Review: Love, Always and Forever (Sergeant Joe's Boys #3)

Love, Always and Forever (Sergeant Joe's Boys #3)

by Alexis Morgan 

Blurb:

Sergeant Joe's Boys are back! Bestselling author Alexis Morgan delivers a tender and inspiring novel about Mikhail, a battle-scarred firefighter, and the sensitive young woman who slips inside the walls around his heart.

As a child, Mikhail Wanjek couldn't save his drug-addled mother; as a young man, he left a promising military career because he couldn't defend the innocent victims of war. When Mikhail's feeling like a failure, not even the love of his adoptive parents and loyal brothers can console him. But after he volunteers to help his beautiful brunette neighbor install a fence around her yard, Mikhail begins to heal. He wants to shield her pure, unabashed lust for life from the darkness-including his own.

Successful heart surgery has allowed Amy Short to finally set out on her own, apart from her loving but overprotective family. Now she's experiencing new thrills with the chiseled fireman next door, from riding on the back of Mikhail's Harley to late nights full of passion. Still, he refuses to open up emotionally, and with Amy's history, she's not willing to wait around for Mikhail to change. What she needs to do is show him that together they can build something that will last forever.

Themes: Contemporary

Rating: 4.75 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

The last of Sergeant Joe’s boys has finally come home and found the woman to complete his life in this heart wrenching and amazing story by Alexis Morgan. I have to admit that I was reluctant to begin this series when I found it, not because I doubted I would enjoy the story, but simply because I understand the greatness of Alexis’s writing and have been broken-hearted in the past when the series I have fallen in love with ended.  First world problems, I know, but it still made me second guess my choice to request ARCs, for about 15 seconds anyway. That is the magic of Alexis Morgan though and I was unwilling to miss the chance to experience it with her newest project.  This series takes us on the journey of three brothers, not of blood but of the heart, who were adopted in their youth by a hard-nosed but loving military man and his sweet but strict wife, giving three boys who so badly needed it, the love of a mother and father.  In the previous two novels Mikhail’s brothers have found the loves of their lives as well as a way to come to terms with the loss of their beloved adopted father and their experiences in the war, and now Mikhail is faced with a woman he doesn’t understand but cannot for the life of him give up. Awoken early one morning by the obnoxious and unrelenting knocking on his door, Mikhail stumbles sleepily into the path of the one woman he is unable to resist.  Amy is determined to exert her independence and make a home for herself out from under the overbearing protection of her family.  But when she meets her new neighbor, she quickly realizes she is in no way ready to handle him. Mikhail brings out a playful side of her and she knows that they could have something amazing together, if only he would accept that he deserves a chance at love and if he would stop pushing her away.  Amy was fragile in a lot of ways, but deep inside where it counted she was a woman I was more than able to understand and appreciate, with an iron will to live her life without barriers or restrictions.  She has been sheltered by her family so long that when she decides to be on her own, she goes all the way and refuses to let them interfere in her life. There is no denying she has had some issues that could have warranted their protectiveness, but I loved seeing her show them that she has moved past that and doesn’t need such close monitoring anymore.  Mikhail has serious issues still to deal with and there is no denying that he is a work in progress still, but there was no way to resist this sweet, sexy former warrior turned fireman, especially after seeing him with his mother and new sisters-in-law.  While there were certainly moments I wanted to slap some sense into Mikhail, there was never any point I wanted to give up on him and his chance at love.  Passion and heat run rampant in this story, even as innocent of the world as Amy was, because when you put two people so naturally passionate about life together there is no way they won’t kick off explosions in one another.  I am interested in seeing that there might be a fourth novel in the series about the hero's friend, also a former warrior that was injured and is in need of the love of a good woman.  But sadly after that there seems to be another sad ending coming for Morgan fans and new readers alike.  Keep dazzling us, Alexis, and I can guarantee you at least one reader for anything you provide until the end of your time writing.

*ebook provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.