Book Review-Into the Blue by Chanel Cleeton

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

About The Book

Eric Jansen—call sign Thor—loves nothing more than pushing his F-16 to the limit. Returning home to South Carolina after a tragic loss, he hopes to fix the mistake he made long ago, when he chose the Air Force over his fiancée.

Becca Madison isn’t quick to welcome Thor back. She can’t forget how he shattered her heart. But Thor won’t give up once he’s set his sights on what he wants—and he wants Becca.

Thor shows Becca that he’s no longer the impulsive boy he used to be, and Becca finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. But will Thor be able to walk away from his dream of flying the F-16 for their love or does his heart belong to the sky?

It seemed like my entire adult life had been spent either running from or to this one girl. She was the compass when I was so lost I couldn’t find my way.

My Review

First Impressions

Into The Blue is the second book in the Wild Aces series and ever since I read “Fly With Me” I was eager to get back to the series but I knew that I wanted to take an emotional breather. And I had such a delightful time with this one and it was the perfect read to read on the 4th of July, with all the patriotism that comes with a military romance, I fell so quickly in love. This story quickly pulled me into the romance and I became so quickly invested in these characters and seeing them come back together after a decade of being apart. I was intrigued to see how the author would build the romance and get them to their HEA, there are many unresolved issues that is addressed in this one, and I felt that it was done so well. There is a level of sweetness to the vibe of the story and such a “warm at heart” feel that permeates the story. This did have its emotional moments but in a very different way than in book one. I really enjoyed the difference in this story and how well crafted I found this author’s writing.

Either way I felt like I was falling, reaching out with nothing to hold on to, the girl whose hand I wanted to grab, just out of my reach.

Summary

Eric Janesen and Becca Madison were once deeply in love, but their career paths were going different directions and they just weren’t “together” at the right time for either of them and they drifted apart and its now been ten years. At a party, Becca and Eric come together again and all the memories and feelings of love come swamping back, and they slowly reach out to each other. Ever since the death of his commander and friend, flying just hasn’t been the same for Eric. And after a scare in the air, he decides to take a breather and go back home and he keeps running into his old flame, a woman he has never forgotten. He is determined to show her that he has changed and is not the same man that he was before. But Becca doesn’t know if she can trust Eric to not break her heart and choose his planes over her. As Eric and Becca rekindle the old flame, and rebuild their trust in each other, some difficult choices will need to made but will love win in the end?

Becca. She’d been there in every relationship. It wasn’t fair to all the women in between, but she’d always been the woman I measured everyone else against. There was just a bond there, one I’d never been able to find again.

What I Loved

Into The Blue was such a heart-touching story and I just wanted to dig deep into this novel and into their romance. There was something so rich and vibrant about this book and it had me laughing all over the place. I was so entertained to see them reconnect. As many of you know, second chance is one of my favorite tropes to read especially in a contemporary romance, and Chanel Cleeton did a brilliant job with this one here. I was so captivated by this one and just wanted more of this story. I was highly intrigued to see where the author would be taking this story and how the situation would actually be resolved. But I can safely say that she handled most of it just right. I adored a pining hero and seeing him pursue the heroine. You see that there has always been some vital between them, the key is Eric rebuilding trust with Becca. You see such a hope in this story and there was such a happy feel to this romance that left a smile on my face all the way through. I really enjoyed the setting of the small town and seeing them reconnect in all their old “haunts” and it was intriguing to see their relationship being rebuilt. If you love a well written military romance, look no further than Chanel Cleeton because this series is winning my heart! (NOW bring on the epic finale which I know will be a winner but also I need to be ready for the emotional torment )

Love was easy; trust was the hard part.

What I Struggled With

I will be honest in that I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. I know that this pair is very different from the first couple in the series, but I was hoping that Becca would be more accepting and encouraging of the life that Eric built and how having a military life changed him for the better. I would have liked to see the heroine fighting a bit more for the relationship (because BOTH got hurt and it wasn’t one sided and I felt like Becca should have taken more accountability as it takes two to tango)

Overall View

I found Into The Blue to be a endearing, connects with the heart type of romance that had beautifully built emotion, delivers in the balance of flow and will leave you charmed from beginning to end and leaves you fully satisfied by the end!

We walked back into the squadron together, my hand in Eric’s, his helmet bag dangling from his free hand, a line of gleaming F-16s behind us, and I felt like each step toward the squadron took me away from the life I’d known and into a new adventure, a new world.

Title: Into The Blue

Author: Chanel Cleeton

Genre: Contemporary Military Romance

Format: eBook

Source: Library

Length: 320 Pages

Book Links

Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club

Series Order

Wild Aces

Fly With Me-Pub 2016 #1 in the Series

Into the Blue-Pub 2016 #2 in the Series

On Broken Wings-Pub 2017 #3 in the Series

About The Author

Originally from Florida, Chanel grew up on stories of her family’s exodus from Cuba following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master’s degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

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