Hot, hot, hot!. Trevor was on a mission to win Megan back. When the table turns, he's like a kid in a candy shop. Command and Control, is great!

Man, I was really on the fence with rating this book. I'm giving this book 3 stars although for me it's a 1 star read because it's done well for its genre. Looking at other reviews, it does seem like this book is perceived as good among its target audience. That's just not me.

So this is the story of Trevor, a small town man who is in the army and Megan, his ex-fiance. When Trevor comes home from base, they rediscover all the apparent love they have for each other.

The beginning of this book drew me in fantastically. The writing is accessible and flows well. It's a quick and sweet read. I started reading it in a nice park here in Vladivostok and simply had to finish it.

So what was my problem with this book?

First, I hated how Trevor speaks to Megan in the beginning. She has a boyfriend and he simply walks into her workplace and essentially demands they be together. He completely ignores her when she says she's not interested. He seems to feel that he knows better than her what she wants and as expected, he does. This is an incredibly problematic idea that comes up far too often in romantic novels. I can't support this and it is quite possibly the least romantic behavior ever, next to men finding women's anger cute (which Trevor does as well).

I picked this up without looking very closely so I hadn't noticed that this is a second book in a series but that didn't impact my reading experience so you don't need to read them together. I also hadn't noticed that this was about a soldier and oh boy, that definitely affected me.

The soldier fantasy is a huge nope for me. Really, is there anything less sexy than army people? I know that there are people out there that enjoy this and I'm not kink-shaming (okay, just a little bit, armies are inherently violent and pretty much every human catastrophe ever has included the involvement of an army) but for me, as someone who did army service, I just, huge no. The word "sir" makes me cringe and remember how in boot camp I refused to say that to anyone because fuck that, you haven't done anything to earn my respect.

Although one of my commanders in boot camp was quite attractive, I simply can't find that world attractive. Moreover, I get annoyed when I think about the army so I spent most of this book going, "ugh, army". I have even less respect towards the American military than I do to the Israeli one, I really find it hard to sympathize with Trevor's pain when I think about Afghani civilians.

I think I also felt like this was too hetro-normative and gendered for me. I know, I'm a huge cliche but truly, the bachelorette party scene was a huge cringe for me. I pretty much kept cringing whenever Todd showed up. There's this assumption that guys date girls and chemistry equals love. Every time Trevor says Mine I feel slightly sick. So yes, not the book for me.

Ultimately, I didn't like Megan's attempts at convincing Trevor to open up. I'm not a therapist but it seems to me that after someone goes through something traumatic, it's not fair, helpful or kind to beg from them to share it in this manner. It doesn't feel like something you'd do to someone you love, to be honest.

Also, the reference to Edward Cullen? The heck? Are we in 2009?

I'm sorry. I was mean in this review but I'm sure that if you enjoy romantic stories that flow well and have some sass, you'll like this. I'm just going to go find something else. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy for my review!

What I'm Taking With Me
- It's my last full day in Russia but all I want to do is sit in bed and read, what do I do?
- Can we talk about how they say that 2am is late for a night of partying? Weaklings.
- Megan sounds like a good lawyer though.

A second chance romance for Megan and Trevor.
He is back in town a year after they split up, and when he finds out she is dating someone else, he realises he still wants her for himself. Can they learn lessons from last time and end up back together again.

A fast paced read. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book! Command and Control is about Trevor and Megan and his return from deployment in Afghanistan. Trevor and Megan were engaged to be married and Megan called off their wedding and attempted to move on. But Trevor returns from deployment for his brother's wedding and realizes all that he's lost and he's determined to win her back. I absolutely love Trevor and Megan together! And I'm so glad they've found each other again! I'll need to read the rest of the series to follow up with the other characters in this story. This is a standalone but includes characters from the other books in the series.