Tight Quarters by Annabeth Albert

Tight Quarters by Annabeth AlbertNarrated by Greg Boudreaux

Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series has been a consistently enjoyable one in both print and audio, despite the odd blip. Tight Quarters is the sixth instalment, and I was glued to it from start to finish, zipping through it in two or three sittings. Yeah, yeah, I know – I’d listen to Greg Boudreaux read his shopping list, but fortunately, Annabeth Albert has provided him with something MUCH sexier and emotionally satisfying (although I don’t know – maybe his shopping lists are sexy and emotionally satisfying?) to get stuck into, in this tale of a journalist who embeds with a team of Navy SEALs looking for a story and finds something he really hadn’t bargained for.

We met Petty Officer Bacon in the previous book in the series, Squared Away, and at the beginning of his one, he’s more than a little bit pissed off because the finger he dislocated on a training exercise has him sidelined and unable to take his regular place on Team Alpha. His annoyance is further compounded when he is directed to be the liaison officer for a reporter who is going to embed with Bacon’s unit during their next mission. The team’s recent shake up following the departure of its XO (executive officer) and explosives expert (Wes and Dustin from Wheels Up) coupled with the rumours that the pair are now an item and began their relationship while working together despite the strict non-fraternization policy, make Bacon – a friend of both men – very hostile to the idea of a journalist poking around for a story and he resents being demoted to the role of babysitter. Even worse – the reporter is Spencer Bryant, a heavyweight, multi-award-winning journalist and author who is openly gay… and is one seriously hot silver fox. Under any other circumstances, Bacon would have so gone there – but he’s got to keep Bryant at a distance and away from anything that could potentially embarrass his team or the Navy in general.

Spencer Bryant, who, we learn, trained as a dancer before a knee injury put paid to that career choice, turns out to be all the things Bacon least wants him to be – interesting, compassionate, charming, easy to talk to, and utterly gorgeous. Spencer plans to follow up his book about injured veterans with one about how modern warfare operates in the field, but there’s more to this project than simple curiosity. While researching his last book, Spencer became friends with one of his interviewees, who subsequently committed suicide. “They don’t see us, No one cares,” he’d said in his final text to Spencer – who has been determined ever since to find a way to honour the man’s memory and raise awareness of the plight faced by others like him. Maybe by showing the workings of a special ops team, he can help people to truly value veterans in need of assistance; and after months of back-and-forth, form filling and screening by Navy PR, he’s finally about to make a start on the project.

After a couple of days, the team is deployed, and on the long flight to their island base, Spencer and Bacon – who has, until now, been very guarded – begin to really talk to one another. Spencer tells Bacon about his injury and change of career; Bacon tells him a little about how his no-good father’s constant belittling of him made him even more determined to succeed and become a SEAL. There’s an undercurrent of attraction running between them, but it’s not overdone; Spencer, who is divorced, thinks that perhaps he’s not cut out for relationships because his career is so important to him, while Bacon is certainly not going to risk the career he loves for a meaningless fling. Their slow getting-to-know-you phase is extremely well done, and Ms. Albert really ups the ante when the operation they’re on goes south in a spectacularly bad way and Bacon and Spencer are forced to rely on each other and work together to keep out of the sights of the bad guys while they wait for extraction.

The failed operation marks the end of Spencer’s time with the unit, which, while it means a change in his plans for the book, has the advantage of meaning that perhaps he and Bacon can explore the attraction that’s sparked between them since they first set eyes on each other. The pair get together whenever they can over the next few months; to burn up the sheets, yes, but for far more than that, too. There’s tenderness, laughter, caring and genuine affection between them as well as scorching chemistry; their relationship is incredibly well-developed into something genuine and so, so strong. Between visits, they exchange emails, and given I’m a complete sucker for stories in which correspondence plays a part, I loved their exchanges, which so clearly show the depth of their feelings for one another. Both characters are real and relatable which makes it supremely easy to buy into their romance being about much, much more than sex.

There’s a fair bit of angst in the story, too, but none of it is over-the-top or manufactured. Bacon’s is a tough job, both physically and mentally, and there’s one incredibly moving scene (brilliantly realised by Mr. Boudreaux) – in which we get to see just what a toll it takes – that moved me to tears. And there’s one conflict that has been inevitable from the beginning; Spencer is determined to write a book about how the military is failing in its duty of care and he knows Bacon won’t be okay with it. He’s convinced it’s a story that must be told, even though he’s known right from the start of their relationship that he can’t tell it and have Bacon in his life. Ms. Albert makes them work for their HEA, which makes it that much more satisfying in the end.

I can’t think of a single, tiny thing about Greg Boudreaux’s performance here that doesn’t work, and given this book has a fairly large number of secondary speaking roles (at least a dozen) who are all men – that’s saying something. Each character is clearly differentiated so there’s never any question that there are a number of different people speaking in any given “crowd” scene (I might not have remembered all their names but that’s down to my memory rather than anything else!) and I have to make special mention of the crisp, English accent Mr. Boudreaux uses to portray Spencer’s mentor, Oscar, which perfectly conjures up the image of a dapper, wryly humorous elderly English gentleman. Flawless interpretations of the principals, together with an unerring sense of where the emotional heart of each scene lies round out this fabulous narration. Both personalities shine through clearly – Spencer is assured, charismatic and intuitive; Bacon, in spite of his relative youth (there’s a fifteen-year age gap) is equally assured and fiercely dedicated to his job and those he cares about.

A moving, gorgeously romantic tale, Tight Quarters is easily one of the best books in the Out of Uniform series, and Spencer and Bacon have become one of my favourite romantic couples. The story is perfectly paced, the romance is beautifully developed, and the narration is – as one would expect from this performer – absolutely top-notch. Audiobooks honestly don’t get much better than this.

Caz


 

Buy Tight Quarters by Annabeth Albert on Amazon