Off Base

Lovely. Absolutely lovely. The AB by [a:Tyler Stevens 6519636 Tyler Stevens https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was as usual a delight. This is one of those series I kept seeing on every list and bouncing around my feed. I've been pretty sure I'd like it because I've read [a:Annabeth Albert 6477494 Annabeth Albert https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1497461817p2/6477494.jpg] and I like her style. Gentle but not sappy, hopeful but not unrealistic, and beautiful humans who aren't perfect specimens. The first chapter starts off pretty funny but at the same time it gave me pause, Zack and Pike are young guys (I think Zack is 24 and Pike a bit older) which sometimes translates into narratives about dithering and bro behavior, which I'm not saying isn't true, but I'm just not up for it. But this isn't that story and I'm glad.Zack has just officially become a SEAL, a monumental achievement he should be proud of but instead he feels like he has Damocles Sword hanging over him: the worry that his fellow teammates or his religiously conservative family may find out he's gay. The salt on the wound is that he's never done anything about his sexual urges, NADA, thinking he can change who he is to please un-pleasable people. Poor baby. Pike is a math wiz with a PhD who somehow comes off as all jokes & flirtyness to his friends, but he has uncharted depths. He has a weakness for military men and muscles. Zach has both. Heaven.What did I like about this? Everything. A virgin who is commanding, vulnerable, and tender at once. A ginger who doesn't suffer fools, but can be the patient storm in port for his partner, and is a loving human to two cat babies, Gizmo & Nectarine, to boot. I loved how Zack and Pike never really stopped being honest with each other, they're young and human but also good people. I loved how their social/professional careers where fleshed out in a realistic way, and how they both understood and cared deeply about the other's career path. Of course I just realized that some of the people mentioned come from a previous series so I'll have to go back. Big chore. Not.