This is third book in the series about the Alexander family. This book on their friend Matt and his lady love Penny. Matt is a returning veteran and has problems with anger management and PTSD. He has an injury from the war and hooks up with Penny, his former babysitter, to help him out because she is a physical therapist. She is very attracted to Matt but reluctant to get involved with him because he is a patient, but Matt is smitten and doesn't care about crossing patient/therapist boundaries. Before you know it, like and lust turn into intensely enamored, which turns into love.
One of the things I really like about this series is that the women are strong, independent, and accomplished: they don't seek to be defined by a relationship and while they desire a HEA, they aren't twiddling their thumbs waiting for a man to find or rescue them either. I also love the strong family bond in the Alexander family. I like the fact that it's the men who are the first to acknowledge that they are in love and they are willing to wait until the heroine recognizes and acknowledges that they are in love too. We also get to visit with characters from previous books so we get to see how they are doing, which is great.
I was a little disappointed that Penny did violate the boundary between patient and client: I know this is a common theme in romance novels but it's unethical and in real life Penny could have lost her license. It was also a little unrealistic that she would be still doing clinical practice and have a Ph.D: most people with Ph.D.'s are doing research in a hospital setting and/or teaching. They might have some clinical hours but that wouldn't be their primary role.
The one thing I find puzzling, and I've said this in a prior review, is that the author slowly gives us little hints that the Alexanders' are African American. On one hand, I want to shout: WHY IS THIS A SECRET?!! There are so few books in the romance genre that features people of color, that the more we have, the better!!! As an African American woman, it is frustrating to see blacks as either secondary sidekicks or as completely absent from most books: it's like we disappeared from the planet.
On the other hand, maybe the author is trying to make a point that their race really shouldn't matter. The Alexanders are a regular, loving family that have their ups and downs and mini-dramas just like other families. Until the author subtly mentions their race, you don't even notice it and perhaps that's her point.
So, in a way I applaud this choice (if that's why race is so subtle in the books) but I do feel a little sad that one aspect of the characters that surely has somewhat shaped who they are is basically not addressed. It's hard to imagine growing up in the U.S. & not have race EVER come up. It also makes me a little sad because as a woman of color, it's nice to read about characters who actually look like me: I'm tired of 24 year old ingenues with green eyes who are worried about being too "curvy" when they wear a size 10.
Nonetheless, it's a great series and I have already bought the ne t two books in the series. Well done!!!!
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aquariandragon
Sexiest sergeant ever? I think so :)
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Matt and Penny's story.
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