At Attention by Annabeth Albert

"At Attention is a story of healing, of hope, of that rush of new attraction, of friendship, trust building, letting go, and realizing that you can't control your heart even when you have binders and lists to control everything else in your life."--Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews Lieutenant Apollo Floros can ace tactical training missions, but being a single dad to his twin daughters is more than he can handle. He needs live-in help, and he's lucky a friend's younger brother needs a place to stay. He's surprised to see Dylan all grown up with a college degree...and a college athlete's body. Apollo's widowed heart may still be broken, but Dylan has his blood heating up. It's been eight years since the teenage Dylan followed Apollo around like a lovesick puppy, and it's time he showed Lieutenant Hard-to-Please that he's all man now--an adult who's fully capable of choosing responsibility over lust. He can handle Apollo's muscular sex appeal, but Apollo the caring father? Dylan can't afford to fall for that guy. He's determined to hold out for someone who's able to love him back, not someone who only sees him as a kid brother. Apollo is shocked by the intensity of his attraction to Dylan. Maybe some no-strings summer fun will bring this former SEAL back to life. But the combination of scorching desire and warm affection is more than he'd expected, and the emotion between them scares him senseless. No fling lasts forever, and Apollo will need to decide what's more important if he wants to keep Dylan in his life--his past or his future. Don't miss the Out of Uniform series by Annabeth Albert! Order your copy of Off Base, On Point, Wheels Up, Squared Away, Tight Quarters and Rough Terrain today! This book is approximately 73,000 words One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you're looking for with an HEA/HFN. It's a promise!

While I enjoyed the first book of the series a lot, and I was ready to dive right into the next one, I was not feeling this one. I noticed some pattern right from the start, and that pulled me out of the story immediately.

I would have probably enjoyed the sequel more if it would have been (way) shorter. There's just so much moping I can take, and the denial got old really fast. I was tired, exhausted even, of the main characters telling themselves 'this is not what it seems'. Just get a grip already! I understood where Apollo was coming from, although in the end it all felt a bit exaggerated. He came to the conclusion that he really does want Dylan around after all a bit too fast in relation to the huge denial he was previously in, I didn't feel it like a resolve or a realisation on his part, but more like 'okay, the word count was reached, let's wrap this up' and that's just not fun. Also, I didn't really get Dylan's thought process. He was irresponsible, he was stubborn and grabbed something he knew he could not have. I do appreciate him knowing he was the only one to blame for getting hurt. I would also like to know who's idea was it for Dylan to help Apollo out with the kids. How did that conversation start and who brought it up?

And speaking of, I'm not big on kids, that was the first thing that made me think I would not like the novel that much and while, yes, that it still part of why I didn't enjoy it, there were things I liked less. But since there were kids here, two of them, twins, I was expecting some hilarious scenes. Kids are very observant, they see things you have no idea they are seeing, and yet, the twins were blissfully unaware of what was going on. I was actually hoping for one of the girls spilling it to Dustin that 'baba and Dylan kiss at night on the couch when they watch movies'. I'm not too mad about it because, although a stretch, Apollo doing it himself by mistake was pretty funny. It was also anticlimactic after all the worrying he did.

I wanted to drop it on the last few chapters, but well, since I made it so far I just went ahead with it. In the end At Attention was... okay. While in the first book the characters' reasons were much better argued and I didn't feel like they were dragging on, here they were not framed well and the same yes-no-maybe-want-can't dance repeated every few pages.

I mentioned some pattern I noticed from the first pages. That pattern is as follows: the characters getting together, one of them being more open to the idea of starting something than the other, one of them pushing harder while the other holding back, they do fun things, act like they are in a relationship all the while telling themselves that was not what was happening, and then, after a serious disagreement and an almost-ultimatum-but-not-quite-because-I-love-him, the one in denial reaches the conclusion that they can't be without the other and rushes to apologise and make things right. I just don't know if I'm up to reading the same thing five more times... I might just take a two book break in between and try the next one, see how it goes while keeping low expectations.