BLUE FOREVER – Nina Bruhns
Men in Uniform , Book #3
Berkley Sensation
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-25094-5
September 2013
Romantic Suspense

Hainan Island, China – Present Day

DeAnne Lovejoy, a Deputy Director of the U. S. State Department in China, is going to the outside marketplace with a friend on Hainan Island when a Marine, trying badly to disguise himself, comes up to them and says he needs help.  DeAnne had already been informed about him, and it was all over the news that an “American spy” was around.  Once she decides to help him he takes over her SUV and they start for the coast to reconnoiter with his team.  However, they soon discover the entire Chinese Army is after him and they have to drive the car over a cliff and hope everyone believes they are dead, and head back to the coast on foot.  That is, if she can keep her hands off this hunk of a man who just happens to be a Marine, just like dear ole dad who has spent his life as a Marine, only he was never much of a father.

Major Kiptyn Llowell, III, US Marine Corps Intelligence operator, had volunteered for this op, anything to keep from getting assigned to a desk, and he's noticed the older he gets the more dangerous the job becomes.  This assignment was to take pictures of a new Chinese ultra long distance unmanned underwater vehicle small as a torpedo.  With his photography skills it seemed like a perfect fit…until his parachute came down too fast, he hurt his leg, and damaged his photo lenses.  When he uses DeAnne's cell he finds out the mission was betrayed, and now all of China is after him, plus he has a beautiful woman he can't keep his hands off running with him.

Darcy Zimmerman and Bobby Lee Quinn work for STORM Corps, Strategic Technical Operations and Rescue Missions Corporation, a non-military group called upon to work undercover and do the things the military isn't necessarily entitled to do.  Darcy and Bobby Lee have been engaged for two years, and she is getting more and more anxious about setting a date for their marriage.  Life as an adoptee means she is afraid Bobby Lee could one day decide he didn't love her anymore and just leave; and that is one thing Darcy couldn't handle.  Now they have been called upon to rescue Kip, and not only him but DeAnne, too, along with getting the pictures of that vehicle so the United States can come up with something as good or better.

It's going to take all the men and women of STORM to find and rescue Kip and DeAnne, and then they'll have to go back and rescue Nikolai Romanov, a member of their team and a Russian Submarine Captain.  I know; crazy isn't it?  I dare not go any further and give more details; suffice it to say nothing goes as planned. Well, really, they didn't have time to make a plan, and it is bite-your-fingernails and tear your hair out exciting with everything that goes on.  Oh, and there are also the romances between Kip and DeAnne and Darcy and Bobby Lee to work out. Everyone but Bobby Lee is afraid to make a commitment to the person they love because of their childhoods.

In this type of suspense story, there really aren't any secondary characters; however, holding their own is Darcy and Quinn and their own group STORM.  Julia is with the CIA and in love with the Russian Captain, and Alex, suffering from PTSD from a previous mission, whose actions when they allow him on the rescue operation seriously impacts everyone involved.

Oh boy, don't you know I love me some military men who are all handsome, brave, patriotic, and willing to die for their comrades.  BLUE FOREVER hits all those highlights and even more as Kip and DeAnne meet and try to overcome their fears of commitment and marriage.  Along with Darcy and Quinn, we get the best of all worlds: military, private military, and State Department.  The emotions are fierce, and the bravery of everyone involved is incredible; the action is swift, just like on a mission, and you better hang on because this is a bumpy ride of excitement and terror as we follow these brave men and women on their objective.  This is book three in the Men in Uniform series following WHITE HOT (August 2012), and RED HEAT (June 2011).  This is a seriously hot and scrumptious series, and even though BLUE FOREVER is totally standalone, if you haven't already, you will immediately want to read the two prior books and immerse yourself in these fantastic characters.  Run, don't walk and get BLUE FOREVER right away!

Carolyn Crisher