~3.5 Stars~

Just Drive and Afraid to Fly are the first two books in L.A. Witt’s newest series from Riptide Publishing. The series is named after the small, fictional naval town in Oregon that is the setting for the stories, and I must say there are some really good things going on in Anchor Point. We’re talking cute, coastal town, realistic storylines, and Navy pilots. Yep. You heard me right. Navy pilots. *pauses for collective sigh* Not just pilots, though…we also have a cab driver (who’s also a college student), and one of our pilots is the base CO. Pretty hot stuff, folks.

‘Hot’ is definitely a keyword I would use to describe Just Drive in particular. Sean and Paul have an almost immediate connection, and they are smokin’ hot together. Chemistry for dayyyyyys. Their first encounter, in the back of Sean’s cab, was pretty much on fire. I liked these guys a lot—both individually and together—but I have to admit, I need a hefty side of story with my orgasms, and here the side dish was a littttle bit small. Like I said, the ingredients were great—sexy, ex-fighter pilot/naval CO, and a smart, toppy twenty-something with dyed hair—I just wish the portion had been larger.

I definitely would have liked to get to know Paul a little better. I felt like I knew Sean fairly well, but can’t honestly say that about Paul. In fact, I had a sort of funny reaction toward the end of the book, upon learning that Paul adored animals. I thought, “Paul was an animal lover?!?!” I felt like the only thing I knew about him before the last twenty percent of the book was that he loved to shower and reeeeeaaaaally wanted a cigarette! Heh. I’m exaggerating a bit for effect, of course…but, I would have loved to see the author delve a little more into the backstory and the relationship.

Afraid to Fly is completely different, however. Travis and Clint’s book is heavy on the story—but in a really good way. I should probably preface by saying that I have been dealing with chronic back pain for going on fifteen months now, so I felt very tapped into what Travis was going through. Only, in Travis’s case, the duration is much worse. The near-fatal crash that changed his life and caused his battle with daily, debilitating pain was eight years ago. That kind of chronic pain is something that very few of us can imagine, thankfully, and I think L.A. Witt did a fantastic job with Travis’s character, and realistically depicting how the injury affected his life.

One place it impacted his life, obviously, was in the bedroom. Travis hasn’t been able to keep a man or woman in his life because the pressure and disappointment in the bedroom simply added too much stress to the relationships. That is, until Clint.

Clint was so good for Travis. In fact, they were good for each other. Both suffered from pretty severe PTSD—Travis from his crash, of course, and Clint from a traumatic incident involving a drone he was piloting—and they eventually realized that they could help one another with their symptoms and nightmares. Clint was also incredibly understanding of Travis’s situation with his back, and never made him feel like the fact that they couldn’t be adventurous in the sack was a problem. For a couple of older guys who couldn’t do much more than hand jobs, blow jobs, and some epic make-out sessions, I thought they were pretty damn sexy and romantic. I loved how in depth the author covered their backstories, and what it took to make their relationship work.

All in all, I think Witt is off to a great start with this series! I enjoyed Sean and Paul, and the fact that theirs was a May-December romance was a big plus for me. And, I really did love how she told Travis and Clint’s story. I’m looking forward to the third installment!

Not my cuppa.

I believe I have only liked 1 book by this author. the Writing style and I just dont mesh.

