This “Good Shit vs Shit to Avoid” request comes from Joanne, who is hunting for books to read this winter:
I am looking for suggestions for lovely romance or wonderfully
trashy romance involving a soldier/soldier of fortune, tough guy
in uniform, or one beside a crumpled uniform on the floor. A happily ever
after would be nice. In fact, I require it from my fictional men.
After an incredibly stressful month and searching in vane, I implore you,
please help. The wine is breathing, the phone is turned off (finally) and I
am heroless. It's sad really.
Since Joanne isn't specific about time period, historical, contemporary or even paranormal/UF recommendations are more than welcome. Which books do you recommend that feature soldier/military heroes? This will be one hell of a list, given the scope, to please try to limit your recommendations to your top 2 or 3 favorite books.
And if there's a military or soldier hero romance you don't recommend, feel free to talk about it, but please try to explain why it didn't work for you.
I’ve enjoyed both Cindy Gerard’s Bodyguard and BOI series.
Sandra Hill and her time travelling vikings always involve a SEAL somehere along the line.
How about Cornwell’s Sharpe series. Just don’t try and make Sean Bean look like the original, in print Sharpe.
That was going to be my recommendation, Mikaela. I loved Jessica’s novel.
Early Linda Howard has some sexy military heroes, I think there are also some sexy military heroes in a few of Anne Stuart’s books.
I would avoid Lora Leigh – her heroes tend to have a bizarre love for anal sex, plus her books are too over the top and badly edited for me.
In historical romance both Loretta Chase and Lisa Kleypas have written lovely military heroes.
Merline Lovelace has numerous books featuring both heroes and heroines in the Air Force (she’s a retired Lt Col). In addition to her contemporary titles for Silhouette, she’s also had several single title releases as well as historicals for Mira featuring military heroes.
Cindy Gerard has written numerous books features ex-military heroes.
Christine Feehan’s GhostWalkers series features a number of active-duty military.
I second the Elizabeth Hoyt 4 soldiers recommendation, as well as the Mary Balogh titles. I was not a huge fan of the Lora Leigh SEAL books (TSTL heroines, hear hear!) but others might have more tolerance for this than I do. I saw on Goodreads that Debbie Macomber has written a series of Navy romances – haven’t read any, so I’m not qualified to any opinions on them.
Lady Hellfire by Suzanne Robinson has a war hero protagonist who’s re-habbing soliders in the aftermath of the Crimean war. His friend is suffering from post-traumatic stress.
http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Hel…
Yup, me, too R.Savage. And as I said on the watcha reading post last week, the sex scenes could serve as a “how to” manual they are so smokin hot.
Loved Persuasion so much more than better known Austens. It’s romance for grown ups.
Have you also read An Infamous Army? It is probably the most military of all Heyer’s romances. It’s set on the eve of Waterloo, continues the sagas begun with These Old Shades (a favorite), Devil’s Cub (another fave) and Regency Buck (not so hot). Understandably, AIA does not have her usual light touch. The characters are much more complex and angsty than her usual style, a quality shared by A Civil Contract. I don’t know that I’d hunker down with either as a comfort read on a cold winter night, but if I was looking for something more emotionally challenging and extremely well written, either book might work very well.
I second Kay Webb Harrison’s recommendations for Lindsay McKenna. I especially liked “No Quarter Given” and “Dawn of Valor.”
Not exactly a romance, more of a YA book, but Ellen Emerson White’s “The Road Home” about a Vietnam nurse broke my heart.
I think Kathleen Korbel also wrote a book about a Vietnam nurse called “A Soldier’s Heart” that I found incredibly moving.
The only problem I have with the KGI books (and I believe I’ve sorta ranted about this before), is every other one has the tiny little woman (because you can’t have any other kind with all the hunka He-Mans running around apparently) slipping her panties down to pool at her feet.
I can’t help but sit and laugh for however long it takes me to calm down because all I can see in my mind when I read that is this petite little thing with her feet buried in a pile of fabric. And it just completely throws me out of the sexy times. I feel like Inigo and want to go “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
But they’re great books to sit down with a thing of Ben & Jerry’s and a lazy weekend afternoon. I’m so excited that Rio is the hero in the next one due out…I can’t wait!! And I totally want PJ to have her own story at some point.
Any of the books written by Bob Mayer and Jennifer Crusie together are good but my absolute favorite is Agnes and the Hitman. It was one of the first contemporary romances I ever read (I was a hardcore historical girl before that) and it remains one of my all-time favorite romances in any category.
