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Annabeth Albert kicks off her new Shore Leave series of military-themed contemporary romances with Sailor Proof, a cute, sexy, low-angst, veritable trope-fest of a love story. We’ve got best friend’s little brother, only one bed, first times and a fake relationship, all thoroughly mixed and cooked to perfection to produce the equivalent of a soufflé in book form!
When a ship comes home to port, it’s tradition for the crew to vie for the privilege of being the first to disembark and greet their loved ones. Naval Chief Derrick Fox has seen more than one marriage proposal come as a result of the First Kiss, and usually, he’s happy for whoever wins that honour. This time however, he’s more than a little bit pissed off that one of the junior officers has won the raffle and is taking great delight in taunting Derrick about the fact that he will be disembarking first and getting to plant one on his new squeeze – who happens to be Derrick’s cheating ex. Derrick’s best friend Calder suggests that what Derrick needs is a hottie in the crowd he can make a beeline for and kiss the hell out of in full view of his ex – but unlike Calder, whose large, loving family is bound to be waiting for him, Derrick doesn’t have anyone. He’s not opposed to the idea in principle, but being deployed on the sub for another two weeks isn’t exactly conducive to meeting said hottie and fixing a dockside smooching session.
But logistics expert Calder isn’t about to let a problem go unsolved. His brother Arthur owes him a favour and he’d be up for being the kissee – but Derrick doesn’t see how kissing Calder’s red-haired, spindly, “too nerdy for band camp” little brother is going to make anyone jealous.
Arthur Euler is the only member of his family who isn’t involved with public service in some way. He’s a super talented musician and award-winning composer who makes his living writing scores for video games, and has always felt somewhat out of step with everyone around him, who seem to think that music is just a phase and that he’ll settle to a real job one day soon. He loves his family dearly, but is tired of never quite being enough in their eyes, of feeling like he’s a disappointment, no matter his achievements. Seeing the toll taken on his mother and their family by his father’s deployments, Arthur has a strict rule against dating anyone in the military – but he really does owe Calder and has no problem with his plan to help Derrick out. After all, Derrick is all but part of the family; he’s Calder’s best friend and they’ve all known each other for years, so it’s no biggie.
Except… when Derrick and Arthur – who haven’t seen each other for a good few years – finally meet up again, sparks fly. Derrick realises Calder was right when he said his little brother wasn’t so little any more and Arthur, who even as a teen knew better than to develop a crush on a military man, can’t believe he’d forgotten how gorgeous Derrick is. Their kiss is electric, leaving them both slightly befuddled – but before either of them can bring the charade to an end, Arthur’s mother Jane arrives on the scene and, delighted to see Derrick and Arthur together, immediately invites Derrick to join them for a family dinner. Reluctantly, Derrick accepts – Jane was like a mother to him when he was growing up and he doesn’t want to disappoint her – and is trying to come up with a way to make a quiet exit when she invites him to join them for their regular week-long family get-together; Arthur will be going so it makes sense for his boyfriend to come along, too, right? Put on the spot, Arthur and Derrick find themselves agreeing to be fake-boyfriends for the duration, but the more time they spend together and get to know each other, they more they realise that they don’t want to be ‘fake’ boyfriends any more. But Derrick knows Arthur’s stance on dating guys in the military – is there any way they can be together without his career coming between them?
Sailor Proof is an easy, light-hearted read featuring likeable characters, a strong secondary cast and a cute, sexy romance that is mostly drama-free. If you’re in the mood for well-written fluff that isn’t going to put you into a sugar coma, then this is your book; the tropes are well integrated and the characters have enough depth that the low-level conflicts that do arise make sense in context. I loved the way Derrick and Arthur decide to make the best of an awkward situation, and do it with so much humour, affection and mutual respect. I really liked their ease with one another and how they so quickly begin to look out for each other, how Arthur is comfortable enough to open up to Derrick about his family’s competitiveness and how it makes him feel, and how he begins to remind Derrick it’s not all about work and that he needs to get out and ‘people’ now and again.
These two balance each other out really well and Ms. Albert does a great job building a genuine emotional connection alongside the physical attraction that hums between them from the start. Their romance does develop quickly, but she makes it work.
The military angle really only comes into play in a big way towards the end of the book, but the ups and downs, the waiting and the uncertainty experienced by so many military families is expertly captured, and it adds a subtle element of realism to the story.
