So this is Troubleshooters Book 1 and the blurb seemed to hit all my happy buttons, but man oh man, talk about the execution not living up to the premise.

 

Both of the main characters are really dumb about their interactions.  I mean... REALLY EFFING DUMB.  Had they paused to actually talk about a few things,  few misconceptions, like most people in their mid-thirties might, I might have bought their conflict more, but as it was, I spent a good part of the book wanting to throttle them.

 

The parts of the book that were about them, that is.  A good part of the novel is taken up by flashbacks to WW 2 and the story of the hero's uncle and the heroine's father and the woman they both loved.  Honestly?  If she'd wanted to write about them, she could have actually written a prequel - and maybe it's me, but I didn't really see what that whole story had to do with the love story between Tom and Kelly.

 

I don't know, I felt like the author was trying to tell too many stories at one time, hopefully finding a way to link them all together via theme?  If so, I was too stupid to get the theme, I guess. I just found it tiresome.  

 

It's too bad because I thought the basic international terrorist and the gang of misfits trying to stop him was a great story that somehow got really short shrift with all the other crap going on.  

 

I was disappointed.   

This book gave me what I've wanted for so long: an adult M/M with no sex. It wasn't about all the sex these men have or want to have. It was about how much they love each other and the importance of getting to cement that love and commitment through marriage. Now, of course, my evil, cynical brain can't help but wonder if the lack of sex was because Ballantine only gave Brockmann so much latitude with this book. Big Six publishers aren't really known for their support of LGBT romance. I truly hope this was an authorial choice on Brockmann's part and not an "Ew, yucky, gay sex!" edict from the publisher because I did love the fabulous balance of their relationship in this book. To really feel that they loved each other and not just having sex with each other. They gave me so many heart flutters and smiles. Happy sigh.With one or two exceptions I loved all the characters in this book. The dialogue, especially between Robin an Jules, was fun and funny. The friends that surrounded them were great, often sweet, with fantastic camaraderie and such abundant love and support for each other. Jules and Sam's nicknames for each other killed me. I loved it. What's terribly embarrassing is that it took me 209 pages to realize why Sam gave Robin the nickname he did. Epic facepalm. Although it took Robin longer, which was hilarious.There was a lot of plot in this book even though it manages to be shorter than the other books in the series. There's a crisis in Afghanistan, an asshole journalist, an interfering ex-boyfriend, a stalker with a gun, homophobic father, a security risk friend, a burgeoning "love" between the asshole journalist and personal assistant, and more! Technically, it was too much. But I (mostly) really enjoyed reading everything so I didn't have too much of a problem with it.Where I did have a big problem was all the POV jumping. This was supposed to be Robin and Jules's story but we spent so much time in other characters' heads. I was particularly annoyed with how much we were in Will Schroeder's POV, the jackass journalist. (God, I hate journalists. Every time.) I didn't mind Dolphina (or any of the other characters) as much, but overall, I just wanted to be back with Robin or Jules. There were some scenes where they would leave and I wanted to follow them and read what they were saying to each other rather than stay with whoever we were following at the time. There were other scenes where Robin or Jules was there the entire time yet we weren't in either POV. Why? I wanted to know what they were thinking or feeling. Are the other books in the series like this, or was it just them?I'll see, because I'm going to read the series from the beginning. While this isn't really a standalone book, I didn't feel too lost reading it, just that I was missing out on other great stories/characters and the whole big picture. So I'll have a better handle on my feelings the second time I come to this book. This is the first Suzanne Brockmann I've read so I don't have the background to know whether or not things I've questioned are really an issue. Still, I love that Brockmann dedicated a book in her series to a non-standard couple. I'm having very big issues with romance authors creating minority characters as a superficial show of diversity and then bending over backward to create standard characters to continue the series. So everything else aside, she gets major points for not playing it that way (clearly this isn't the only book where she does this. That makes me happy). Even with my slight cynicism and all the head hopping, I really liked this book. I enjoyed reading it a great deal and highly recommend it to everyone, especially M/M readers.

Max and Gina, Molly and Jones - I wanted to love this book. Yet, it was only okay. I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe because so much of it was told through flashback? Whatever it was, there was just a lot of tension, urgency and heat missing from it for me.

How much do I love my GR friends for turning me onto this series?! It's hot, it's suspenseful, the relationships are great ... no downside yet. Not only was the main romance in this book between Cosmo and Jane a lot of fun but we were introduced to the painful longing and off-the-charts attraction between Jules and Robin.I want these two guys to get their HEA so badly. Dare I say, Qhuay who? Yeah, I went there. Read this.

I am going to try to read this later. Made it to chapter seven. It just seemed to drag on and on to me. Too many people love this book so I know I must be missing something. I liked reading the history of Sam and Noah it was sweet. I even enjoyed reading about the H/h. I enjoyed reading about all the characters. Just seemed dry and long winded.