Hank Schatz~One of my toughest decisions was to join the Army after graduating high school. My second toughest was to decide it was time to get out. I wanted more than that life had to offer—namely the return of my humanity and a life beyond the pain that had leached into my soul during my deployments. Without a hint at what to do next, I said goodbye to my Army life and headed home to Missouri.… Missouri.
There were things I’d been hiding from my family for too many years—a secret that had nothing to do with my career as an Army Ranger. It was time I began to live my truth, but how to start, I didn’t know. I was aware of one thing for sure—I didn’t want to be lonely anymore.
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Reed Bayless~
I had a job I loved as a Special Education teacher at Carver Middle School in central Missouri. The kids were amazing, and their parents were supportive, unlike my last school where the parents believed their expensive tuition relieved them of their obligations to actually participate in their children’s education. Sadly, I was still alone, and I was getting a little long in the tooth to play the one-night game.
Unexpectedly, my diamond brought her brother to the Christmas Eve service at the local Lutheran church, and I found myself off-balance by the gorgeous man. I felt there was a sadness about him that made me want to hold him in my arms until his hurts healed. Of course, he was an Army Ranger, the toughest of the tough and the straightest of the straight. Between Ranger Hank, and his dog, Cosmo, I wanted things I couldn’t imagine were possible. Or were they?
This work of fiction is approximately 142,000 words in length and doesn’t end in a cliffhanger. It is the first book in the series entitled, “The Lonely Heroes Series.”
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I loved Reed and Hank. From the first meeting, there was instant connection. Hank is just getting out of the Army and Reed is a Special Needs teacher, connected by Hank’s sister. Their story was beautifully written. I was invested in their story from the beginning and was totally not disappointed when I got to the end. Well maybe a little. I really hated to see Hank and Reed go. Any who, the author was really able to bring to life their journey and let me tell you it was not an easy one. In the beginning was a bit of miscommunications, then you had the drama of Hank having to go on an assignment to a few other little issues. There was so much to enjoy about this book. The author put so much into the emotions of the characters, the visual of where Hank was and even Reed. For me this was a mental visual and auditory read. I felt like I was able to hear and see everything in this book and most important, the love of Reed and Hank and the acceptance from family, friends and former comrades. I loved the journey that I was taken on in this book.
I received an ARC and voluntarily read it for an honest reveiw
For the most part, I enjoyed the romance between Hank and Reed. I really enjoyed getting to know Hank’s family and friends too. Hank has many challenges from his time in the military, including PTSD. Hank hasn’t come out to his family yet so he is pretty worried about that. He is also struggling with figuring out what he wants to do for work. Reed is his sister’s teacher at school. They have an immediate attraction. Reed is also struggling with a homophobic principal and other school staff. I appreciated that the author touched on a lot of relevant topics. I personally would have liked a shorter book. I found myself skimming or skipping some parts altogether. This was a good story, I just wish it was quite a bit shorter. It also annoyed me that Hank appeared to have less emotional maturity than his 14 year old sister. This was obvious when he went ballistic on Reed and cut him out of his life without even talking to him. You don’t do that to someone you claim to love. I did receive this book from Gay Romance Reviews and this is my honest opinion.
This is the first book I’ve read by Sam. I really liked the characters and the plot. I had lots of grins and giggles, as well as tense moments and the ‘sexy times’ were hot! The grief expressed was totally believable and loss of a child and fellow servicemen cannot be overstated. As a former special education teacher/school administrator, I thought those areas of the book were very plausible. As a former member of the military, I really enjoyed the bar fight and AWOL aspect as well.
The only problem I had was the format of the story. There were times it was confusing. I know the intent of the author but it was hard to follow.
If you persevere and work your way through to the end, it will be worth it.