I really enjoyed this book. Zack is a SEAL from a very religious family who doesn't want anyone to guess that he's gay but does a relatively terrible job of pretending not to be. He ends up with a friend of a friend as a roommate -- Pike, who is out and loud about it. Of course they fall in love and start a clandestine relationship, and of course this hurts Pike's feelings terribly, being treated like a dirty secret. But Zack's struggle feels sympathetic, too; if he comes out he's going to lose his family, and there are guys in his SEAL unit who aren't going to be cool about it. (There are, of course, others who will, and who keep sort of hinting Hey Zack, if there's SOMETHING you want to TELL US it would be FINE, but Zack is shy and keeps missing it.)
The happy ending is very satisfying, and Zack's resolution feels pretty realistic and hopeful. (Pike, who is offered a job as a professor straight out of grad school, feels less so to me, but that's maybe because I have lots of friends who have really struggled finding work in academia.)
The beginning is super abrupt and picks up feeling almost like I had missed something. I know it's a spin off from another book, but I've rarely felt so disoriented at the beginning of a book. Once it flashes forward, though, it settles down.
And I have already pre-ordered the next one in this series, which looks amaaaazing.
Grade: B
#6 in 2017
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