Senior Chief Will Curtis is as straitlaced as they come. While his fellow Sailors have partied their way through their enlistments, he’s had his eye on the prize—making master chief and retiring after thirty years of service.

Lieutenant Brent Jameson is a Navy brat turned Annapolis grad. He’s lived and breathed the military his whole life, and he knows he’s destined for great things—once he’s done paying his dues at the bottom of the ladder.

When their paths cross, both men know better than to give in to temptation, but that doesn’t stop them. It also doesn’t keep them from coming back for more, even though being discovered would sink their careers. Something has to give—Will can retire, Brent can resign, or they’ll both face court-martial.

But there’s also the option neither wants to acknowledge: jump ship and walk away from each other instead of ending their careers over a fledgling relationship. And they should probably decide before they fall in love.

Except—too late.

After being underwhelmed by the third book in L.A. Witt’s Anchor Point series, I was happy to see that the fourth book of the series, Rank & File, returned to the storytelling style and the good balance between plot development, romantic development, and sexytimes that I’ve grown to expect and enjoy from this author.

Before I get too far into this review, I want to stress that each of the books in this series is completely standalone, so feel free to jump right in with this story if it calls to you. As with the other books in the series, the small fictional Navy base on the Oregon coast, NAS Adams, serves as the backdrop for the forbidden romance found in Rank & File. One of the main characters from an earlier book appears in a minor role here, and at least one other character from an earlier book is mentioned in conversation, but no prior experience with them is necessary to appreciate this story.

Senior Chief Will Curtis is approaching the twenty-year mark being in the Navy. Despite the challenges and stress of being a master-at-arms (MA), he’s proudly a lifer and is as dedicated as they come. During a domestic disturbance call resulting from a husband catching his wife cheating, Will meets Lieutenant Brent Jameson and is instantly drawn to him, but it’s definitely a no because Brent is obviously straight. As if that weren’t reason enough, Brent is also an officer, completely off limits for an enlisted man like Will. As the son of a highly decorated Navy officer, Brent’s life has always revolved around the Navy. Nearly a decade into his own career, he knows he’s going to be as great as his father was, but the drudgery of “paying his dues” in the lower ranks is messing with his dedication. Meeting the hot MA under less-than-ideal circumstances is a wake-up call, but not the sort it should have been. He can’t get the man out of his mind, but he definitely can’t risk his career chasing after an enlisted man. When their paths cross again at the only gay bar in the small town, the temptation is too much to resist. Walking away is tough after one scorching encounter, and it only gets tougher when lust turns into more. It’s only a matter of time before something will force them into the decision neither wants to think about.

I’ve lost count how many of L.A. Witt’s military-themed romances I have now read, but she is definitely one of the first authors I think of in the subgenre. I love how real her characterizations of both the people in the military and the bureaucracy surrounding it are. Her writing style simply suits it so perfectly. It also helps that her characters’ stories feel like the sorts of real-world problems any average military person could be faced with, especially when the stories deal with forbidden relationships, as is the case in Rank & File.

It also doesn’t hurt any that the pairing here is red hot. I love white-collar/blue-collar pairings, I love when there’s an age gap between the characters, and I always love switchy/vers characters, especially when I the characters’ voices have been established enough to be able to tell them apart regardless of what they’re doing with each other sexually. The characters comment more than once about the forbidden nature adding to their excitement, and as a reader, that was definitely part of it. But as Will and Brent develop feelings for one another, the compelling blend of hot sex, falling in love, and the ticking time bomb of being exposed became a story that I couldn’t put down.

Perhaps the only issue I had with Rank & File is that it was very early in the story when the solution for how Brent and Will would be able to stay together became obvious to me. In fairness, I don’t think this was an issue of the author being lazy. The hints are all incorporated well into the story, but if I was able to figure it out, I imagine others will too.

Of late, the romance novels I’ve read have fallen into two primary categories: those with characters that I can distinctly identify why they’re perfect for each other as they overcome whatever is blocking their path to being together—which, by the way, is my favorite type of romance—and those with characters that start with some major reason for why they shouldn’t be together and overcome it by the end of the story. Though Rank & File falls into this second category, it’s one of the better examples I’ve read lately of such a book simply because it’s a well-balanced story with a lot of heart where I not only felt like I knew the characters at the end but also wanted the best for them. It's another great entry in the series that has me looking forward to the next.

The author generously provided me a complimentary copy of Rank & File in exchange for this fair and honest review.

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn't lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. 

She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don't tell Lauren. And definitely don't tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut...