Badd Ass
by Jasinda Wilder
Release Date: January 18, 2017
Book #2 in the Badd Brothers series
Number of Pages: 344
Kindle Edition
Source: MCL
Contemporary Romance
Ages 17 and up
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I was a Sixty-Eight Whiskey—a combat medic. So when I hear someone shout “MEDIC!” training just kicks in. It’s automatic, immediate. I don’t think I even saw the guy whose leg I tended to, not really. All I saw was him. Zane Badd. His tuxedo fit him like he’d been sewn into it, and his eyes reflected the fury and the hardness of a combat veteran, but when he looked at me, he just…softened. By the time I had his brother patched, Zane and I were both covered in blood, and I knew I had to have him.
The trouble with Zane isn’t getting him, it’s keeping him.
And the trouble with me is, even if I could hold onto a man like Zane, I wouldn’t know what to do with him. It’s not in my nature, and if life has taught me anything, it’s to not trust anyone, least of all men like Zane. He’s a warrior through and through, hard, muscular, gorgeous, tenacious, and yet oddly tender toward me.
***
Experience and instincts are telling me to run from Zane Badd as fast as possible, but my heart and my body are telling me to stay, to hold on and not let go. Yeah, it’s a conflict as old as humanity itself, but it’s brand new for me.
Life as Navy SEAL doesn’t exactly prepare you for normality. Yeah, I can tend bar and goof off with my seven crazy brothers, but what do I do when the woman of my dreams—dreams I didn’t know I’d had until I saw her—explodes into my life like a frag grenade? I’m trained to attack, to win, to survive at any costs, and figuring out what to do about a woman like Amarantha Quinn will take every scrap of tenacity and courage I possess. Combat is easy, it turns out, in comparison to facing your own fears and scars.
And then sometimes, just when you think you’ve got it finally figured out, fate throws you a screwball and sends everything FUBAR.
Parts of this story were wonderful, and some fell flat for me. While I really felt for Amarantha – the way she grew up, the isolation and loneliness she still often felt – there were other times I also didn’t feel as if I could connect with her. Same held true with Zane. One moment I would be feeling for him, the next moment I’d have a disconnect.
One of the things I really liked, though I’ve seen a lot of comments about this story with people disliking this aspect, is how sexually open Amarantha is with Zane and her friend Claire. I don’t agree with some of the specific personal sharing, although Claire took that information more than had it shared with her. That, I admit, was annoying since Claire was so tight lipped about her new fling. But as for body and sex positivity, I am all for that.
I’m still enjoying getting to know the Badd brothers and seeing the growth within their relationships with each other. As much as there are some old hard feelings and plenty they need to work through, they are all making the effort.
This series is not what I thought it would be. It’s not quite as fun as I was anticipating, but not as deep as I would hope. Sometimes things get ridiculous, but not always in a good way. And there are little details that are missed that disappoint. (Since Amarantha and Zane were both in the military, I find it hard to believe that she didn’t know something as basic as what an XO is when Zane mentioned his XO.) Yet, I want to keep reading and see how thing play out for all of these characters. The stories aren’t bad, they’re just not great either.
3 stars
All In Good Time 