Aces Wild by Emmy Curtis Review

Emmy Curtis - Aces Wild - Cover Image

3.5 Smooches!

 a4-4 a4-5 a4 a5

Synopsis

In the heat of the Nevada desert, the most elite military pilots in the world are about to engage in some friendly competition. Only this year, someone is changing all the rules…

RAF pilot Dexter Stone has been through his fair share of sticky situations. After living through a crash in enemy territory where no one expected him to walk away, the Red Flag training exercises should be a piece of cake-assuming he can keep his mind on the mission and not on the smart mouth of his gorgeous American competition.

As one of the few women in a sky full of hotshot flyboys, Maj. Eleanor Daniels has worked day and night to earn a coveted spot at Red Flag. And she’s not about to let some cocky British bad boy distract her from winning. But when the games take a deadly turn, he may be her only hope for survival.

Review

This is my first time reading Emmy Curtis, and while I do occasionally enjoy a military romantic suspense story, it’s not my top favorite genre of romance. But it’s been a while since I’ve read one, and honestly, I was looking forward to the change in pace. I went into Aces Wild anticipating a high-flying, thrilling story full of intrigue and hair-raising action fueling a sexy romance. There definitely was some of all that going on here, but it didn’t quite deliver the punch of excitement that I had been hoping to experience.

I don’t mind a fast-paced story, but Aces Wild took off at Mach speed and cruised there the whole time. The story – both the suspense plot and the romance – happen over the span of a few days. I get that high drama situations heighten emotions, but the hero and heroine did a quick fly-by over all of the relationship building moments that make the romance believable for the reader. I really liked this couple, they had fantastic chemistry and their snappy banter was quick and witty. I just wanted to see them hover at the good stuff for a bit longer before they raced off toward the horizon together.

The suspense portion of the plot had so much potential. The premise was very interesting and I was invested in it, but like the romance, it happened at warp speed glossing over important information. Unfortunately, when a story moves this quickly, key elements in the development are often overlooked or left out simply because there isn’t time to elaborate. There were holes in the plot that didn’t get filled, and there were no real explanations offered as motives. There didn’t seem to be any real vindication either, it just seemed like no one was really held accountable for anything. When all was said and done, I was left wondering why, and it was a disappointing conclusion to what was interesting plot.

I really struggled to rate this book. While there were certain things about this book that I very much enjoyed, but there were critical pieces that either fell flat or left me wanting more elaboration. It was frustrating because there was a lot of potential here for a really great story with a sweeping romance. But ultimately, it was just too rushed, and it didn’t really come together fully for me.

~ Danielle Palumbo

 

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