The Only One Who Matters
Title : The Only One Who Knows
Publisher : Samhain Publishing (BUY HERE)
Genre : M/M, Contemporary
Length : 183 pages (e-book)
Published : March 18, 2014
Rating : ★★★★★
Blurb:
No man—and no heart—left behind.
The Only One, Book 2
Months after a bullet ended his SEAL career, Senior Chief David Flint doesn’t know which is worse: struggling to adjust to life as a civilian, or watching his lover, Lieutenant Commander Josh Walker, leave for one deployment after another.
Missing the career he loved—and knowing all too well the danger Josh faces—doesn’t help. And as Josh walks out the door for another assignment, David can feel their relationship cracking under the strain.
With so little time between assignments, Josh has no idea how to fix things with David. One thing he’s sure of, though…if they don’t find a way to resolve the rising tension between them, there’s a storm coming they might not be able to weather. But he plans to give it his best shot—when he gets home.
Assuming he makes it home alive…
Warning: Contains plenty of smoking-hot sex between two dudes who just wanted to be SEALs, not deal with all this romance crap. They went and fell in love anyway, and now have to figure out how to make it work while saving the world and teaching their puppy not to beg.
Review:
This was such a great read! The Only One Who Matters continues Flint and Josh’s story. At the end of The Only One Who Knows, Flint was forced to retire from the SEALs because of his injury and he and Josh have moved in together. I was curious as to how they would deal with these two major changes in their lives – suddenly being out and living as a family, and the added stress – Flint, at home, depressed and frustrated, and Josh on deployments.
The first part of the story focuses exactly on these issues, more on the romance than the action. It’s a good heart-squeezer, one cannot help but care for these characters and everything they’re going through. It begins when Josh comes back from deployment, exhausted, trying to get his bearings. Flint is doing much better, but is feeling resentful (that he can no longer be a SEAL), insecure (what will he do now that any military-type job is closed to him), and scared to death for Josh (seeing as he knows exactly what happens on these dangerous missions). They’re not really big on talking about what bothers them and it leads to both of them feeling estranged, as even their more intimate moments become a source of stress. They’re both starting to understand what it means to have a family, someone who’s waiting at home, and someone who goes into danger, and Flint is having a very difficult time with it. Both of them are.
We also get to meet another team member’s family, and it was great watching Flint get past cringing at having to deal with little kids, and actually be a big help to a friend’s family. It showed a different side of him and added depth to the story and characters.
And then just before they can have a real talk, Josh is deployed. I liked that the story goes back and forth between civilian life and the mission. The mission was a bit too long for me, but what I liked about this particular part was that Josh is starting to realize what is bothering Flint and why, so we have a glimpse of that mature Josh that I liked so much in the first book.
The last part of the story was an eye-opener. Josh coming back, dealing with PTSD, and Flint taking care of him, everything starting to fall into place. And the way things are wrapped up was just perfect. Everything felt real, and what’s more, I feel I now have a better understanding of what people in dangerous professions and their families are going through. I highly recommend this book!
Rated 5 stars by Guest Reviewer, KC
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