RITA Reader Challenge Review

Target Engaged by M. L. Buchman

B

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Romance

Theme: Workplace

Archetype: Military

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Mara B. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Romantic Suspense category.

The summary:

Delta Force: The most dangerous elite counter-terrorism force on the planet
• The deadliest shooters •
• The most out-of-the-box thinkers in any military •
• Will die to get the mission done •

Sergeant Kyle Reeves: The premier soldier of the new recruits

Sergeant Carla Anderson: The first woman of Delta Force

If the training doesn’t kill them, their passion may-but Kyle Reeves and Carla Anderson blast right in. Show no fear. Have no fear. Then they get the call. The most powerful drug-smuggling ring in Venezuela needs a takedown, and Delta’s newest team leaps into the deep jungle to deliver. Giving their all? Not a problem. Giving their hearts? That takes a new level of courage.

Here is Mara B.'s review:

So military romances. Eh. Kinda burned out on them. All those super secret black ops teams that not even the government knows about? After a while they started making my skin crawl, because borderline criminal behavior and a license to kill with no over sight what-so-ever? NOT SEXY. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve read my fair share, or more, of these books, but reality kept nudging in and now? Nope nopenopenope.

nope octopus gif

Set that quibble aside, and mostly with military romance you get ur-alpha males, borderline or outright alphaholes. Sometimes they do it for me, but mostly I want to punch them in the face. And the heroines? They never get to be kickass. They’re always the civilian in need of rescuing, never even took a self-defense course. In the rare cases where there is a kickass military heroine, she is invariably only kickass in combat; makeup, heels, and dresses render her utterly helpless and make her into a victim of sexual violence. Whereupon the character that has been built up over multiple books suddenly falls apart and she has to be rescued by her “hero.” Because, obviously, being in the military (or paramilitary) means that a woman must be a total nincompoop at all things traditionally feminine; and women can’t rescue themselves, because no man would want a woman who can outshoot him and save herself, right? NOT LIKE I’M BITTER ABOUT ANY SPECIFIC BOOK OR ANYTHING. OH NO, NOT AT ALL. As a reader I feel like the bird below, just flying along minding my own business and all of a sudden I get smacked stupid by a whale. Uh, what?

Whale smacking bird with its tail gif
But a couple of years ago, there was this list of male romance authors and ML Buchman’s name was on it and the only books my library had were his military romances. Then there was the tagline of his website: “strong women and the men they deserve.” I can get behind that.

So a combination of curiosity and lack of free access to his non-military romances led me to pick up the first Night Stalkers book. Yeah. So now I own ALL the Night Stalkers books, and all the Firehawks books, AND all the Delta Force books (okay Target Engaged is currently the only Delta book but, whatever, you get the picture.)

Seagulls from Finding Nemo saying, %22Mine mine mine.%22
Obviously Buchman has the right military tropes for me. Starting right out with heroines who are themselves in the military and really really damn good at what they do.

Competence porn, so much competence porn. I adore it. All of his military books feature women who know exactly what they are doing and men who find that incredibly hot, and worthy of respect. And if there is a woman who is flummoxed by girly clothes, there is a reason for it that is not just, well, she’s a soldier obviously she can’t be girly, too. In Buchman’s world a woman can be an elite soldier and still be perfectly comfortable in a little black dress and heels when she wants to wear them. Although full disclosure here, I am a civilian, and have never been in the military so there may be wild inaccuracies that go right over my head.

The other thing to know is that these books exist in a world where there is no longer debate over whether women can break into the elite all male combat positions. These books feature the women who are the first, or among the first, to shatter that particular glass ceiling. There are three related series going on here, Buchman started with Night Stalkers, Firehawks spun off from that, and now the Delta Force books. Having said that, Target Engaged works just great as a standalone. You do get characters that were introduced in other series but it’s not gratuitous cameos: they show up, they support the plot, and they leave. You get a little more out of their appearance if you’ve read the associated books but it’s absolutely not necessary, and it doesn’t feel like they are there just to remind you the author has a backlist and you should go read it.

