whether to commit to marriage. Best friend Darian does marry a marine but finds life as a military wife unbearable and has decided on divorce when tragedy strikes. Expect a big audience; with a reading group guide. \u2014Library Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABOUT THE BOOK Meet Ashley, a graduate student at San Diego State University. She was raised in northern California reading poetry and singing back-up in her best friend\u2019s band. The last thing she ever expected was to end up a military wife. But one night, she meets a handsome Marine named Cole. He doesn\u2019t match the stereotype of the aggressive military man she\u2019d always presumed to be true; he\u2019s passionate and romantic, and he even writes poetry. Their relationship evolves into a deeply felt, sexually charged love affair that goes on for five years and survives four deployments. Cole desperately wants Ashley to marry him, but when she meets another man, a college professor, with similar professional pursuits and values, she begins to see what life might be like outside the shadow of war. Written in Ellen Hopkins\u2019s stunning poetic verse style, Collateral captures the hearts of the soldiers on the battlefield and the minds of the friends, family, and lovers they leave behind. While those at home may be far from the relentless, sand-choked skies of the Middle East and the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, they too sacrifice their lives and happiness for their country at war. And all must eventually ask themselves if the collateral damage it causes is worth the fight. BOOK EXCERPT YOU KNOW MY STORY REVIEW FOR COLLATERAL REVIEWS FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: Having triumphed last year with an adult novel, Triangles, YA phenomenon Hopkins returns with the story of two women, two men, and the military that comes between them. MFA student\/band backup singer Ashley never thought she would fall for a soldier until she met Cole and then endures five years’ worth of deployments, uncertain whether to commit to marriage. Best friend Darian does marry a marine but finds life as a military wife unbearable and has decided on divorce when tragedy strikes. Expect a big audience; with a reading group guide. \u2014Library Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-141","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}