I knew I was going to love Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series when I read Save the Date her military crossover with Wendy Qualls Heart of the South series and boy was I right!
I’m not going to spend this entire post waxing poetic about the series, but suffice to say the entire series was wonderfully written with great characters and engaging storylines. And this was a wonderful finale to the primary stories.
I’m sad that I’m finished, but only a little bit sad as I know I have SIX short stories that feature these characters to read at some distant point in the future.
Rough Terrain is a fake boyfriend story that turns to real love after a harrowing weekend away. There’s other drama with exes of both Canaan, a nursing student working a part time job on base, and Renzo, the big beefy bisexual Navy SEAL/personal trainer social media personality, that of course makes the story have more of an impact since they’re both raw from that.
I still haven’t figured it out yet, but I really should have an eye-roll scale with the more eye rolls the better. Albert does a great job of walking the line of ridiculously over the top sentimentality or obtuseness (I mean men are men) and writing a great story. These two lines both resulted in an eye roll, but really I loved them so keep ’em coming!
“Go on. You’re more entertaining than a reality show.” Grandpa handed him the phone.
“We’ll call this episode, The Drummer and the Dumbbell.”
“Ha. And he’s not a dumb jock stereotype. Smart as hell.” (Loc. 538)
“His moral fabric was made of camo—tough as ripstop, unwavering and unyielding.” (Loc. 2,385)
There were quite a few cameos from others in the universe and every time I made a little squeal of excitement. By far the best was when Ben and Maddox from Wheels Up appeared and Albert connected the dots that Canaan played a prominent minor character role in that story my jaw dropped because it’s been a while since I read it.
The ending left me with a happy warm feeling inside so I couldn’t ask for more and I am 100% ready to dive into those short stories but will absolutely wait until I desperately need more Albert in my life.
Recommendation: What a wonderful end to a great series! I can’t recommend Annabeth Albert enough. I felt this was stronger than the penultimate book, Tight Quarters, but ultimately feel somewhere in the upper middle range for me, maybe top three if I was forced to name them in order.
Opening Line: “Canaan slipped on a puddle behind the register, narrowly avoiding hitting the tile floor, before he even got a chance to ogle the latest group of SEALs walking through the Smoothie Palace doors.”
Closing Line: “Maybe someday Canaan would want to jump on his own. And that would be okay, too, because it would still be together, still be part of this life they were building together. Canaan might trust Renzo to keep him safe in the air, but Renzo trusted Canaan to ground him, keep his heart and soul safe. Canaan made him believe in the ultimate freefall—a forever together.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Other Books in Out of Uniform:
Additional Quotes from Rough Terrain
“Yeah. Though in a lot of ways she was more like a big sister than a mom. Felt like I barely knew her.” The past year had been weird, realizing he was reaching the point where he was older than she’d ever had a chance to be. Made him feel both super old and super vulnerable at the same time, and he hated that.” (Loc. 748)
“Ah. There you go. It’s a perfectionist control-freak thing with you. No one’s great at sex—that’s part of the fun. Weird parts knock together. Things get tangled. People fall off beds. Lube runs out. But then you get lucky, and everything works, and it’s… Nothing like it.” Canaan’s voice got dreamy, and warmth spread across Renzo’s chest. He’d give a lot to be one of the people giving Canaan memories that made him sound like that.” (Loc. 826)
“‘Sure.’ Renzo dropped his voice before accepting the drink, saying in Canaan’s ear, ‘I know ways to kill him that won’t leave a trace. Just putting that out there.” (Loc. 1,097)
“Maybe at best Renzo was just a convenient crush for Canaan. A novelty, maybe. He needed to make sure he didn’t get an inconvenient crush of his own—pretend relationships weren’t destined for some great love story to tell the family about years later no matter how much he enjoyed being around Canaan.” (Loc. 1,278)
“‘I’m going to take better care of you,’ he whispered softly. ‘You took care of me, so maybe it’s time someone took care of you like you deserve. How about me?'” (Loc. 2,3888)
“‘Sometimes . . . your pride hurts. What if I’d wanted to work in maintenance, like Dad? What if I didn’t put in for this transfer? What if—’
‘Lorenzo. Stop.’ She was stern now. ‘You’re my son, and I’d be proud of you no matter what. You’re a good boy, always thinking of us first, but even if you didn’t, I’d still love you. When you love someone, you love them. No matter what. No strings. I thought you knew that.'” (Loc, 3541)
“Was Renzo being unfair not letting Canaan decide how much work he was willing to do? He’d thought that loving Canaan unconditionally meant letting him go, but what if loving him meant trusting him enough to let him choose his own path forward? Could he be brave enough to love Canaan like that? To let Canaan sacrifice for him, for them? Maybe the question wasn’t even whether he could love Canaan like that, but rather whether he could love himself enough.” (Loc. 3,713)