Thursday, October 31, 2013

ONCE A MARINE by Patty Campbell

Etopia Press, June 2013
ebook
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN: 978-1-940223-12-4
Contemporary/Military Romance
** ½



 

Patty Campbell’s ONCE A MARINE is a beautifully told romance with a military flavor set against some really spectacular scenery.


BD James is so busy with her tyrant of a boss that her fiancé told her it was over between them.  So when retired Marine Rafael Cruz offers a distraction, BD is all for it.  Rafi owns an air charter service and does some off the books government work to supplement his income.  He has little time for romance.


Surely, author Patty Campbell could have come up with any number of better names for her heroine than Beautiful Daughter.  Had that been my name, I would not have settled for shortening it to BD, I would have legally changed it, to anything!  I am not sure why this awful name bothered me so much each and every time it was uttered, but it did.  And while this reader enjoyed the hit and run romance as BD hoped Rafi would show up each time, it was really rather difficult to see their romance lasting.  Rafi’s life consisted of dashing between his charter service all over the place and his black ops work for the military.  That wasn’t exactly the perfect storm for family man material.


Still, this reader couldn’t help but cheer for this couple, especially when the ex-fiancé decided he wanted BD back and wasn’t above (or is it below) using violence to get what he wanted.  But that bit of excitement fizzled quickly and the storyline dropped off again.


On the plus side, the scenery as the story changed locale was spectacular.  The scene was laid out beautifully.  This reader could easily see vacationing in any of these wonderful places.  The storyline moved at a nice clip and the hero was just about everything you could want in a hero:  tall, dark, handsome and able to take care of not only himself but everyone else.  It wasn’t too difficult to imagine BD waiting around for Rafi to show up in spite of her better judgment.


All in all, Patty Campbell’s ONCE A MARINE was a beautiful romance set in several even nicer locales that romance fans should find an enjoyable read.   


Reviewed by T. Barringer



 

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."


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