The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff by Lori Wilde has some very unbelievable parts to the story, but it is still a decent Blaze read. The good part of the story is that the chemistry between the hero and heroine is hot. There are some very hot scenes. Military man Daniel Corben is headed off to medical school when his girlfriend, Taylor Milton, breaks things off with him. And right before he proposes to her as well. Thirteen years have gone by, and Daniel and Taylor are thrown together again. Taylor meets up with Daniel when she needs to do some research on NASA astronauts, and Daniel becomes her guide/babysitter. The attraction between them is still there, yet Daniel was deeply hurt when Taylor dumped him. But when Daniel has to take Taylor with him to Spain for work-related stuff, they start to explore this continuing attraction between them. Not the best Blaze, but still a good read. I kinda though expected more from this story. 4 stars!

Lori Wilde says that this story was inspired by her first love, so I feel kind of bad saying I didn't like the heroine! (but I've got to be honest, so here we go...) Taylor is a rich girl who breaks up with her first love Daniel on the night he meant to propose. 13 years later she walks onto a military base and discovers her guide is the man she left behind. Daniel has advanced quite a bit in his military career, and he still carries a lot of love and pain when it comes to Taylor. This was a hero I could really root for and love. Lori Wilde's story telling is great. There are sharp details and she clearly did a good amount of research! It reads as a straight romance (vs military suspense romance), and I definitely enjoyed reading their tale. My complaint is that I never got the "he's got military aspirations, I'm flaky" argument for them not working out their relationship. It's true being married into military is different than a 9-5 job, but it felt more like Taylor was running scared from real love. While I could forgive it the first time around (as kids) I got tired of the heroine's immaturity and I thought she should have done some groveling to win back her man. I didn't see her growing up or realizing how foolish she was behaving in using sex as her cover and avoiding deep emotions. Ah but still it was an excellent read and I enjoyed it for sure.