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Annabeth Albert has entertained me in the past with several of her m/m romances, and in Sink or Swim, the second book in her navy-themed Shore Leave series, she’s upped the ante with a charming, single dad meets playboy romance.
Felix Sigurd, newly divorced doctor, parent to his two nieces Madeline and Charlotte who lost their mother two years earlier, just wants to enjoy some rest and relaxation with the girls at his family’s remote mountain cabin. What he doesn’t expect is to find it already occupied by a handsome, single sailor.
Navy Chief Calder Euler, tired of desk duty ordered following by a concussion on board his sub, has won what he thinks is a new vacation spot. Checking it out before inviting the guys for a weekend away, his solo adventure is interrupted by the arrival of Felix and the girls who startle him into taking a tumble down the stairs. With an injured leg and an approaching snowstorm, Calder isn’t going anywhere, much to Felix’s resignation. Never mind that Calder ‘won’ the cabin in a poker game with Felix’s ex-husband Tim, who technically doesn’t have any claim to the property and shouldn’t have put it on the line in the first place. Legalities aside, Felix doesn’t quite know what to make of his attractive, unattached houseguest, but he does know that the mutual chemistry they feel upon spending some time together can’t lead to anything permanent. After all, Calder is yearning to get back to his sub, making it clear he’s not relationship material, and Felix needs to keep his distance and focus on the girls. But the friendship they’re developing and the feelings that come with it make both of them wonder – is it time to go all in?
This is a really sweet, heartwarming and sexy romance. The children in this story, Madeline who is ten and Charlotte who is seven, are very likable and written age appropriately. I really appreciated that their reactions to Calder are quite different; precocious Charlotte just takes him in stride whereas Madeline is more reserved and hesitant to accept his presence. Calder has never been around children before, so watching him interact with the girls, learning their personalities, treating them as individuals and being genuine with them is really lovely to see.
Calder goes through a lot of transformation in this story, from the single devil-may-care playboy, the partying type, to a man who comes to envision a different future for himself that involves being a partner and a parent. It’s conversations with Felix, started in their first encounter at the cabin but which continue when their friendship goes beyond those boundaries and into their real day-to-day lives that make him re-assess his career, his ambitions, and what makes him happy. The author tackles this really well and makes it believable. Calder becomes a hero-in-pursuit (my favourite kind) going out of his way to include Felix in his life and introducing him and the girls to his large family, showing Felix that he doesn’t have to do everything alone. The other interesting thing about Calder’s character is that despite his external personality, he is very soft and tender in the bedroom. He likes kissing for example, and sex for him isn’t always about getting to the finish line. With Felix he finds a partner who doesn’t have any expectations of him and he’s able to relax and really enjoy their lovemaking.
For Felix, coming off a divorce where his partner didn’t want anything to do with his nieces, it’s understandable that he’s not thinking about another relationship or relying on anyone but himself (and occasionally his stepmother). He worries about the impact of a relationshp on the girls (mostly about causing them hurt with a breakup). The fact that he and Calder are in sync perfectly in the bedroom (in some very sexy and tender love scenes) will just make their eventual split harder. Calder makes his single priority of returning to shipboard duty clear early on, and it will take some effort for Felix to believe that Calder could be happy with a change in focus. Fortunately, he’s convincing in the end and the happy ending they get is well deserved.
The more I think about this story, the more I realize how well all the elements clicked together for me. The sexual relationship, the friendship, the character growth, the relationship each man has with the girls, the girls themselves who are quite delightfully unique and well characterized, the romance, Sink or Swim really is a complete package.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 27/02/22
Publication Date: 02/2022
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.
I'm a biochemist and a married mother of two. Reading has been my hobby since grade school, and I've been a fan of the romance genre since I was a teenager. Sharing my love of good books by writing reviews is a recent passion of mine, but one which is richly rewarding.
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Albert does not miss often. This sounds great!
OMG it is actually two different narrators! I’ve listened to books by both of these narrators and enjoyed them. But whoever was reading the Felix chapters came up with something that just makes Felix sound . . . awful. Yeah, this should have been read by one narrator. Off to read Caz review ;-) while I wait for a print copy from the library.