I likened this book to a soufflé at the beginning of this review, and while that’s a delicious thing, it can also be a fairly insubstantial one – and that’s my main criticism of this story. And it’s not really a criticism as such, it’s more of one of those things about which YMMV – this is well-written fluff of the highest order, but I generally prefer something with a bit more heft to it.
That isn’t going to stop me from recommending Sailor Proof however, because it’s a charming and extremely well-crafted character-driven story told with a great deal of warmth and humour, and I had a lot of fun reading it.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 02/10/21
Publication Date: 09/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Gotta love Albert; even when she’s not A-level she’s still pretty good.
Exactly. This is pure fluff (mostly) but it’s highly polished, expertly done fluff ;)
I have to admit I’m seriously contemplating DNF’ing this one. (OK, maybe I’ve already moved on….) I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about this one that isn’t hitting the spot. Maybe it’s the “soufflé” qualities the review mentioned. It could also be I started this after Jay Hogan’s On Board, which is a tough act to follow.
Edna, I think you and I are on the same reading path currently. I read On Board last weekend and had the same thought when reading Sailor Proof – “not as good as On Board”. Which is a shame because I have really liked a lot of Annabeth Albert’s books and was looking forward to this one. I will still give her more chances based on her past work, however!
You’re right, it seems we’re reading about the same books at the moment! You also recently reminded me of Briar Prescott’s upcoming release and now I have that on my radar.
I’ll give this a try when I need a palate cleanser/light and airy fluff. I like Annabeth Albert and definitely don’t want to give her up.
What are you reading now? Haha. I just finished Playing it Safe by Amy Andrews. Caz gave it a B- and I’m heading over to that page to give my 3 cents!
I love Briar Prescott so much! I am looking forward to The Underdog and hope I like it as much as The Dating Experiment. Her characters’ banter is so good!
This past week/weekend I went backwards a bit towards older releases. Lane Hayes had a sale on her first book Better Than Good recently. I have liked her Out of College series so I got this one. It’s a M/M romance and the characters are in their mid-late 20s. I really enjoyed it. It had been so long since it was published that she had an associated book Better Than Beginnings that is a collection of short stories she wrote about the same characters. The short stories take the characters through pivotal points in their relationship over several years to their wedding. The 2 books together were like one big long novel. I bought the rest in the series but have only read one more (Better Than Chance), which I also liked.
I also read my first book by Charlie Novak (another M/M author) this weekend then immediately glommed half her backlist. The book I read was Strawberry Kisses but I liked the next in the series called Summer Kisses even better – it had more angst. Some of her books have a little more sex than I need in my books but I enjoyed the stories. The Kisses series has chefs in it and I am now reading her Roll for Love series which has bookstore owners and cosplayers and other nerdy stuff that I love, ha ha!
Authors I haven’t tried yet—I’m really excited!
I like the idea of seeing a couple way after “The End,” beyond the first few months or even one year of being together. It just feels more HEA than HFN. I love Lily Morton’s Risk Taker for many reasons, but one is because the Epilogue takes place a good five years after Henry and Ivo finally get together. I feel I can breathe easy that the couple made it. Haha…
Sometimes epilogues get a bad rap – people saying they are unnecessary, etc. However, I love them. I like a glimpse of my couple in the future. It doesn’t have to be that they are married or have kids. I am fine with just a slice of life scene showing they are still in love and enjoying each other. And I love Lily Morton too! Hope you like my recs!
I had the same problem – read it after On Board – with another book I reviewed recently. Some are just SO good that anything else suffers by comparison. Maybe come back to this one when you want something lighter? I generally like the weightier stuff, too, but this one is definitely a cut above a lot of the light and fluffy stuff out there.
I’ll be taking @Manjari‘s and your advice and give this a finish when I need lighter fare.
I just finished this book today and agree with your review. I like Annabeth Albert’s books very much and this book was sweet and thoughtful but it didn’t give me all the feels and I don’t have an urge to re-read it. I think it was also a little less steamy than some of her other books? The writing flowed really nicely and I will definitely still read the next book in the series but I would also give this book a B grade.
Oh, good! This sounds like something I will definitely enjoy. I like having low-drama reads on hand for when I know I’m not up for an angsty read. Plus I generally enjoy Annabeth Albert’s books, so she’s a known quantity. Thanks for the recommendation!