Thursday, March 5, 2009

Forever Blue by Suzanne Brockmann *****

This is the second in Brockmann's Tall, Dark & Dangerous series - her first Navy SEAL books - and while it's not quite as compelling as her Troubleshooters, it's still wonderful!

Hero Carter "Blue" McCoy is a member of the Team Ten Alpha something or other (yeah, I know, I'm bad at details). It's 7 - or 8?? - men who've passed the SEAL BUDs training and Hell Week, and work together like a well-oiled machine.

A moment while I think about the picture that makes. LOL>

OK - he goes home on leave to be the best man in his step-brother's wedding - to his former high school sweetheart. The whole town is expecting some fireworks, even though Gerry and Blue were actually very close. According to Blue, Jenny Lee used him in high school to get close to Gerry anyway - it's about damn time they got married, huh?

Lucy was only 15 when Blue and Jenny Lee were high school sweethearts - and she was no Jenny Lee. Lucy was tall, and athletic enough to make the boys baseball team, where Jenny Lee was frills and lace and wouldn't swim because it messed up her hairdo. But Lucy had the biggest crush on Blue - and still carries a tiny torch for him, having read everything printed on Navy SEALs.

When Blue and Lucy meet in the cafe, there are tiny sparks from that torch. He invites her to be his date at the rehearsal dinner that night - and she shows up dressed to kill, in a borrowed little black dress and high heels. The sparks are quite a lot higher, and the two of them plan to leave right away and sorta go with the flow. Blue needs to say goodbye to his brother and Jenny Lee, so he goes back in - and ends up dancing with Jenny. Of course, jumping to conclusions, Lucy decides he's still in love with Jenny and just plans to boff Lucy for a one night stand. And Gerry causes a scene, disses Blue's mother and causes Blue to publicly threaten Gerry.

This thread continues throughout the book - her not being able to accept his true feelings, ok not that he actually voices them till late in the book...

The next day, Gerry is dead - broken neck, done like something a SEAL might do, and Blue is now the #1 Suspect. Everyone except Lucy believes that too - and when she tries to stand up for him (did I mention she's a rookie cop now?), she gets put on suspension. In her anger over the situation, she quits! And then Blue and Lucy have a night of world-rocking-boffing (since there isn't any reason not to, now!) - and THEN they have to face the next day.

I love the line about adding breakfast to the mix, how that messes up one night stands.

Because Lucy is quick to point out that they were friends first and friends still, they manage to get over the Day After awkwardness. Blue finds out that he is telling her more and more of his secrets, things he hasn't even told his SEAL buddies. Pretty soon it's clear he has feelings beyond lust for her - could it be... LUV?

Meanwhile, the Team Ten Alpha Squad is out of the country, and when Blue needs them to help with his legal problems, he has no one but Lucy. Pretty soon the police trump up some evidence and put him in jail - and Lucy is alone in her quest to prove him innocent.

It was suspenseful and fun and I liked watching them develop a friendship and then fall in love. OK, it was way faster than true life, like they developed the friendship in 2-3 days and then went ahead and declared love, still I enjoyed it - quick, fast read. Brockmann's got a way of making them seem so real.

It's in my Serial Readers Challenge - nuttin' else. Still, 5 stars!

No comments: