2.5 stars rounded up to three, because parts of this story broke my heart


Wow, this was so not what I expected. This is gonna be a long review, and a very personal one at that.

Let me elaborate on my disappointment. When the movie with Bradley Cooper came out, my man was positively stoked. Ex-German Armed Forces, Ex- platoon seargent for the US Army Rangers, extremely decent shoot himself, he couldn't wait to watch a movie about one of the best snipers he heard about during his career. So we went, and I actually liked Chris Kyle. He seemed to be a decent guy, not free from morals and struggling with the torn life as an elite soldier - one day in the war zone, next day at home in a Walmart. So I watched the movie, and I cried when they showed scenes of the day of his funeral and the funeral processions. I was moved very deeply and bought this book soon after because I just wanted to know more about this man and what could be better than reading his book?

Well, I realized soon enough that the movie (and maybe the talent of Bradley Cooper) were very flattering, maybe too much so.

But let me start at the beginning. The writing was okay, not very good or skillful, but not atrocious either. The childhood of Chris Kyle read as a story that Europeans who haven't been to Texas will never, ever understand. Getting your own rifle when you're eight years old? Unheard-of! Unconceivable. But I've been to Texas, so I get it. In a way, I understand it. I'm still a fierce supporter of the tightening of gun laws, but I also understand that in Texas guns are part of everyday life same as fridges, trucks and football. That doesn't make it right in my opinion, and I'm still uncomfortable reading about a kid getting his first rifle, but that's on me.

I enjoyed reading about his striving to become a SEAL, his struggles and new challenges. But then there was all the brawls, all the hazing, all the "unnecessary" violence, that annoyed the crap out of me. I actually checked with my man - and while some of it actually is just the way it is, and some of it are psychological effects normal for fighters trained for extreme war situations - even my man was irritated with other parts. Now, THAT made me dislike Chris Kyle quite a bit. But I got through it and I continued reading, because I still had this man from the movie in the back of my mind, and I hoped I would find him somewhere between the lines.

So I started reading about his deployments next. In other reviews I saw more than one "complaint" about how people expected him to be more conflicted about his many shootings. They expected remorse, guilt and hesitatation. To be honest, I didn't. You can't do this job and survive in war, when you constantly agonize over death, or question your actions every time you're supposed to pull the trigger. You'd get your brothers and yourself killed faster than you could say 'sniper'. So I wasn't appalled or even surprised. But on the other hand this guy - and I'm really sorry to say that, because you shouldn't speak ill of the dead - this man firstly, wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and secondly, had no comprehension for anything outside of black and white.

What saddened me was his total lack of empathy for the country and the people he came in contact with. I was especially furious about his constant mantra of "getting payback". Payback for what? 9/11? Let me tell you, you were in the wrong country for that. And newsflash: Your invasion of Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. So don't use the death of innocent people in a vile attack in your country to justify your actions in Iraq. If you like to be a warrior, a sniper, a fighter, fine. I might not like it, I might not understand it, but I can respect you for your choice and your loyalty and your bravery, to put your life on the line in order to protect your home.

I was also deeply annoyed by his disregard of foreign traditions and customs. I do understand that the extremist branch of Islam is a threat to the Western World. To the whole world really. And I also understand that you are fighting an enemy there, so not everything can be sunshine and roses. But to describe a country so full of culture, history and wealth (literal and metaphorical) as fucked-up and nonviable, is not only disrespectful, but also vile and plain stupid. It shows more about your lack of education and limited intellectual horizon than about the country you're talking about.

As you can see, I started to get really annoyed with Chris Kyle and that didn't change much until the end. In contrast to his film persona, the things he told in this book made him look like a dumb ass hick with no clue about the world behind his scope. And a man incapable of empathy, not even for his family. I still admire his wife for staying by his side through all of it, because honestly? I probably wouldn't have.

In the end, the book isn't really bad. It's not good either, but for me it was just one big disappointment. A lot of that is probably personal. Because I couldn't help but compare Chris Kyle to my man at home. Now, I'm aware that to me, every man I compare to my SO will fall short. That's fine. Additionally, my SO was not a SEAL and never deployed to Iraq. Not because he didn't want to , but because he had his own war to fight, at home and against cancer. He survived and got his life back twice. And it changed him in ways I'll probably never really comprehend.

