This is my portion of a co-review (Gay Guy / St8 Girl). On the blog OJ and I go into a more in-depth discussion with a back and forth Q & 3.5 Stars
This is my portion of a co-review (Gay Guy / St8 Girl). On the blog OJ and I go into a more in-depth discussion with a back and forth Q & A session. Click the link below to see the whole review and more. [image]
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed the read, but it lacked the teeth I had expected. I was surprised to find this so…romantic. I know, I know, this is male-male romance, but the setting led me to believe there would be more impact, more grit. To be fair there are a few action scenes, but it was the sex and tender words that were the focus here.
And maybe I’ve been reading these things too long, but I saw “it� coming from the beginning.
THE CHARACTERS
Connor Regan - Young reporter embedded with a British Special Forces team, SAS, during the second Iraq war. He’s as green as they come, but he holds his own with the team.
Nathan (Nat) Thompson - A tough, terse leader battling ghosts. Nat’s unflappable, ice-cool persona was legendary.
The rest of the SAS team are pretty well developed too, and I can see some of these guys needing their own stories. Definitely some good guys to discover here. I actually enjoyed them more than the main characters.
THE STORY
Nat is living his life day to day without outward feeling or emotion. He gets the job done, but has forgotten there is life outside the warzone. His persona is of a closed off, serious leader, but he’s suppressing grief and loss.
Nat hadn’t had a bloke turn his head in years, and now the hottest dude he’d ever seen was embedding with his crew for the foreseeable future? […] Life just wasn’t fair.
Embedded Connor is on two missions: One to “get the story�. And two to find out what happened to his brother who was lost in battle—no info is shared for SAS operators—and that leaves Connor unable to come to terms with his brother’s loss.
THE WRITING
There’s a line � Nat’s touch had always had that effect on him�
They’d only been together a few weeks at this point. A lot of the timing just felt off to me. I also felt there were awkward emotional and sentimental transitions. Christ, he didn’t even know if Nat had a home. You know he can fuck, though�
I had a tough time “getting� Nat’s character. We’re told how tough he is, but I just didn’t ever feel it. However, the author does a great job with the rest of the team and I felt their connection and their personalities jump off the page. If the series continues I would love to know more about them.
Ultimately I was left underwhelmed. The lingering surprise didn’t surprise me. In fact, I made a note about one third of the way in saying that I hoped the author would shock me and take a different path. She didn’t. ~ ~ ~ We would like to thank Riptide Publishing for providing us with a review copy via Netgalley.com in exchange for my honest review. ~ ~ ~
Lisa Arbitrary - AttentionIsArbitrary M/M Blog
>
Books:
garrett-leigh
(1)
Loading...
