Squared Away by Annabeth Albert

Narrated by Greg Boudreaux

Squared Away is book five of Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series. I have them all on my TBR/TBL but this is the first I’ve managed to read or listen to so far. The book stands alone well so it wasn’t an issue. I could tell there were former couples peppered throughout the tale but they were not intrusive, being present in the book only for story reasons.

Mark Whitley is a Navy SEAL whose sister Danielle married Cal. Cal’s brother is Isaiah James. Mark and Isaiah first met in the lead up to Cal and Danielle’s wedding. Isaiah was only 18 and so when he made a pass at Mark at the reception, Mark turned him down. Mark was in his early 20s at the time but already a SEAL.

Six years later, Cal and Danielle are killed in a car accident, leaving their three young children, Daphne, Zoe and Liam, orphans. Unfortunately, Cal and Danielle weren’t the most responsible or organised of parents and they left competing wills. Cal’s will expresses the wish that Isaiah become the guardian of all three children. Danielle’s, written shortly after Daphne was born, requests Mark undertake the role.

There is therefore built in conflict between Isaiah and Mark, in addition to the romantic and sexual chemistry which arises when they are once again around each other. Mark isn’t out and this causes tension too.

Mark is demisexual (needing a relationship before sexual attraction is present) or perhaps gray ace (that is, he is on the asexual spectrum but he does have some interest in sex in certain circumstances). At first, Mark thinks there is something wrong with him because he doesn’t get turned on by porn and he doesn’t react to attractive people the way others seem to. He gets turned on by a gesture or a word from someone he knows very well. He is very attracted to Isaiah. It seemed to me that Mark is (also) pansexual but his identity is more about demisexuality and/or gray ace than about attraction to any particular gender.

Isaiah was a virgin when he and Mark first met but since then, he’s enjoyed a fairly robust sex life. He longs for a relationship and a family of his own but he is a sexual guy and this is a conflict in the story as well. Isaiah is 24 when the main plot begins and I did wonder whether he would be fully satisfied sexually by what Mark can give him. During the book, the men are dealing with three young children (Liam is less than a year old) and all the broken sleep, etc., that entails – and Isaiah was doing most of the parenting – so it made sense to me that sex perhaps wouldn’t be high on his agenda. But I didn’t think it would always be the case. Mark did worry that he wouldn’t be able to keep Isaiah satisfied but for me I’m not sure Isaiah was able to show Mark his fears were ungrounded. Then again, the sex which is presented in this book is perhaps less like “romance novel sex” (ie all the time in all the ways) and more like “real life sex” so maybe they’ll be just fine.

Mark is a bit of a control freak and has a need to be the protector and white knight. Isaiah prefers to be a partner than a protectee, so there are a number of things that they have to work through to get to their HEA.

The children are cute, but what they were going through, having lost both parents, was not featured as strongly as I was expecting. It was there, but it wasn’t there as much as I thought it would be. Similarly, the kids didn’t feel fully fleshed out characters; at times I felt they were more plot moppet than anything else.

I did like the romance. Mark and Isaiah have a good connection and even though they actually moved to a HEA very quickly, it didn’t feel rushed in the book. I also liked how explicit consent was in Squared Away. In the era of #metoo, it’s something I’m noticing more and more.

The narration is excellent. Greg Boudreaux is a very skilled narrator, able to deliver a number of different male character voices. I always knew who was talking, whether it was Mark or Isaiah or one of Mark’s SEAL buddies. Sometimes, Isaiah’s dad sounded a little too Mark-like but he wasn’t in the story a lot and never in a way where I could become confused.

Mr. Boudreaux also expressed Mark’s confusion about his sexual identity and his anxiety about coming out with nuanced tones which enhanced the text.

I was also impressed with his child voices for the three kids – albeit that Liam basically only said “Bah!” on occasion and most of the words were from Daphne or Zoe.

I was keen to listen to Squared Away because of Greg Boudreaux’s narration (it alone is a huge selling point for me) but the story was also sweet and sexy and presented a different kind of relationship than I’ve read about/listened to before without being didactic.

I expect the best way to consume the Out of Uniform series is on audio – a good story with standout narration makes this a no-brainer.

Kaetrin