A-
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Flo. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mid-Length Contemporary category.
The summary:
Resisting June may be his toughest job
Investigating small-town police corruption has never been on former Marine Sam Rivers’s radar. Still, taking this assignment gives him the opportunity to figure out what’s next after his medical discharge. The task should be a straightforward one. That is, until he meets Deputy June Jones. Almost instantly the warm, sexy woman occupies his thoughts. For a man who craves solitude, suddenly he can’t get enough of her.
He also can’t forget his reason for being in Quincey, North Carolina. As his investigation progresses, it threatens his secret relationship with June. But can he turn his back on all the love and hope she offers?
Here is Flo's review:
First, because it’s most important: I picked up Starting with June by Emilie Rose late morning, planning to read about half of it before doing chores and heading to work that evening. I never put it down. I ended up outside, still reading while walking my dogs. I finished it five minutes before I absolutely had to leave for work. I don’t usually have trouble putting books down.
On to the less perfect parts: it has an opening scene that feels like a “last week on…” recap. Thankfully for readers new to the series, it gets down to Sam and June in short order.
We’re introduced to Sam Rivers in the parking lot after losing his job with the Marines. He was medically discharged because of a detached retina. Before Sam is able to process this news, his old buddy Roth shows up with a job offer. One of Roth’s deputies was crooked and went to prison. So Sam plans to infiltrate the Quincey police force, get to know the deputies and see if any of them are dirty, get healed up, then get back to the Marines.
June Jones is one of those deputies, and is Sam’s neighbor, and has the key to his new place. She’s smoking hot, unself-conscious, capable, and naïve. She greets him in a bikini, with a basket of baked goods, the lease agreement, and her phone number. One of her friends later explains to her why Sam thought that was a come-on. Having them be close neighbors means there’s no space to cool off, and the police work also throws Sam and June together. To be fair, they do solve a minor mystery in the course of working together and make a good team.
June has a great line that absolutely encapsulates small town life: “Gossip is our local sport and we have the championship team.”
The sexual tension between Sam and June plays out well. They dance around it for a bit, then Sam declares that he’s not the picket fence type. Cue the break for cooler heads to prevail. When it is back to a simmer again, it is June who propositions Sam. He says no and it is her mature, if wounded, response which finally has him laying out the ground rules- strictly temporary. Once June agrees, there are paragraphs of slow burn before ignition.
“What was he waiting for? … What was it going to take to break his control? … she identified that spark in his eyes as one of challenge. He wasn’t going to kiss her. If she wanted his mouth, she was going to have to take it.”
To paraphrase the Animaniacs: Hellooo, catnip. I loved that interaction.
Starting with June is a solid A- story for me. It would be an A, but it kept knocking me out of the story to see ‘corps’ when Sam thinks of the job and camaraderie he’s lost. It is the Marine Corps. The capital “C” Corps is a proper name (and close to a religion for those who make it in.) I also wasn’t wholly sold on him losing his job with the Marines when his eye doesn’t seem to cause him any issues except on the firing range. I know his disability isn’t the real center of the story, but as someone with multiple disabilities, I often wish disabled characters had to struggle more with daily life, because I sure do.
That said, I seek out books where someone who has a disability gets a happy ending. While the physical impairment felt underplayed, watching Sam’s psychological and emotional struggle with the end of one way of life and the transition to a new reality really struck me.
“…making a “new plan” meant accepting the failure of the old one.”
Been there, done that, it is hellish.
Outside of the adjustment to his disability, Sam is adjusting to civilian life. June’s got her own problems to deal with, but to me, Sam’s is the stronger story. I found it to be a nice change of pace to see a romance with a man in turmoil over something other than unexpected lust-turned-love. Accepting his love for June means accepting that his goals and dreams have died, and he must create an entirely different life and identity. Sam’s not ready, and he runs. Sam started as an alphahole that read as more than a little misogynistic, but he puts forth an impressive grovel at the end.
June’s not a pushover, and she’s good at her job. She does get her heart broken when she discovers Sam’s file on her for Roth’s investigation. She doesn’t have a meltdown, and she doesn’t cry on her friends’ shoulders. June goes on with her life and puts up a strong front to protect her friend’s happiness. I love when the women are as strong as the men, and June is more than a match for Sam.
I’m happy to have found this story still needing a reviewer; I think I would have missed it otherwise. I already bought The Secrets of Her Past (Quincey book 2) and I will keep Emilie Rose in mind in the future.
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well.
Thanks!
Hey Flo, very nice review.
I have some questions. Perhaps you could answer for me?
Is there a book prior to this? Roth’s story perhaps? Are there more than one before it? And how do you know?
I can’t figure out what is and what is not part of a particular series within category romances. I steer clear of them because of that. I really like to read series in order.
I totally hear you on the Corps thing. I am not in any way affiliated with the military in general, or the Marines in particular, but this SORT of thing drives me right up the wall. Unfortunately for me, everytime I see the word Corps, I read it as corpse. I do know better, but my brain just sees it as corpse. Every single time. So whether it’s capitalized or not, it’s pulling me right out of the story.
On the disability front, I agree. I would like to see people who are described as being disabled, actually having to struggle. In a situation like this one, it seems like the disability is in name only, and pointless overall.
I feel like some authors pick the least symptomatic disability available, so they don’t have to think about it too hard. And mostly it seems as if they do very little research, or at best, use the very best, ideal situation and outcome, for a particular disorder. It’s somehow patronizing, and I don’t like it.
Especially when writing about military figures, in a time when soldiers have come home with major disabilities, both physical and emotional, that impact every moment of their lives, this sort of thing seems to trivialize that. I feel like it needs to be done correctly. It needs to be taken seriously.
I don’t know if I’ll read this book. But I enjoyed your review.
I knew this wasn’t entirely a stand alone because of the number of people- Roth, Piper, Madison and more- who popped in but weren’t fleshed out the way characters from other books pop up in sequels. There’s a sort of shorthand writers use, because they already know and love those characters. I use Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/) and FictionDB (http://www.fictiondb.com/) for figuring out series order.
There are currently 3 stories that Emilie Rose has set in Quincey, NC:
Roth’s story is “A Better Man”, and is a “surprise, you’re a daddy!” plot.
Madison (one of June’s friends) is the lead in “The Secrets of Her Past”, which looks to be dealing with the grief of a death.
“Starting with June” is the third.
I think Sam’s disability forces him to shift his entire worldview, and to plan for a future he’d never imagined having. But this book is about the emotional struggle, not so much the physical difficulties. I’m assuming there were restrictions on word count and a desire not to derail the romance story for an in-depth look at Sam’s issues. It is a romance, not a story with a romantic element, and Rose did the emotional turmoil very well in a small space. I like that she gives her characters problems to tackle outside of the ‘will they or won’t they get together?’ It lets Sam and June work as a team, rather than against each other.
Flo, thank you so much.
For the links (I have bookmarked them!), and for the info, ‘cuz I don’t like to do research! (Also, I’m bad at it.)
Based on your review, and your further comments, I have no doubt that this author handled the issue of this character’s disability well.
Thanks again!