Target Engaged starts off with the first day of selection for Delta Force, an elite all-male combat unit. With a selection process that eliminates about 95% of all candidates. Our heroine, Sergeant Carla Anderson, is the very first woman who has ever been invited to even attempt to get in. Our hero, Sergeant First Class Kyle Reeves, see her and has a typical “whoa hot girl” reaction, and the brains to keep it behind his teeth. Hallelujah! He lets someone else be an asshole and then applauds when Carla, without the slightest hesitation, hands that guy his ass.

Right from the beginning these two spark off each other and constantly push at each other. Kyle never worries that Carla’s competence might somehow diminish him:

Kyle had been pleasantly surprised as Carla continued to survive each day. Woman was damn tough. She might keep to herself, but she gave a hundred percent. As often as not, she’d be on his heels at the end of each hike or exercise. He sure as hell knew where she was at all times, close and moving at full tilt. She pushed him hard and he appreciated the extra motivation.

And as for Carla?

…it had been clear from the first moment that he was the very best one here. He totally kicked ass without breaking a metaphorical sweat. . . . The best was something that Carla always strove for. It drew her like a compass too close to a magnet.

Is there instalust? Sure. Hot guy sees hot woman, she sees him back, they both get pants feelings. And then we get to watch as over the selection process they get to know each other. And a little bit after they pass selection and start training [not a spoiler, it’s right there in the cover copy]. By the time they become a couple, there are far more than instalust pants feelings. There is actual emotion and knowledge of their partner’s character –  it’s great.

Is there action? Yup. Is the only conflict in the story that outside action? Nope. There are both internal and external sources of conflict. *swoons* Is it a fluffy little fairy tale world where women in the military never face harassment? No way. It is acknowledged in the books that women in the military often face a hell of a lot of harassment from their fellow troops. The nice thing about these books is they are set in small elite units where competence is key, and where the commanders emphasize that the important thing is that everyone does their job to the very highest standards and not whether their balls are literal or figurative.

So I like the plot. I like the pacing, the tension, the sources of conflict. I like the main characters and the secondary characters. They are characters who are clearly sequel bait but who are fully formed and actually important to plot of this book, not just thrown out like chum in the water. Here, reader, reader. Here girl!

Having said all that what do I think of the book itself? Well, it’s not my favorite ML Buchman book. I’m not sure what it is but, although it’s a good book and there are a lot of things I like about it. It just didn’t grab me. Part of it is I miss the female interaction. I had a similar problem with the first Night Stalkers book. In later Night Stalkers books, and I imagine in the later Delta books this will be true too, there is a lot of interaction and camaraderie between the women who have made it into these elite forces. And definitely they talk about a lot more than men. Having read his other books the absence of that camaraderie comes across as a definite lack. I reread like crazy, but if it hadn’t been for deciding to review this, it would have been a while before it bumped up on my list (or you know until a new book came out and I reread them all in a delightful orgy of kickass woman and men who aren’t intimidated by them).

So I guess I’d say B. A very solid B. But I can’t wait for the next one, when there will be a second woman in Delta and we get that female interaction back.

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Target Engaged by M.L. Buchman

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  1. Make Kay says:

    Preach it, sister. I love M.L. Buchman’s books too, pretty much for all the reasons you’ve so ably elaborated here.
    And so much competence porn, in the women as well as the men. I love it!

  2. DonnaMarie says:

    I have this one waiting at the GBPL drive through based on the first review, now I’m going to have trouble letting it sit until I finish all my chores tomorrow. Thanks for the review.

  3. Regina says:

    I’m at 33% of this one and am setting it aside. The characters are too perfect. It’s starting to annoy me.

  4. “Competence porn!” I love it. I’m so totally stealing that phrase.

    And just so you know Delta #2, Heart Strike, releasing August 3rd, the team acquires their second female and, yep, I had a lot of fun with them interacting. I hadn’t thought about that aspect of what was missing from #1 in these series (the probably being that they ARE the first woman). Hmmm… Way interesting.

  5. PamG says:

    Great review! I have no affinity for military plot lines, but all the good stuff you’ve described is making my clicking finger itch.

  6. Elvina says:

    Thanks for the great review. I’ve never read M.L. Buchman before, but I am now definitely interested in checking them out.

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