Greg Boudreaux – Calder’s PoV; Joel Leslie – Felix’s PoV. I’m a fan of both although I did have a few issues with JL’s sections.
I used to really enjoy Albert’s work. Those first novellas set in and around Portland, OR coffee carts and cafes were quite lovely. Over time, I’ve lost interest but based on the positive review for this I thought I’d give it a try. The $9.99 Kindle price is a huge nope . . . not for a maybe read. So I’m listening to the audio version from my library (yay!). But I’m finding it really difficult to listen to. The voice(s) for Calder’s chapters is fine but the Felix-voiced chapters are NOT working for me. (The narrator came up with a really different sounding voice(s).)
Question for big audio readers out there: I’m used to narrator’s varying voices by character (so we know who is speaking). But in this book, the narrator changes voice with POV. I’m finding it confusing. Both characters sound like Calder in the Calder chapters and Felix in the Felix chapters. I’m no stranger to audio books but I don’t recognize this technique. Is this common and I’ve just never noticed before because the narrators’ “voices” work for me in those other novels?
FYI, Caz reviewed the audio version of this on AudioGals today.
I haven’t read or listened to this book but did listen to the previous book, which has the same narrators. I much prefer the narration style of one narrator than the other.
Joint narrations seem popular with some authors but I generally prefer just one narrator as I sometimes find the mismatch between ‘voices’ jarring.
The dual narration (where the male narrator reads the chapters from the hero’s PoV and the female narrator reads the chapters from the heroine’s) has kinda become the standard for contemporary m/f romance, and now it’s bleeding over into m/m. Obviously in an m/f book there’s the added issue of a man not sounding exactly like a woman and vice versa – although there are a lot of very good narrators who are able to portray characters of the opposite sex convincingly.
There are some audiobooks now being produced in what’s known as “duet” style – which, in an m/f romance, means that the male narrator reads the dialogue of all the male characters in the book, and the female narrator reads all the female. The narrative portions are read by whoever is appropriate for the PoV at that point.
In my AG review I made the point that this book doesn’t really need two narrators – I’m not sure why that decision was made. Like Wendy, I’d much rather listen to one narrator than two. I think what you’re saying is that the narrators didn’t make enough distinction in their portrayals of the two lead characters? I agree in part – I thought one narrator differentiated between them more effectively than the other.
I had no problem keeping track of POV or who was speaking for either narrator. I just really did not like the sound of the Felix chapters’ “voice”.
Knowing how I felt about the book after the fact, I’d pay the price for it. But not knowing whether I’d like it or not, yeah, that price point is really high. I was lucky to get a review copy of it! I’ve definitely seen Carina Press prices rising lately, though I think the Albert ones are the most expensive of the bunch. For example the Rachel Reid hockey series is coming in at $7 a book but the Alberts are about $11 (I’m not sure if the price I see on amazon dot com , coming from Canada, is exactly what an American would see but it’s definitely high).
I liked this one a bit more than Sailor Proof. I, too, read (or listened to, actually) Calder as on the asexual spectrum, and most likely demi, especially given that he needs to make emotional connections before feeling physical attraction.
There’s only so much low-angst fluff I can take but one of the things I applaud Annabeth Albert for is being able to write low-angst while still writing complex characters with realistic problems and not going over the top into the sappy!
I liked this better than Sailor Proof,as well.
I just finished this on audio a couple of days ago and I mostly agree with your review. It was a lovely feel-good romance with well-written characters.
These are small quibbles, but they stood out to me. I honestly didn’t buy the semi-emotional backstory for Calder. It was a tough situation, but for some reason the author didn’t quite convince me that it would have such lasting impact. In this case the narration might have played a part in it. It felt overly emotional for the situation. Also, why wasn’t Calder used to kids? At the very least he goes every year to his family reunion where there are tons of kids and lots of family activities, as we saw in the first book.
I loved how the author handled Calder’s sexuality, which I would perhaps call grey ace/demisexual. It was so refreshing to read. I also thought the girls were well written and added to the story. The narration was very good, although for once I felt both narrators got a little too “emotional” at times. My own mood, maybe?
All said though,I give it an A on audio.
Thanks Carrie, especially for your explanation regarding Calder’s sexuality. I haven’t read the first in the series yet, but I intend to!