Top Priority (Book 1)

When I read the description, I immediately loved this book’s concept—talk about the endless possibility of conflict. Since it was short and I had some time to kill before an appointment, I figured it’d made a fun afternoon read. Instead, I fell head over heels in love with both Lucas and Colt and adored the ridiculousness and inherent drama of the situation they find themselves in.

I’m an Air Force spouse who has experienced her share of deployments, so I have to give Dee massive kudos for both the realism and respect she treats Colt’s deployment and Lucas’ response to it. (Full disclosure: My spouse is not a pilot, but I’m admittedly biased when I say that A-10s are way sexier than F-16s.)

Most love stories follow a similar path: the meet-cute, the relationship arc, and then the hot sex. This book rearranges those elements while still retaining the heart of what a romance story should be. It was completely worth the binge-read, and I can’t wait to dive into the next book in this sexy series.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.

Their Boy (Book 2)

This book is the natural progression of the previous story in this series, even though it takes place years later. It’s fun to revisit Colt and Lucas as a settled couple enjoying their happily ever after together. However, they knew going into their relationship that something would always between missing if kept to the two of them.

Enter Kit, who is the primary focus of this book as well as the narrator. His relatively tragic backstory and unique current living situation make for an excellent setup on multiple levels for him to become involved with Colt and Lucas. The primary appeal to me for this book involved Kit’s character development both within the context of kink and on his own, outside of the sphere of his partners. I appreciated that Colt and Lucas also help Kit expand his horizons and grow as a person even as their specific relationship with him has a very different mental trajectory.

This book features a significant age gap between the romantic leads (early 20s, late 30s, and early 40s) and a different aspect of the BDSM community than I had very much knowledge of. Dee does an excellent job of presenting the Daddy/Little dynamic in a positive way that shows the benefits of such a relationship for those interested in it, even if it’s not something that might appeal to your average romance reader. Dee’s work and care put into her writing and storytelling elevate the text beyond just a framework to hold hot sex scenes. I’m glad I continued this series, and I look forward to the next book based on a few teases featured in this particular book.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.

Breathless (Book 3)

I enjoyed Dee’s writing in the previous book so much that I started reading this one at 11:30 at night. I’d probably have read it all in one sitting if the spouse hadn’t woken up at 2 AM and prodded me into getting some sleep (I promptly made coffee and finished it right away the next morning). However, this book is certainly not for everybody, based on the levels of kink explored and the relationship between Reese and River.

Shay is a fantastically fleshed-out character, and there’s still so much I want to know about him. His interactions with other characters (whether romantic or otherwise) show that Dee created him with so much care, and it’s easy to connect with such a hero. In that same vein, there’s so much about Reese and River that Dee does not share with the reader, which makes them equally captivating. As a trio, this results in delightful reading. This book is one of the rare romance arcs that never gave me the urge to smack any of the leads upside the head, nor did I ever bemoan anyone’s lack of communication skills. Even Shay’s initial issues at the start of the story are well-developed rather than an excuse to insert conflict in the narrative.

Once I finished this book on a Sunday morning, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Excellent books frequently give me “book hangovers,” where I’d rather still be with the characters rather than back in the real world. On Sunday evening, I turned to the start of the book and re-read it, enjoying every bit of it a second time through. I often look forward to re-reading books, but I’ve never before read a book twice in a row like that. There are no more installments in this series for me to devour (yet), so that will have to be the praise I leave this book with.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.