Staff Sergeant Brett Black suddenly finds himself widowed, with no one to look after his little boy, Enter Courtney Lawless, a wildchild, surfing librarian and the Lieutenant Colonels daughter, Shes recently been laid off from her job and agrees to become Bretts livein nanny, Passion and drama alike ensues,
The Good: This story is a superhot and sexy page turner, It also offers rather fresh situations as far as IR is concerned, I was just as compelled by the story as the relationship, Unlike many a prickly IR heroine, Courtney is both interesting and sweet, Its hard not to cheer for her, Oh, and that cover is H, O. T.
The Bad: See the editing section, Also, Blacks dead wife is painted as a twodimensional villain with so few redeeming qualities that she dips into caricature, In general, this is a “stand by your Marine” sort of book, and if you have any womanist ideals whatsoever, it might rub you the wrong way.
The Naughty: Light BDSM, rough sex,
Editing issues: Craft and editing wise, the writing is so poor, that it is a credit to Ms, Nelsons superior storytelling skills that I was able to get through this entire book, Its particularly upsetting, because one gets the feeling that Ms, Nelson could truly become a reader favorite and an IR staple writer if she would only engage an editor,
Publisher: RiverHouse Publishing LLC
Length:
Final Grade: D
Happy Reading,
Theodora from IRBooks, com
This book reads very dated, the writing isn't the best, and it needed another round or three of editing, But the story is actually pretty decent if you ignore the melodrama behind the MMC's first wife, it never falls into misogyny despite the aforementioned first wife being thoroughly unpleasant, and it's pretty heartwarming.
I kind of wish the author would rewrite it and release aversion, I think the story would work much better now, in the light of Black Lives Matter and all the nutso political nonsense that have happened in recent years, than in.
Anyways, this book is worth a read if you like interracial OwnVoices romances military romances or stories with cute kids,
Not much to say on this one, Too many things were just beyond realistic for me to hunker down and enjoy this, I kept thinking about "facts", Also, the dialogue employed by a littleyear old another "not real" moment for me, Not my cuppa!
Love the reviews and the blurb for this one, And, especially that a portion of the sale of this book will be donated to sitelink soldierangels. org. I bought the book and look forward to reading this story, Not even sure where to start,
This was just ok to me, And I hate saying that because it had SUCH potential, Still, there were too many instances of redundant word usage can we describe his face in a bit more detail than "perfect" every single time, the WRONG words used in common figure of speech moments, and the two leads, while loveable, did quite a few things that just straight up made zero sense.
Even for a romance novel lol,
Brett was hot, I think. As far as I could tell, . . muscles and a "perfect face", And he was a sweet, sweet man who tried hard I think Maybe to make his marriage to his first wife an unbelieveable btch straight from hell work.
I almost feel like it would have been better to have the story start long after the umm, . . demise of his first marriage, As it was, it felt like important, character building things were just TOLD to us in short sentences instead of SHOWN to us through important moments.
I have to take her word for it that he tried with his marriage, I have to take her word for it that he truly loves Courtney and isn't just rebounding or using her for convenience because honestly, the way things go down didn't prove much.
Courtney ended up bugging me by being a little cavalier about how she handled her relationship with Brett's son, I mean, some things need to be THOROUGHLY thought through and decided upon before you allow them to happen, I won't go into spoilers, but lets just say the poor child develops a level of closeness to her that is TOTALLY allowed FAR before she herself is sure of how she's going to handle the relationship.
But overall, it was the important details that got left out and then explained away with a line or two FAR TOO LATE in the story that killed my enjoyment of this book.
Well, that and the fact that I really do hate it when authors don't try as hard as possible to keep from repeating themselves line after line.
This was actually a pretty good read, I keep thinking about this book and its story line, It came across as quite realistic, as if this could have really happened, There is quite a bit of emotions involved by the reader as well, Not just be a fantasy a story,
I am sure others will enjoy this story too, I loved this book! Exceptional Interracial love story, Believable characters, with a touch Hawt !!! love, . . Highly recommend this book, love the author Febreread I still love this book, The characters, the plot. I think there may have been changes made to the book, The part where Brett gets emotional because it had been so long since someone had wanted his touch not just endured it is gone in the kindle edition.
