This review was written pre-"I need to be less synopses-y with my reviews" declaration... F-to the-YI ;)
Call Sign Karma by Jamie Rae
Publisher: Lyrical Press (1/5/2015)
Series: ( book 1 )
Genre: Military Romance
Source: InkSlinger
Buy It From || amazon | bn | iBooks | kobo || goodreads
My Rating: ★★★★1/2
Love in the no-fly zone…
Distraught over the loss of her brother in a fighter jet accident, Tinklee Pinkerton decides to follow in his footsteps and prove the tragedy wasn't his fault. But when she's chosen as the first woman to fly the Air Force's F-35, her plan for a life that revolves around work is thrown off course by a handsome, mysterious stranger...Thanks to Locke's seductive British accent, sweet nature, and one too many beers, Tink is soon inspired to throw caution to the wind and herself into his arms. She thinks maybe love can heal after all--until she discovers Locke is her superior officer. Tink has no problem risking her life in the air, but with everything on the line, is she brave enough to risk her heart on the ground?
{ giveaway } .
about Jamie Rae || JAMIE RAE is a New Adult and Young Adult author. She writes with one goal in mind--create stories with a positive message that will stay with the reader long after they've finished reading. Jamie is an avid reader and loves discovering stories with a great hook, though she will not eat, sleep, or speak until she reaches the end. The Harry Potter years weren't pretty!! Convinced that her Hogwarts letter was lost in the mail, she keeps a watchful eye for owls hoping her children will have better luck! In her other life, Jamie Rae is an orthodontist, and literary agent. She keeps her heart overflowing with love as a mother of three and has perfected the art of nomadic living as a military spouse and Air Force veteran. Jamie has a passion for critters of all shapes and sizes and you can often find her sneaking them into her own home or volunteering for rescues.
connect with Jamie || website | facebook | twitter || goodreads
{ tink's top 10 } .
"lesson's learned"
1. Clear flight path before launching beer bottles.
2. Always ask a stranger their full name and occupation before you hook up.
3. Use caution when falling for sexy British accents.
4. Drink less Honey Lagers and more sweet tea.
5. Always check boot laces before standing.
6. Make sure you know who you neighbors are.
7. Special Forces will always win when they want to buy a girl a drink.
8. Always pack one nice outfit even when you are going to war.
9. Wearing pink really isn’t so bad.
10. It’s okay to love in the no-fly zone.
{ review } .
I first got excited about this book with it's character blitz -- but I was a bit torn. I wanted to read it, the synopsis certainly gripped me, but... I just wasn't too sure.
...and quite honestly --
I forgot about it.
But the book popped back up in an InkSlinger PR email and I remembered the blitz. Whatever my hesitations had been, I didn't really care anymore -- I partook in part of the books promotion, I wanted to take part in the rest, too.
Oh my, am I glad I did.
I love finding new authors. I especially love when said new-to-me authors are also new to you and everyone else.
What can I say, I like to be in the front of the learning curve.
CALL SIGN KARMA takes on a familiar theme of a military person having immense guilt after losing a fellow military person (...that's me being 'politically correct'; as a Marine brat, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "I'm not a soldier; that's Army" -- so I can't say 'fellow soldier' because that is upsetting to people...). The difference in this book is Jamie tweaked it a bit and rather than the guilty person being a brother-in-arms...
...it's a sibling.
Tink grew up as an airman's daughter. She and her older brother had dreams of flying together. When Colin had the opportunity to (essentially) choose his bird, Tink begged him to fly the F-35 -- it was an elite plane and she wanted to be able to fly it beside him.
On a day that Tink went up into the tower to listen and watch Colin fly, the worst-case-scenario happened, and Colin's plane went down.
Tink lost her best friend, her confidant, her big brother.
...and she hasn't forgiven herself.
In fact, she rewatches the video (stolen, mind you) again and again and again. Partially, no doubt, is in punishment, but also because she wants to clear her brother's name -- everyone, her father included, keeps saying it was pilot error. Tink can't believe that for a second, and she wants to find a way to make it right.
But she doesn't want to fly the bird that killed her brother.
So she sets out to prove to be the best damn pilot she can be, graduating the top of her class. The perk of such a task is to choose her own bird, and she wants the Viper. In a cruel twist of fate, she ends up with the F-35.
Tink believes it's karma.
On one particularly rough night (July 4th), she screams into the ocean, tosses a bottle, and meets a stranger. Steps on a crab, too, just to keep the bad karma going. The stranger ends up being part of a night she doesn't want to forget. He's sexy, British, and wants to see her again.
And in another cruel twist of fate, he ends up being her superior and instructor for the F-35.
Tink believes her life is one bad karma event after another.
I laughed in this one. And Tink and her whole Knight-turned-asshole thoughts? Loved.
But her thoughts aren't all one sided.
Locke, the stranger-from-the-beach-who-is-her-next-door-neighbor-and-instructor-and-knight-turned-asshole, has some issues himself. He is terribly attracted to Tink and he knows that he shouldn't be -- but he wants her in his life. He tries putting up the walls and barriers in public because a relationship could cost them both their wings. However, in his inability to express this to Tink, things really just go from bad to worse.
Tink meets Ash, a special forces guy, when she storms out of a bar, leaving Locke behind. Ash (who I love, by the way, but didn't love for Tink) is headstrong and almost... almost... annoying with his ego -- but c'mon, those Special Forces guys are all ego ;) He doesn't take no for an answer and pushes to spend time with Tink.
When Locke steps out one morning, saying goodbye to a tousled woman, Tink figures she can move on if the asshole next door has. Men, though, will be men, and when Locke and Ash meet up at Tink's... well, fists fly.
Perhaps my favorite part of the book was the naming ceremony. Pilots don't get their call signs until after completing their training. From the title of the book, a reader would probably have to be dense to not figure out that Tink's call name is going to be Karma -- and from all of Tink's thoughts of bad karma, one is likely going to assume that the call sign has something to do with just that...
...but it's an acronym.
And it's an awesome acronym.
Oh my goodness, I'll let you read it to know what each letter stands for, but I. Just. LOVED. It.
I loved watching the battling emotions between Tink and Locke. I loved that Locke wanted to fight for them -- right from the beginning, mind you -- and wanted to help Tink past her troubles. I loved that Jamie didn't write Tink as a pushover, but as an extremely hard-headed, independent lady, and as such, she wasn't a push over. Locke had to work for Tink, and I just enjoyed that to pieces.
I loved their meeting, their build-up, the fall, the fears, the war, the coming home, the family issues... the proposal (oh, come on, that's not a teaser; this is a flipping romance -- of course it ends in some sort of proposal).
Immediately after finishing, I 'tweeted' Jamie, stating that I hoped Ash and Bodhi (the awesome doc that is Locke's friend and an altogether awesome, fist pumping 'dude') were talking to her, because I needed to see their happily-ever-afters.
No worries, y'all, their books are coming, too.
(Comment from Jamie, because my thumb hit delete and not publish *sad face*)
I love this!! Thank you so much for taking a chance on my debut!! *hugs*
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