So, in a way he couldn't be more different from Chris Kyle with his healthy SEAL body and his four deployments. But I still saw quite some similarities and was unbelievably disappointed how a guy who was supposed to be a good one, a protector, an honorable ELITE soldier, could be so ignorant, so awfully flat in the mind. So much less than my man. I was honestly shocked.

Again, these are personal reasons, so other people might not have the same issues with the book. But these things ruined it for me. This is one of the very, very rare occasions on which I will stick with the movie and try to forget about the book.

This was another hot menage with BDSM elements story set around hot military men. The sex was hot and plentiful after the halfway point, and I liked all the characters. However, after a while in this series, all the men start to feel alike. As much as I like hot alpha males, I like Jakes' spin off series about Prophet & Tom much better, it just feels more cohesive to me, put together better.

But Shane and Reed and Keith were hot together, even if I don't understand Shane and Reed's need to be spanked once in a while to let things go.

Light BDSM, just some spanking and dominance. I still don't really get it, but it is hot to read about.

The story confused me at times, like early on, Reed and Keith saw prints outside that showed someone had been watching them for weeks, but then that was dropped. I'm assuming it was the guy after Shane, but I always felt more would come out of that scene, but it never did. And then Reed fighting so hard to get Keith to let Shane join them because it felt right, then feeling jealous and insecure once it happened. I also didn't really get Reed getting so pissed once Shane finally told him the whole truth, because Reed and Keith had said the whole time that Shane wasn't telling them everything, was holding something back, and they knew someone was after him. So how could Reed then be so pissed at what he was hiding and that he might have led danger to them without giving them time to prepare? They KNEW something was likely coming.

And can I just rant a little bit about the TWENTY MINUTES/45 pages(according to me reading app) of ads at the end of the book for other books in the series? Dear Samhain, if I'm reading book 5 in a series, I've most likely already read books 1-4, I don't need you to sell them to me.

I wasn’t expecting that much from this book. The reason I signed up for blog tour was because this is a Harlequin Teen novel, and I tend to enjoy anything published by Harlequin Teen. I only vaguely remembered the synopsis from when I signed up for the tour. I was very pleasantly surprised by the issues and depth I found.

I was immediately drawn into this story. I read the bulk of the book in one sitting. I felt connected and really “in” the story the whole time. It flowed nicely. I’d definitely call it a quick read, but in no way is it a “light” read. It’s not profound, but the characters are dealing with real issues that readers their age may deal with. The range of conflicts and personal struggles was interesting to me too. They were dealing with sexual discovery, family discord, break ups, and life after high school. They were also dealing with things that are less common, like PTSD and futures that don’t include college.

It’s hard to say what captivated me more: the story itself or how much I adored the characters. I think there was a slight lack of depth in a couple of secondary characters, but Cami and Julian were perfect. Their relationship with each other was just fun to read. They also had believable and entertaining relationships with others. Cami deals with some issues with her father, awkwardness with her stepmother, and she has a wacky friend that I loved. I felt like both Cami and Julian had a good arc, though Julian’s wasn’t as pronounced since there’s never anything from his perspective. Still, they both developed and learned about themselves and each other throughout the book.

The writing wasn’t spectacular, but it was appropriate for the book. I felt neither amazed nor disappoint by it, and I’m okay with that. There was a good deal of sadness and some hard moments in this book, but it always felt hopeful. Julian was surly and angry, but I never felt like he would stay that way. Cami was confused and angsty, but I knew she would figure things out eventually.

I think this will be a great read for anyone who enjoys the contemporary romance genre within young adult fiction. I did notice a number of lukewarm reviews on Goodreads, though. I was a bit surprised, since I enjoyed the book thoroughly. Still, I think it’s worth mentioning here that it didn’t meet many readers’ expectations. I’d also like to note that the publisher recommends this book to readers 16 year old and up, and I wholeheartedly agree. There are some steamy scenes in this book. Definitely recommended!