Here’s the Goodreads summary:
“Agnes Crandall’s life goes awry when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she’s staked her entire net worth on. Then a hero climbs through her bedroom window. His name is Shane, no last name, just Shane, and he has his own problems: he’s got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle asking him to protect some little kid named Agnes. When he finds out that Agnes isn’t so little, his uncle has forgotten to mention a missing five million bucks he might have lost in Agnes’s house, and his last hit was a miss, Shane’s life isn’t looking so good, either. Then a bunch of lowlifes come looking for the money, a string of hit men show up for Agnes, and some wedding guests gather with intent to throw more than rice. Agnes and Shane have their hands full with greed, florists, treachery, flamingos, mayhem, mothers of the bride, and—most dangerous of all—each other. Agnes and the Hitman is the perfect combination of sugar and spice, sweet and salty—a novel of delicious proportions.”
Agnes is delightfully cranky and Shane (a former SEAL) is the perfect mix of stoic and affectionate. Plus, it’s laugh-out-loud funny and the secondary characters are really well done.
—-> Lindsay McKenna’s Silhouette series about the Trayhern family.
YES. Love this series; it’s on my keeper shelf. One thing I enjoyed about this series is that both male and female Trayherns served in the military, and that they chose different branches of the service, inccluding the Coast Guard. At the time the series was published, a military jet pilot heroine was quite unusual.
I also loved Lisa Kleypas’ Love in the Afternoon. I really enjoy most all her historicals, but I think this one might be my all-time favorite. I like the fact that while the hero is a strong, manly character and all, he doesn’t go all testosterone-crazed alpha male on her. And while it does cover the hero’s PTSD, it’s really well-balanced by frequent moments of levity. Like their first discussion of the birds and the bees. Or the squirrels, as it were.
I’ve recently discovered Suzanne Brockmann’s SEAL Team Ten (starting with Prince Joe) books, and LOVE them. I also feel like they are better-written and far less ridiculous than other similarly-themed books I’ve come across. I’ve never cringed while reading them the way I do with so many other books.
If you’re open to cops, I really liked the latest installment of Jill Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor series, Head Over Heels: the hero is the town sheriff. Another well-written book with a very satisfying HEA, and the hero is super hot.
If you want erotic romance, try Lorelei James’ Rough Riders #7 (hero= Cam McKay). Hero is former Army, current cop.
Catherine Mann (category and single title) and Cindy Dees (category) also write military books.
Suzanne Brockmann, again. Just reread “Prince Joe” for the umpteenth time—her SEAL Team Ten books are comfort reads. I liked her Team Sixteen/Troubleshooters, but for pure romance, I go for the Team Ten guys over and over again.
Yay! This is my world! 😀
Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series; Linda Howard’s McKenzie’s Mission and Midnight Rainbow, plus many of her mass market titles include agenty-y/soldier of fortune type guys such as All The Queen’s Men and Kiss Me While I Sleep; just about anything by Merline Lovelace and Lindsay McKenna; Jessica Scott is an active duty officer who just had her first novel published this past summer – Because of You is available on Amazon; Jambrea Jones and Rogenna Brewer both have military characters as well.
There are tons more, but I’m supposed to be working right now…
I have two military-themed keepers from Silhouette Special Edition:
Little Darlin’, by Cheryl Reavis (June 98)
Hesitant Hero, by Christina Dair (October 94)
From the tiny bits that I’ve read, I’d probably put Maya Banks and Lori Foster in STA category, but you did ask for trashy… so… maybe not?
I love, love, love Brockmann’s Troubleshooters books. They should be read in order for full effect, but they can definitely be read as standalone. I appreciate that her heroines and heroes are all quite different from one another. It’s not the same alpha-male and TSTL heroine trussed up in different names book after book. I know some folks hate the overt PC-ness, but I personally appreciated it and didn’t find that it interfered with the stories.
I’ll also add Cindy Gerard’s Black Ops series (or whatever it’s called, my memory is failing) to the list. It’s about former a military team that now work as independent contractors. Lots of great international settings, esp. South America, and again great variety of characters. Occasionally a touch of cheese, but it’s very minor.
As no-one has mentioned them yet, I recommend the three books Jennifer Crusie wrote with Bob Mayer – particularly Agnes and the Hitman.
Another vote for Austen’s Pursuason. Such a great romance book.
Lori Foster’s “Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor” series is really fun. The guys are all former special-ops types who do now mercenary work, the girls are not wilty wallflower types.
I recoommend Cindy Gerards BLack Ops Inc series. Or JoAnn Ross High Risk series.. If you are looking at Parnaormal series I recommend Christine Feehan’s Drake Sister series. the heroes in these books are some fine military guys…And if you are looking for Historical hot military guys look for Monica McCarthy’s Highland Guard series..
Sydney Croft’s Storm series. Paranormal soldiers saving the world one hottie at a time and definitely on the *trashy* side of stress free reading!
