Pushing thirty, with his reenlistment looming, decorated navy sniper Maddox Horvat is taking a long look at what he really wants in life. And what he wants is Ben Tovey. It isn’t smart, falling for his best friend and fellow SEAL, but ten years with Ben has forged a bond so intimate Maddox can’t ignore it. He needs Ben by his side forever—heart and soul. 

Ben admits he likes what he’s seen—his friend’s full lower lip and the perfect muscles of his ass have proved distracting more than once. But Ben’s still reeling from a relationship gone to hell, and he’s not about to screw up his friendship with Maddox, too. 

Until their next mission throws Ben and Maddox closer together than ever before, with only each other to depend on. 

Now, in the lonely, desperate hours awaiting rescue, the real challenge—confronting themselves, their future and their desires—begins. Man to man, friend to friend, lover to lover. 

Book Three in the Out of Uniform series
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A copy of this was provided via NetGalley

3 Stars

Friends to lovers is my THING. Like, ugh, I love it so much. And this one had heaps and heaps of potential. From what we saw in the previous installments of this series, particularly At Attention, I was *dying* for this book. I don’t know if the anticipation affected my reading, but I was slightly disappointed in this one.

From the beginning I felt a disconnect between myself and the characters. And I think that was mostly because there was something lacking between them — some sort of spark? There was a portion of the book that felt, to me, like I was being *told* there was a spark. Particularly this happened to me in the sex scenes, which for the first time reading one of Albert’s books, I skimmed. There was a sense of sameness to them.

I really loved the parts of the story that are told when their mission goes wrong. These were the times when the characters felt the most vivid and visceral to me. The writing was compelling — I was able to see myself there with them. I could feel their pain and their terror and frustration.

I think that watching Ben go through the growing pains of trying to be the perfect boyfriend was a lovely way to explore these two figuring out their new dynamic as lovers. I was at times frustrated because I wanted more concrete back story on Ben. We get information, but again, there was a sense of being told things rather than shown?

Regardless, I love this series and enjoyed this book. I am anxious and excited to read the next one!

Genre: Contemporary Orientation: Gay Pairing: M/M Publisher: Carina Press Review Tag: Friends to Lovers Tag: Military / Uniform Tag: Part of a series Annabeth Albert Out of Uniform series