Review: Squared Away by Annabeth Albert

Title: Squared Away

Series: Out of Uniform: Book Five

Author: Annabeth Albert

Length: 336 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: I was a bit disappointed with this book, but that’s just me. It was still a great story and I liked reading it. It had scenes that I enjoyed a lot; it was just much less than what I got in the previous books.

Reviewed By: Ky

Blurb: In the wake of tragedy, SEAL Mark Whitley rushed stateside to act as guardian to his sister’s three young children. But a conflicting will could give custody to someone else—someone Mark remembers as a too young, too hot, wild party boy. Even after six years, Mark can’t shake the memory of his close encounter with Isaiah James, or face up to what it says about his own sexuality.

Isaiah’s totally over the crush that made him proposition Mark all those years ago. In fact, he’s done with crushing on the wrong men altogether. For now, he’s throwing himself into proving he’s the best person to care for his cousin’s kids. But there’s no denying there’s something sexy about a big, tough military man with a baby in his arms.

As the legal details get sorted out, their long-buried attraction resurfaces, leading to intimate evenings after the kids are tucked in. A forever future is within reach for all of them, if only Mark can find the courage he needs to trust Isaiah with his secrets—and his heart.

Review: The Out of Uniform series is one of my favorites and so far, I’ve enjoyed every story I’ve read. Sadly, the fifth book didn’t quite hit the mark for me, but it wasn’t a total miss either. It landed somewhere in the middle.

Wizard (or Mark) and Isaiah have been present in previous books, but we never really got to know them. In this book we learn a lot about Mark and his sexuality, and we get to know Isaiah pretty well. Mark is reliable, calm under pressure, the teammate everyone depends on when things really go south during a mission. Isaiah is probably the opposite of him. He likes to party and have a good time, he is very social, has friends everywhere, and he has a strong sense of family, even if his father didn’t help him acquire it.

I was looking forward to reading this next installment in this series—as always—but, sadly, I wasn’t as engaged in it as I was in the previous ones. I didn’t feel a connection between the MCs, the miscommunication frustrated me, and there were way too many coincidences. The romance moved too fast, and everything fell into place too easily at the end. Also, Mark and Isaiah got too cheesy for me at times, and that’s a huge drawback where I’m concerned. I can’t say that I felt much of anything while reading this book and while on one hand that was a good thing, because I read it after an extremely emotional story and wanted the calm and quiet; on the other hand, when you read a book you want to feel some connection to it, you want to feel some of the characters’ feelings. It didn’t happen here even though there was supposed to be at least some emotion, as the whole story happened because of a deadly accident. Still, I didn’t think that the characters ever really mourned for their loved ones.

Also, the kids seemed like they were very easily handled. I think they were behaving according to their age and not appearing older but other than that, I don’t think the portrayal of the situation at home was very realistic. Except for a bit of a struggle with sleeping time, they were perfectly cooperative the rest of the time. They were easily placated and happy to go along with any plan. All three of them were supposed to be under the age of six, so I expected at least a little bit of a mess and partial destruction in the house. Maybe I’m wrong here, I don’t presume to be an expert on the topic, but from what I know, when the number of small kids in a room goes up, so does the chaos. Of course, it could be that, in the end, Wizard really did have magic powers and that’s why it was so easy to suddenly care for three kids with no problem and while having no experience at all.

On a positive note, I liked seeing Dylan, Apollo and their girls again! Even if they had very small parts, it was still nice to visit with them again. We also saw Ben and Maddox living happily together and raising their dogs. Cupcakes were, of course, present too.

I was a bit disappointed with this book, but that’s just me. It was still a great story and I liked reading it. It had scenes that I enjoyed a lot; it was just much less than what I got in the previous books. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the series. No way! This series is great, and I’m looking forward to the next book. It’s going to be Bacon’s story, and I can’t wait to see who the author is going to pair him up with!

You can buy Squared Away here:
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