I adored The Bronze Horseman, but it makes me an emotional wreck. Hubby has come home with me in tears reading my iPad only to find out nothing is wrong, other than the heartbreak I am feeling over the characters. I wouldn’t suggest it if you are super stressed, but Ive read two of the three and they are fantastic, well written and just awesome.
I was also going to put Lori Foster’s Men who walk the edge of honor series in the STA category. It’s definitely a matter of taste – they are fast, trashy reads, but I found them, um, icky. Can’t describe it better than that. The heroes are all part of this secret (not gov’t sanctioned as far as I could tell) group that fights the illegal sex trade. And the heroines of the two I read were involved in various ways – one was rescued from human traffickers in a previous book and the other was using herself as bait to get revenge on a sex trafficker who raped her mother and may or may have not been her father (iirc – I may have this wrong – I skimmed a lot of it). I didn’t care for the vigilantism and they’re def not for those who are sensitive to violence against women.
Random fact – Heyer’s description of the Battle of Waterloo is used at RMAS when officer cadets study that battle. My husband had to read it when he was a cadet and it gave him a new respect for the contents of my bookshelves. His reaction was that if a romance author was good enough to be used as a teaching example for officers, then said author was worthy of respect.
I did have to caution him that a lot of authors fail to live up to Heyer’s standards!
Julie James has two books with undercover FBI agents – Something About You and A Lot Like Love. They’re good, hot reads.
I can’t believe I forgot Sweetwater Seduction by Joan Johnston. It’s a western with a hired gunman hero and uptight school marm heroine and I just love it.
I absolutely adore Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas. In fact, I believe I will go reread it after posting this. Another favorite is Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn. Both of these have been mentioned already, but they both deserve another shout out.
One that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Lord of Ice by Gaelen Foley. I borrowed that one off of my roommate during college and it was one of the first books that got me hooked on romance.
Not to mention, where the hell does their income come from. One short story and three books & not one paying client…. Oh, and murder is murder.
I guess you could go for any of Diana Palmer’s Soldier of Fortune series: Enamored, Mercenary’s Woman. Except for some books that feature Texan or Montana ranchers, majority of her heros are former soldiers or mercenaries. Sometimes the Ultra Alpha Male vs. Poor Little Orhphan theme gets on my nerve, but the tender conclusions are heartwarming.
Huge Brockmann groupie here, so definitely recommend her. I adore, love, love, love military romances. Catherine Mann is former military herself and writes military romance. I read through the TFLAC books by Cherry Adair and liked them until the psi elements entered into the series. Susan Andersen has a few books with Navy Seal heroes. Christine Feehan has a paranormal series with military heroes which I enjoyed as well.
Fiona Brand a NZ author wrote several Fabulous books with military guys – think they were Seals – for Intimate Moments in the late 90’s early 2000’s. The heroes are to die for and the sexual tension is seat of your pants stuff. The best ones are Cullen’s Bride, Marrying McCabe, Blades Lady and Touching Midnigt. They are on my keeper shelf and form an exclusive club of the very few books I re-read.
Going more historical, I quite enjoyed Stephanie Laurens’ Bride stories – in no particular order because I don’t remember the order, Reckless Bride, Brazen Bride, Untamed Bride and Elusive Bride.
I’d like to agree with a number of these:
Tara Janzen’s Steele Street series
Linda Howard’s Mackenzies
Lisa Marie Rice’s The Protectors (2 books out now, 3rd book is out next week)
also LMR’s Midnight trilogy. The timing in the Midnight books kind of jumps around, because they all take place roughly at the same time, and some scenes overlap from book to book, but the trilogy is absolutely worth the minor mind-bending. In fact, I started rereading just this morning.
I’m kinda surprised no one has mentioned my absolute favorites. The SAS books by Fiona Brand for Silhouette Intimate Moments. HOT HOT HOT!
Cullen’s Bride
Heart of Midnight—This is the only one not available for Kindle
Blade’s Lady
Marrying McCabe
Gabriel West: Still the One
I also have a vague recollection that her story in the Lover Beware anthology (with Christine Feehan) has a loose connection to her SAS books, but I think it might be that the hero was once a part of the team, not that there was any real interconnection, like there are with the other books.
Here is some love for the self published, Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker is quite fabulous. One smart scientist and a whole bunch of enemy soldiers. You can find it on amazon or smashwords.
Lori Foster’s When You Dare, Trace of Fever, and Savor the Danger. The 4th book is coming out in April, I believe.
Thank you so much for recommending Tara Janzen. I am reading the third Steele Street book now and loving it. This is the best military series I’ve read, better than Brockmann, Rice and Banks IMO. Thank you.
Also, give JoAnn Ross books a try. She has a series called “High Risk” that are really good.