I'm very thankful to have been sent a copy of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by the lovely Angela at Wunderkind PR. This book was originally published in 2011 under the title The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan (the new title is indeed catchier and took me longer than I'd care to admit to puzzle out). The author, Kim Barker, was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune who didn't know the language, culture, or the significance of the countries she was assigned. And yet, she managed to feel more at home in Afghanistan and Pakistan (to a lesser extent) than she could have ever anticipated. This is a gritty, comedic, and tragic story of war and the impotence one feels when thrust into the middle as an outsider (or an insider even). At times, I felt the pull of adventure much as Kim did. I imagined myself country hopping and getting to know the ins and outs of various peoples. (After all, I do have a degree in Anthropology.) And then there would be a vivid description of the violence and destruction of war that never seems to have an end. I marvel at her willingness (and eagerness) to stay and experience it firsthand. She says it's an addiction and she continually talks about being in its throes. It is not glamorous and she doesn't sugarcoat it. In fact, she criticizes the foreign governments who refuse to see the truth of the situation. I don't think I will ever look at reporting the same way ever again. You might have guessed that I really enjoyed it. It's a solid 10/10 especially as it highlighted an area of the world that I feel woefully ignorant of...until now!

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is out today and is being adapted into a film due out March 4th starring Tina Fey (also Martin Freeman who I think I've recognized from the book and I'm excited). I hope that it stays relatively close to the book if not in content then in feeling. I think it's a wake-up call that is sorely needed.

So I came home to find this waiting for me on Tuesday:

My bookoutlet.com order arrived!  From the USA via Belgium if the bag and tag are to be believed.  In addition to the new-to-me goodies listed above, I got three more: 2 Illona Andrews books I've read but don't own (Magic Bites and Magic Bleeds), and an upgrade from ebook to hardback of Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.

None of the books were more than $3 each, which is good, because there's no way I could afford the shipping costs otherwise - especially with the side jaunt to Belgium it took.  

Is anything better than coming home to a load of new books just waiting for you?  Well, yes, there are a few things better, but precious few. 

I love books with hot alphas that are protective and willing go dish out some revenge on behalf of the heroine. But with that said, I don’t like it when they turn that temper on the heroine and scare the living daylights out of her in emotional and psychological abuse. And that was exactly what I kept feeling with this one.

This book isn’t my typical cup of tea. But, I was feeling a book funk coming on and needed something different. Plus, one of my friends has been begging me for almost a year to read this. So, since it was totally different, I thought I’d give it a try.

I didn’t hate the book…but I definitely didn’t love it. It was a so-so read that unfortunately I didn’t get sucked into and consequently, I was left wondering what I’m going to read next before I’d hit the 50% mark. My biggest issue really was the way Sebastian treated Taylor. I was promised by my friend that I would come to understand why he was the way he was but for me, there really was no excuse. With every action, I saw him as more of a bully who had anger issues and was abusive.

Over the course of the book, there were a couple times Sebastian had gotten physical with his sister, leaving red marks on her so I figured it was just a matter of time before he did something to Taylor. Sure enough, he puts her “under protection” and effectively tells her she’ll be a prisoner in the house, unable to leave unless he’s with her. As any level headed person would react, Taylor wasn’t happy about that. No matter how nice his house is (and it’s a freaking mansion with everything you could want in a house) it would still be a prison. This leads Sebastian to tell her if she wants a real jail, he can accommodate her and that leads to an argument, some hair pulling, dragging across the room and a gun to her head with an accompanying threat to her life being the only way she can leave him. SO I was left scratching my head as to why she loves this guy. And Taylor finally started to realize what she’d gotten herself into with him after that. Unfortunately, a little explaining by Sebastian, his partner Josh and Sebastian’s sister leads Taylor to believe that Sebastian’s actions are ok and excusable and justified and it’s all hunky-dory again…leaving me pissed off and beyond happy when the book came to an end.

Overall…this book was so not the book for me. I love romance novels. I don’t mind suspension of disbelief and how things are too perfect or happen in cheesy ways at times the way they wouldn’t happen in real life…it’s fun and it’s entertainment. But crap like this, abusive guys like this, happen every day. This book was not fun for me. I didn’t even cover some of the worst parts, just hitting on a big one, but this book left me pissed off and there was one event in particular that left me leaking a few tears because it was awful. I think it was mentioned in a review somewhere that this was a cliffhanger…and that’s not exactly the case. Yes, it’s left open for another book but for me, this had an ending that left me glad I didn’t have to go on to the next book. Taylor picked the abusive a—hole, they were together and “happy” and they got the bad guy. Game, set, match. I’m done.

Initially, when I started the book, before it went bad, I was talking about the characters and dream cast pics to help picture them as I read and I found a hot guy for Sebastian but after the way I was left feeling, I’m not going to embellish this with that photo. The book doesn’t deserve it.

Fast paced and gives a real insight into the thought processes of a soldier still out on active duty when the shtf. A great start to the series and it has definitely left me wanting to read more.