Its more a me than the author tho

I love LA Witt’s books, most especially her military books because she talks the talk and walks the walk in RL. Just Drive is very cleverly titled and that theme is woven throughout the book.
Paul is the CO of a small Navy base in Oregon. He’s just broken up with a man he didn’t really love, but the end of their relationship still hurt. Paul has been married (to women) twice, been injured severely enough that he no longer pilots the planes he loved, and is now trying to earn an Admiral star or two before he retires. When he walks out of a motel after the break with Jayson he has called a cab that has base access, but really has no idea where he wants to go. When he tells the driver, “Just drive,” it’s to keep from going to his empty, lonely home. Then he starts a conversation with the driver and his life changes.
Sean is the college-age son of a career senior chief at the same base, but this information isn’t revealed to Paul initially. Senior Chief Wright’s lifelong goal is to make Master Chief of the US Navy. Sean is attending college and driving a Uber-type service to earn money, although he still lives with his father. Sean, Paul, and Sean’s father find themselves in a spider’s web that can only end in one of two ways: heartbreak for Sean and Paul or the ending of 20 year careers for Paul and Sean’s dad.
Paul and Sean fall in love and then have to call their relationship off. They are drawn to each other like moths to a flame, even though they know this cannot continue. Lots of meetings at seedy motels, sneaking around…it’s as if they were teenagers rather than two adults with a significant age gap. Paul is 42 and Sean is at least 22 (I don’t remember his exact age being mentioned).
The ending is cleverly devised and while not the perfect solution for anyone except perhaps Sean, it is very satisfying for the reader.

I have fallen in love with an author's writing. I have read several books by L.A. Witt, but this book has me completely hooked. Sean and Paul's story was incredibly beautiful. I sank into their story and didn't want to come out of it. I absoultely loved them both. The worries, trials and problems they faced as they drew closer together and became something more was so satisfying to read especially as they overcame them. The story was deep with realities that made it feel real. The characters, including the secondary ones, were complex and full of life. I loved the interplay and the plot was not one that has been played out. I highly recommend it.

I generally enjoy this author's writing but this book was quite disappointing for me.

I liked the premise of the story: a military man, May - December relationship and a challenge to overcome, but I felt the story was very repetitive with too many sex scenes which all seemed the same after a while, just boring.

The two men meet, hookup and keep hooking up. Eventually the hookup stage evolves into love but the two men shouldnt be together because of navy regs. Eventually they overcome that challenge, HEA the end!

I know this is the first book in a new series but this author has written much better stories than this and much better military stories too!

In any case I will be reading book two in this series and I am hoping for something better.

Copy provided by Riptide Publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

http://redzworld.blogspot.com/2017/01/just-drive-by-la-witt.html

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters felt like real people and I understood where they were coming from. Perhaps, not being of a military background, I had a hard time understanding why Sean's father's position was such a big deal. I mean it wasn't like the lower ranking officer was dating the higher ranking one... But I'm willing to put that off as a lack of understanding on my part of the culture. I liked the characters and I enjoyed witnessing their story.

This August-May romance was something I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. Sean and Paul started off seeming like all they had was sex, but it ended up being much more than that. The character dynamics were well crafted and the way things played out in the end really required bravery on both men's parts. Nicely done. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

L.A. Witt delivers a sexy, steamy, and emotional May/December gay romance in Just Drive. There was much I enjoyed about this book; both characters were intriguing, their chemistry was off the charts, the secrecy of their relationship, and that despite their age difference their need for one another trumped all.

A cab driver picks up a man at a hotel; he’s obviously upset and asks the driver to “just drive.” There is attraction, there is heat and despite the fact that one man just left a relationship, and there is a 20 year age difference, they are drawn to one another. One night of sex is all they believe they share except they can’t stop thinking about one another.

I really did enjoy this book especially given the fact these were two men in very different places in their lives. Two decades separate them, their lives couldn’t be more different yet the more time they spend together it becomes obvious that they soothe each other in a way no one else ever has. Paul Richards can’t understand his attraction and growing feelings for the much younger Sean Wright and Sean can’t understand why Paul wants to spend time with him when he could have his choice of men. There was no doubting their sexual compatibility or the devotion they had for one another and even the fact they seemed to be able to share things with one another they hadn’t shared with others, but I’ll be honest n saying I wanted more time with them once they were in “couple mode.” I wanted to see what they had in common, I wanted to see them doing normal everyday things, I wanted to see them actually date, and I wanted them to have the tough conversations that people with this big of an age range between them should have; in other words I wanted another 4 or so chapters between Chapter 28 and the epilogue.

