seriously romantic: going dark by monica mccarty

when going dark gets going we spend an intense information-laden chapter with brian murphy. except by the end of the chapter, he's maybe dead? missing in action? (we find out later that he's definitely dead.) who knows because the book is actually about annie henderson and dean baylor, one of brian's presumed dead teammates whose gone dark in order to figure out how their op got compromised. 

there is a lot of military jargon and a lot of characters who will likely get stories of their own in this series, and that's all fine. the main thrust of the novel is about annie and dean's intense physical connection and how they are basically oil-and-vinegar together because more complete opposites you couldn't find. 

this is one of those novels where the only thing that makes sense is that they are together because of the great sex, but some of the emotional connection is missing. the navy seal stuff is clearly well-researched and meticulous, but it's also kind of overwhelming. 

and i know i keep fixating on this, but it's just so jarring to get to know a whole group of characters from one person's perspective and then not have that person show up anywhere else in the book. i think the prologue had me thinking this book would be one thing, but what we got was another, and the fact that the mystery around the lost platoon is still ongoing just felt off-putting. i would have edited this book differently because there are things that work, but i think the structure does it no favors. 

**going dark will publish on september 5, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of penguin's first to read program in exchange for my honest review.