I loaned mine out, so it was a redownload, I'm sad that Ms. Nelson took it out.
It seemed shorter as well,
Septreview
What great book! I love the characters and the way they're drawn, I thought is was realistic, passionate and touching, I love little Cameron. He was a sweet little boy, Courtney and her mom were so beautiful and full of life, My heart ached for Brett when he made love with Courtney and he was overwhelmed with emotion because it had been so long since someone enjoyed his body and not just endured sex with him.
Amy was such a bitch, How she couldn't love him and love making love with him, I'll never understand, I give this book.because of the typos in the Kindle edition, But it is still worth reading, I highly recommend this book, I loved this book, from page one, Brett is such a sweetheart, He is a tough, formidable Marine, but he's also a caring, warm, emotionally vulnerable man, My heart ached for him because of the way his wife treated him, It seems as though there was little of value to his marriage, but he did keep trying to be a good husband, I can't imagine how hard it was for him to go out on the frontline and have an indifferent, judgmental, unloving wife at home, Never feeling good enough for her or that he had done enough, That's so damaging to one's selfesteem, When he and Courtney make a connection, I was cheering for him, He needed a woman like her in his life, And it was on the best day possible for them to meet, It surely felt like God was answering his prayers,
I also loved Courtney, She was giving, cheerful, honest, lovable, motivated, and open, She had made some decisions that her family gave her trouble about, but I liked that she owned those choices and learned from them, and chose to be a happy person despite the low points in her young life.
Considering what she was risking to be with Brett, I think she was very brave, Although Nelson doesn't pretend ignorance about the racial issue, I love the fact that this is not really the issue for Brett and Courtney's relationship.
Instead it is the fact that Courtney's father and brother are officers and Brett is happily a grunt in the Marines, not to mention his emotional baggage from a toxic marriage.
I liked that Nelson takes the time to show why that was an issue, The detail that Nelson gives about life in the Marines, both as a soldier and as family to Marines comes highly appreciated, There is no patriotic flagwaving per se, but merely telling it like it is, And for a person who is not directly involved in the military, but does admire what the Armed Forces do for Americans, it was welcome.
Even though I loved Dmitry's Closet, I found that this book touched me much more, While Dmitry was more of a modern day fairy tale, The Grunt is steeped in realism, but no less actually more romantic, Although Courtney is about Royal's age, she seemed more mature and more textured as a person, While I normally like a sexually inexperienced heroine, I think it was fitting that Courtney wasn't inexperienced in relationships, and she knew what she was getting into with Brett and his son.
She had her eyes open and the staying power to see it through, Plus, it's nice to different kinds of heroines get their happy ending, and Courtney works hard for and deserves hers with Brett and Cameron,
As far as sexual tension and love scenes, this book was hot! I was like wow! I love that Brett is both vulnerable and open emotionally, not a playboy, but he definitely can give a girl a run for her money in the bedroom! Dang! That's all I'm going to say! Man I was feeling the heat there.
Brett and Courtney had great chemistry, but it was also clear that Brett respected and valued Courtney as a whole person, not just a convenient body or sex object.
Ms. Nelson really earned my respect with how she portrayed the sexual part of their relationship, considering the circumstances,
The family dynamics were also well done, I was afraid that Courtney's family would lean so hard on
her that she'd break up with Brett, but I love that she stood her ground, and Brett stood up for her and next to her.
I like that Brett told her brother like it is, I loved Courtney's mom, Diane, She was a real sweetie, but knew how to handle her husband and son, I loved that Courtney was close to her mother, and that her mother was very supportive and proud of her, I thought her dad and brother weren't as welldeveloped, but then Courtney wasn't as close to them, I also loved Cameron. What a sweet little boy, but also realistically portrayed, I wanted to give him a hug,
Although there were some mild editing issues, I continue to be impressed with Latrivia Nelson's writing ability, I loved the connection she developed and conveyed between Brett and Courtney, It felt like true love, but also realistic, Never does Nelson downplay how hard family life can be in the military, but the power of the love in the relationship between a military person and their spouse gives them the energy and the fortification to go out there and risk their life for us all.
I was a very satisfied reader when I finished The Grunt!,