While I wanted more from this story, I enjoyed Just Drive quite a lot and I look forward to the next book in L.A. Witt’s Anchor Point series.

4.5 Stars
The end of this book had me desperately wanting a sequel. L.A. Witt writes some amazing books with characters that are so realistic you’d almost swear you were reading a memoir.

I adored these two MC’s. Paul joined the military several years ago, planning to make a career out of it. He was headstrong and stubborn, not willing to compromise on anything that might jeopardize his chances of making the next rank. He wanted more than anything to know that all of his hard work had paid off and all of the late nights and broken relationships were for something. Meeting someone like Sean was definitely not on his agenda.

Sean was young and a little naive, but he was hopeful and had that brand of innocence that allowed him to be completely consumed by Paul. He was lonely and sick of letting the Navy take everything that had ever been good from him. He wanted something that the military couldn’t touch or take away from him, and he hoped that was Paul.

Unbeknownst to Sean, Paul is Sean’s father’s commanding officer, meaning that a relationship between the two of them not only risks Paul’s career in the military, but his life as a free man as well. This is a story about two people who just weren’t supposed to fall in love, but did anyway.

Paul and Sean couldn’t stay away from each other. Even when they both knew they weren’t supposed to be spending time with each other, they both knew deep down that nothing was going to be able to keep them apart either. They fit together like two puzzle pieces that were made to be together and neither one of them wanted to settle on any compromise that meant they couldn’t see each other anymore. Their chemistry was off-the-charts intense and you could feel the love they had for one another.

I would definitely recommend this book for other M/M readers with a note not to let the military undertones affect your decision to read it. As someone who isn’t a fan of military-themed romance novels, I wasn’t sure whether or not this was a book that I would like but I decided to take the leap anyway because I’m quite the fan of L.A. Witt’s work. This book is definitely worth the read!

Post goes live 24 Jan

If you’ve read my reviews, you know that I despise books where there are two first person narratives. The struggle to remember who the “I” is, is frustrating and will often make me hate the book before a couple chapters is out. Just Drive started out that way. It also focused solely on Sean and Paul’s relationship with very little outside interaction for the first half of the book – which is another one of my bugaboos. I’ve come to the conclusion lately that for me, a book has to have external life outside the romance for me to love it.

I pushed on, mainly so I could finish and get the review written. But half way through the book, things changed. We learned enough about Paul to understand where he was coming from. Paul and Sean’s personal as well as couple dynamic was fully established by that point and must say – I liked the dichotomy of the older man being not only the bottom, but also the one who wasn’t nearly as mature as the younger.

And from there, the external drama became more of the focus. They found out that Paul was Sean’s father’s boss in the Navy. That’s a big oops and could have spelled the end of both Paul and Sean’s father’s careers. And the way Witt painted how they walked away but couldn’t stay away from each other felt realistic. I have to say, by this point I could see why the Navy hadn’t put Paul in charge of a ship. And why he might never make Admiral.

While I read the first half of the book over several days, I read the last half of the book in one night. Could not put it down. I had to know what happened. And I must say, Witt threw in a total surprise for me at the end. Was so not expecting it and it made me cry… in a good way.

The only thing truly missing for me in the latter part of the book is a scene from Paul and Travis. Travis is Paul’s good friend, one who knows the crap Paul’s been through and who is a good listening ear. When Paul had to make his final decision, I expected he’d talk about it with his best friend. But he didn’t. That left a hole in the book for me.

However, even with that hole and what was—to me—an iffy beginning, I f’ing loved the book. I’m talking LOVED the book. It’s one I will want to read again and again. As soon as it’s released, I’m going to buy a copy—yes, that’s how much I loved it.

Technically, because of the huge hole I felt it was a 4.5 but since I loved it and will reread it (which is the basis for a 5-star review for me), I bumped it up to a 5.