This is the story of two women from different worlds, who find each other in a most difficult environment. One, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Margaret “Mags” Newsome, is 13 years into her military career. As a lesbian serving during the onerous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy governing the service of homosexual military members, Gunny Newsome must remain firmly in the closet. This leads to an internal conflict, and she effectively lives two lives. One life, that of a master drill instructor and team leader in an aviation group at Miramar, is fully immersed in military discipline as Gunny Newsome. She dedicates herself to molding young Marines and giving them the tools to remain safe in dangerous jobs. She is the perfect example of a scary Marine, physically fit, confident, and dominating, but secretly harboring a sensitive soul. Her other life, as Mags, is one of seeking relief from her loneliness through brief encounters with women she meets in locations far from the base, following a strict set of rules that protect her from situations that could out her and end her career. She keeps those two worlds widely separated. Until she doesn’t.
Enter university math Professor Elaine Chapman, who Mags spots one day while on a run. A sweaty Mags is completely taken by the sexy librarian type she sees coming out of a local bookstore/coffee shop. The encounter lasts all of five seconds, but Mags is hooked. Mags is fascinated by the beautiful blonde with the tight bun, pencil skirt, and glasses as she sees Elaine walking and reading, immersed in her book. Mags cannot believe her instant attraction. Unable to get the encounter out of her mind, she proceeds to stalk the bookstore and is rewarded a few weeks later when she meets the woman she comes to know as “Lane”. They begin a relationship as “friends with benefits” living under strict rules regulating their activities in order to protect Mags from DADT consequences. This artfully told story follows Mags and Lane as they navigate their pathway, progressing from mere friends to lovers.
This is an important book in an important series. It is the fourth installment in Author Jax Meyer’s “A Marines Heart” series. Meyer dedicates this series to the issues facing LGBTQ members of the US military serving under DADT, the official policy from 1994 until 2011 that allowed them to serve as long as they remained closeted. The series exposes the difficulties these patriots lived under as they served their country. Meyer is uniquely qualified to tell this story as she served in the Marine Corps but had to leave under the policy.
For this fourth book, Meyer teams with Elle Alexander. The authors take an interesting approach to telling the story from the views of the two main characters. They present alternating chapters featuring Mags and Lane. Lane is from the UK and is a classic Brit. The authors use British terms and spelling in Lane’s chapters. The reader can almost hear her accent as she speaks. One endearing aspect of the book is Lane’s education in the special aspects of Marine life. The authors decorate the book with fun things like Lane’s nickname of “Major” for Gunny Sergeant Mags. There are interesting discussions of war and the military as Mags educates Lane and Lane expands Mags’ worldview.
Other important characters include Corporals Cam Warren and Sharon Rodriguez. Cam is really the central character in the series and the previous two books are about Cam and Sharon’s relationship as young Marines, living under the same DADT rules. Cam is the central character of the wonderful “Dal Segno”, which was Meyer’s first book, but is chronologically in the future. This leads to an interesting challenge for readers who have not begun the series. In Dal Segno, we learn the outcomes of some of the series characters. Thus, the reader’s experience will be different depending on whether they take up Dal Segno first or last. I will leave it at that. Regardless of the order, I highly recommend the entire series.
During a deployment to Iraq, Mags and Sharon support each other while back home in San Diego, Lane and Cam help each other survive the separation and associated fears. This is an interesting part of the story and is an expansion of parts of book three in the series.
This book, and all the others in the series, held my attention even when I was not actually reading it. That is a measure of a genuinely great book. I found myself thinking about the book even when I was not actively reading it. Not only is it a wonderful romance, full of emotion and visual imagery, but it also compels the reader to consider an important issue of our time, that of our society’s treatment of individuals that have been in traditionally marginalized groups. It is a reminder that while we have come quite far in the evolution of human rights, we have some way to go. But it is no dreary morality play either. It is a fun, heartwarming, and beautiful tale of love found under difficult circumstances. The characters are real, endearing, and memorable. The authors have enriched the lives of their readers and I highly recommend this book, and the entire series.
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From the Publisher
Dal Segno
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A Marine Awakening
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A Marine Discovery
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A Marine's Conflict
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Rising from Ash
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| Price | $0.99 | $0.99 | $0.99 | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| Can be read stand alone | ✓ | ✓ | Read Marine Awakening first | ✓ | ✓ |
| Heat level | A little steamy | Fiery and sweet | Still fiery but interrupted by deployment | Loads of steam | Sensual steaminess |
| Romance type | Love after loss | Soul mates | Same characters as Marine Awakening | Friends with benefits with slow burn to love | Slow burn |
| Pairing | butch/femme | butch/jock | butch/jock | soft butch/femme | masculine of center/chapstick lesbian |
| Representation | Autism | Autism | Autism | no data | Ace/demi |
| Dominant interest | Performing Music | Listening to music | Surviving deployment | Road trips | Fanfiction and drawing |
| Happy ending? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2020
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Top reviews from other countries
- Julie HReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2020
Excellent addition to the Marine's Heart series
