Tuesday, March 8, 2016

3.5 stars--The SEAL's Rebel Librarian (Alpha Ops #2) by Anne Calhoun

Sexy with a heavy dose of Ohmigod, yes, please! The SEAL's Rebel Librarian was a naughty little treat as Emily--who is a librarian (yay!)--decides it's time to go a little crazy and do all the things she wasn't allowed to try during her stiffing marriage. Sky diving and motorcycle buying topping that list. A sexy temporary fling with a younger man? Hell yeah that's getting added to her list of things to do now too!

The hero

So many lickable things. So. Many. I loved Jack. He's all alpha male and full of sexy charm!  He's also dealing with some PTSD from his days as a SEAL and is in therapy. A very interesting combo for the hero seeing both sides of him and dealing with his body/mind not always being rock solid like he's used to.

The heroine

She's a librarian!!! I really enjoyed Emily. I loved seeing her taking some risks and grabbing control of her life. Doing all those things she's wanted to do but not hadn't been allowed to do during her marriage. She's fun and sexy and sweet. 
"May I try on your coat?"

He stared up at her. "What?"

"When I buy that bike, I'll need protective gear," she said. "That one looks nice and warm."

A bit bewildered, he shouldered out of the coat and handed it to her.

"Oof," she said, and wandered out of sight, presumably in search of a mirror. Her voice was muffled, distant when she spoke again. "It's heavy."

"It would weigh less in your size. It's good for fall and spring riding," he said absently, falling back on details, specifics, on being helpful. He picked up his whiskey and tossed it back. "Get lightweight leathers for the summer, but loose enough to layer thermals under...neath..."

His voice trailed off, because she was standing in the doorway, wearing thigh-high seamed stockings and his coat, her hair a tousled wreck around her face. The coat all but swallowed her up, but she hadn't zipped the front, so he could see the pale lace of her bra and panties, mostly hidden by the heavy drape of leather and sheepskin.

"Oh," he said, somewhat stupidly. "Damn."

"I like it," she said. "Very warm. What do you think?"
The hookup

These two were seriously hot. They have a delicious zing between them from their very first meet at her library and they don't waste much time hitting the sheets or, well, counter in this case. lol Hot, heavy and explosive. These two don't hold anything back and good lord it was fabulous. Dirty and passionate. Gah yes! Just the right amount of curl your toes goodness. 

The fun

It was a good time with these two. The sexy bits...obviously. Because seriously NOMS! But everything else too. Bike shopping, riding, maybe jumping out of a perfectly good plane. Their adventures together were fun and endearing.

The serious

Even though there was a lot of heat and light hearted moments there was a lot of depth to these two and I liked that there were some serious elements included as well--her with her damaged confidence and trust and him dealing with his PTSD.  I thought his being in therapy was an amazing thing to add into the storyline. There's such a stigma on getting help and I loved that it was included.  It was nice to see that other side to the fun loving sexy elements.

The so-so

I had two kinda sorta issues. I didn't love some added in drama towards the end and thought the L word was brandied about way too soon but I still liked the romance side of things so...okay. And then there was the editing. It could very well have been fixed before final copy but I didn't hear back from the publisher so I'm judging based on what I read and there were some consistency things that were very distracting. Him parking the car then taking off his helmet and swinging his leg over his bike. Ems. Yeah. 

Overall, hot damn and can I have another, please? lol I'm loving this novella series from Calhoun.
Jack Powell never planned on leaving the Navy, but his final mission as a SEAL left him with a tremor and a bad case of nerves. He's home, taking some college classes and trying to figure out what comes next when he meets Erin Kent, a divorced college librarian with an adventurous bucket list and a mission to get her ex-husband's voice out of her head. Jack guides Erin through skydiving and buying the motorcycle of her dreams, blithely accepting Erin's promise that their relationship is purely temporary. But when Jack gets the chance to go back into the shadowy world of security contracting, can he convince Erin to break her word and join him on the adventure of a lifetime?

  
*covers link to Amazon

Challenges: Pick Your Genre (contemp/erotic) | Pervy Girl | Goodreads
 

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