First title in this series. I read a comment that this novel wasn't as good as others in the series. Since I've now read 3 or 4 others in the series, I can disagree with some authority.

I enjoyed the character of Pike - he is cheeky, witty, brash, often annoying - and a newly minted PhD in Mathematics from LA. He comes up against Zach, from Little Rock and a conservative family, and a newly graduated SEAL. And in the closet, which Pike would like to change.

A lot of the story is around Zach finding his way out of the closet. And the author does follow a fairly well-trodden path. But does it well, as always, so it becomes an experience unique to these two characters.

I expected the narrator to be my fave, Cooper North, but no! a newcomer to me, Tyler Stevens. And heavens! he was excellent! Get reading Tyler Stevens! I found only 3 other books in my libraries read by you - in a series by A M Arthur - that's slim pickings! ( )

I enjoyed this. The characters grew on me, the steam was kind of light-hearted without being fluffy, and the resolution was satisfying. ( )

3 stars

Synopsis: Zack is getting hassled by one particular individual in base housing, so he moves off site and gets cheap rent by doing renovations. The only problem is that he doesn't know how to do renos. When Pike gets a temporary job as a professor in the same city, he tells Zack that his mother does renovations all the time, and Pike used to help her, so he knows what to do. Zack fears being around Pike, because Pike is out, and Zack finds him attractive. Zack doesn't want to draw more attention to himself within his squad, but he doesn't want to keep spending his money fixing the mistakes he makes while doing work on the house, so he agrees to let Pike be his roommate.
Pike finds Zack really attractive, but he agrees to just be roommates, because he respects Zack's wishes. When they give in to their attraction, they know that there is a time limit on it, since Pike only has a temporary job, and they are both all right with that.

What I liked: The build in relationship between Zack and Pike. Pike didn't really push for more than Zack could give, and they built their friendship first.

What I didn't like: Zack was pretty wishy-washy and kind of mean to Pike. ( )

I read Rough Terrain first and enjoyed it. I got the rest of this series. While good, this story did not measure up to the other hence my lower rating. I liked both Zack and Pike but felt uncomfortable with Pike having to teach sex 101. ( )

I liked this story, a lot. An a priori hard-to-believe subject, a virgin Navy SEAL, is well handled, Zack - due his roots- looks credible to me. The same can be said about the rest, believable characters and a solid plot.

Maybe there is a a myriad of books about homophobia and religious bigotry, but not homophobia neither religious bigotry haven't ceased, even if they aren't as notable in my big city context; so -for me-, books about these themes remain valid and welcomed.

My two little niggles:
* it's a bit slow in the middle portion.
* Please, we all not speak US military slang . I felt the lack of an acronyms & expressions glossary; obviously I googled but I I still don't entirely understand what a monster-mash test is, for example. ( )