96 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic hero, great story!, December 31, 1999
Out of Ms. Brockmann's many fabulous heroes, all of whom I adore, I *totally* fell in love with Admiral Jake Robinson! What a man! He is utterly idealistic and principled, but there is never a second of "sappiness" in the author's presentation of his heroism. She provides totally believable motivation for exactly why he seems so noble to others. In short: no matter how many people he has saved in Vietnam and throughout the rest of his illustrious career, he has always regretted the ones he wasn't able to save.
At 52, Jake has been widowed for several years after a happy, 30-year marriage to an artist. The heroine, Zoe Lange, is different in every way from Jake's deceased wife, but she is truly his soul mate. Like him, she works in covert operations and feels a huge adrenaline rush from the danger. Because their work is so similar, Zoe understands Jake's career as his dead wife never could.
Many times internal conflicts such as Jake's guilt about the age difference between him and Zoe can get tedious in romance because the hero's "angsting" gets excessive. Happily, Ms. Brockmann never crosses that line. The very traits of honor and commitment and deep, abiding love that make the heroine fall in love with Jake are the things that believably keep them apart until the tumultuous climax.
Zoe is a fabulous heroine. Brilliant, competent, and independent, she never wanted to marry because she put her career above everything else in life. She loves her work as a scientist specializing in biological warfare. Like Jake, she knows her work is very important because it saves so many lives. So up until Jake, she only got involved with men as potential lovers that she was sure she would fall in love with only a little bit.
However, almost immediately with Jake she realizes this is not going to be the case. She loses her previous control, because it is impossible to keep any distance from this incredible man.
As for the love scenes--whew! TOTALLY HOT! Because Ms. Brockmann writes in close-third point of view, we get to be intensely immersed in the passionate feelings of each character in these scenes as well as all others. The author never distracts us by the dizzying head-hopping many other romance authors succumb to. We are always close-in and utterly personally involved by her seamless writing style.
All in all this is a truly magnificent book worthy of the many awards it will undoubtedly win, as so many other of Ms. Brockmann's books have. The only "complaint" I have is that the book had to end!
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Older man and younger woman, but it works, August 27, 2002
I don't normally go for the older man/younger woman type books, but Ms. Brockmann's handling of the situation worked. And I can't think of a guy more deserving of finding love again than the widower, "Admiral."
I'm glad to see a few of Brockmann's original Tall Dark & Dangerous series are being republished, namely books 1 & 2, Prince Joe and Forever Blue. I hope they'll continue and republish all of them. I'd buy them again. Admiral's Bride is #7 in the series. If they don't... and if you can get your hands on this one, it's worth it. Although it's not absolutely necessary, I recommend reading Brockmann's "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (book #6 in the series) to get a bit more of the Admiral's history before reading this one. While it's Crash's story, the Admiral and his first love, Daisy, are featured heavily in it.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
fair to middlin', May 9, 2006
This review is from: The Admiral's Bride (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't see this as her best effort (but not her worst, either). I think really the book is too short to get into the kind of character development she does in other SEAL books, and so you might not care as much about these characters as you do in other of her novels. Also, as another reviewer said, the "action" in this book is not believable (and I'm not even in the military, and I can tell). It reads a little like it was written by a teenager living out her fantasy on paper. Lots of thoughts from the main characters on their emotions, but not enough interractions to flesh out why they feel that way.
I was also a little disturbed by the repeated references to how the female lead had had a crush on the Admiral since she was a child. There was only lip service as to that her love now "was so much more" than her hero-worship crush. I wasn't convinced. Seemed to me that they hadn't been around each other enough for her to have other than a crush, and him to have other than a wish to end his celibacy.
Also, as others said, if you don't like may-december romances, skip this one, because the age difference is mentioned frequently (and then wrapped up in a neat little package and tossed aside right at the end).
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