Book 908: Sink or Swim (Shore Leave #2) – Annabeth Albert

Yessssssss . . . I’m so glad Calder got his book and that I was able to snag a review copy from NetGalley as soon as it was listed. I’ve been sitting on it FOR MONTHS—do you know how hard that is when it comes to an Annabeth Albert book!? I had to force myself to read soooooo many other books so I wouldn’t push my response out too soon!!!!

Sink or Swim is a low-conflict simmering romance and Albert brings her character-driven humor to the story just like she does to all of her other works. Calder is Arthur’s (from Sailor Proof) older brother who happens to be bisexual and thrives on competition and gambling. And after winning a house from a fellow SEAL, he has the best meet-cute ever with Felix, flustered and guarded single-parent taking care of his two nieces, at the house he thinks he owns.

Calder realizes pretty early on that he’s not going to fight Felix for the cabin after finding out it’s been in his family for a couple of generations, but he is going to pretend to fight for it so that he can see him again. 100% adorbs. Felix is justifiably guarded because the asshat who Calder “won” the house from is his ex-husband who left as soon as he had to take charge of his nieces.

Years. Forget all afternoon. I’d been waiting years for a kiss like this. I’d heard songs and movies joke about the earthmoving, never quite getting what the big fuss was. Kissing was fine and fun but not . . .
This. This was all-consuming. Maybe some kisses were about on par with deciding to play another hand of cards, but kissing Felix was like a mission-critical task on a sub, deadly serious, and no real choice about it. Heat gathered low in my gut, spread out my limbs, each pass of his lips a fresh log on the fire of my need for him.
Hell, the air itself seemed to sizzle a hissing—
‘The pot!’ panting, Felix pulled away from the kiss to point at the stove where the noodles were starting to boil over. (Chapter 9)

The best part of this story was the slow simmering build to the end of the novel. Albert does a great job of teasing and tormenting the reader with Calder’s shifting attitude to dating and happy-go-lucky attitude and Felix’s super cautious, protecting himself and his nieces’ approach to dating and life.

It’s funny because Calder provides so much structure and organization and that’s the one thing that Felix and the girls really need more than anything else. Not only was the below seen hilariously adorkable (I love a good spreadsheet plan), but there’s a scene when the younger of the two nieces asks Calder if he’s going to be a good boyfriend for Felix and they talk about a chore chart and she reluctantly approves their tenuous relationship because of it.

‘Should we start dinner or do we have time to start on my list?’ I asked Felix once the last of the food was put away.
‘Your list, huh?’ Both of Felix’s well-groomed eyebrows went up.
‘Well, you sent it to me.’ He’d sent me the list as a picture on the phone so that I could see what needed doing this weekend. The grainy image with its cluttered bullet points had practically screamed out for my talents. I retrieved a couple of printouts from my bag and handed one to him. ‘I might have improved upon what the management company sent you. I organized it into subtasks and things that might be kid-appropriate. Their column is pink.’
Felix tilted his head like I’d grown a second nose. ‘ You made a spreadsheet for the weekend?’
‘Overkill?’ I rubbed the back of my neck. I was so used to organizing as part of my job that I forgot that not everyone shared my love of planning.
‘No, I’m impressed.’
‘Told you. I’m good at logistics.’ I might have a fun-loving rep, but organizing spreadsheets and having clear tasks always made me happy. I could think on the fly, but I kept my sub running with my advance planning. ‘And speaking of supplied, I picked up a few things to supplement the toolbox.’ (Chapter 15)

Albert has such a way with her humor and toeing the line between absurdly saccharine. She takes it right to the edge of eye-roll with some of the scenes but somehow brings them back quickly enough to make you sigh and think damn I want that to happen in real life. The climax of the novel leading up to Arthur and Derrick was well written and honestly so low-angst because it was to be expected with Felix’s hesitancy and Derrick’s maturing and realizing the changes he needed to make to be successful in a different way and stay a part of Felix and the girls’ lives.

There’s no need to go into too much detail because Albert is a master at them, but the sex scenes were well-written, hot, and fun. I like that most of the time Albert walks the walk on verse characters and she likes to introduce something a little different about some of her characters whether it’s kink or something that’s just a little bit not-mainstream bringing her characters sex lives into the real world.

Recommendation: Another wonderful character-driven book by Albert. I was so happy to see Calder get his book. Felix and the girls were wonderful characters and the happily-ever-after we get to see with Arthur and Derrick from Sailor Proof just made this book that much better. My first instinct was that I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first in this new series, but my writing of this was delayed and I realized it was just a slow grow on me with a lot of the details sticking and the story still giving me the warm-fuzzies almost a week later. I can’t wait to see who the protagonists are in book three, I legit have no guess because I just wanted to finish this one soooo fast!

*I received a copy of Sink or Swim via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “You seriously won a whole house?”

Closing Line: “And Felix was the key, the true prize, not one I could win, but I could earn if I were truly lucky.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Sink or Swim
“Was it possible to get addicted to making someone laugh? I’d never found laughing a particular turn-on before, but each time I made him relax enough to chuckle that freely felt like a major victory. And the sound, rich and warm, lit me up in a way that was decidedly erotic.” (Chapter 7)

“I wasn’t clueless. I knew that sex drives came in many flavors and strengths, everything from ace to hypersexual, vanilla to kinky sprinkles, and lots of combos, but my body wasn’t so easy to classify. I did have a sex drive, but I got randomly horny in hard-to-predict ways. And for whatever reason, friction or familiarity, I found it far easier to climax from my own hand. And Felix had taken that at face value, made me feel normal even, and not tried to pin a label on it.” (Chapter 17)