Ben (Semper Fi) – Jambrea Jones ♥♥

Synopsis

Maribeth (Mari) is determined to get her man (who is also her twin brother’s best friend). She has had a crush on him for years but it seems he does not feel the same way. Her main objective is to get him to see her as a woman and not just his friend’s sister.

Ben has noticed Mari for a while and feeling guilty that his thoughts are nowhere near being pure. He does not want to make a move in case it does not work out. In his mind, he would have lost two of his best friends.

Meanwhile, there is another side plot involving an attack on Mari’s life.

Opinion

Before I can get to the review, I must say there were an annoying amount of misspelled words in the Kindle version of  this book

Location 293 – defenceless

Location 1391 – kurb

Location 1430 – licence

There were more but I am not getting paid to edit and proofread. Jambrea Jones, fix those errors!

K-E-R-B?!?!? Really? Autocorrect was probably like, “Ummm I got nothing”

~~~~~Okay back to the review~~~~~~

Romance part of this book in a nutshell:

Ben: Must stay away from best friend’s sister.

Mari: I’m gonna get my man.

Ben: My big brain says “Must resist.” My little brain says “Lets bone.”

Mari: I got my man.

The end

Nothing new to see here.

Mari was pragmatic about their relationship and ready to get physical. “We’ve already wasted a few years, let’s not waste anymore.”

Cliché love story aside, there were several plot details about this story that annoyed me-

— Mari was foolish. She has someone break into her house and later beat her up, but she still goes into another situation without any caution and it nearly cost her life. Also, getting rid of the evidence that the people trying to kill want was not a smart move either.

— Fin (Mari’s brother) was not more upset with the circumstances surrounding Mari getting beaten within an inch of her life. Considering that she could have had a concussion, I would have thought he would have made her go to the doctor. Instead he takes her to her boyfriend’s house and there is the implication that she would be getting physical later. His sister gets beat up and he is not out for blood immediately?

— Ben’s injury was serious enough that he is home on leave but obviously not that bad that seeing how active as he was. How many times was Mari going to accidentally hit/knock his leg? It seemed all that abuse must have improved the healing process considering his bedroom acrobatics.

— Mari was too ditzy to put the puzzle pieces together as to the reason why her life was in danger. I do not believe for a second that she would have been able to solve why bad people were after her. We already established that she had no common sense. And she had been recently kicked in the head while face down in the gravel. Her words, “I’m sure I have a concussion or something.”

Side note: Mari’s busted up face would not have been sexy. She was trying to engage in foreplay with a black and blue, swollen face, which I imagine, looked more contorted than alluring. Ben’s thought process was “Even all beat up, she was gorgeous.” He should have been thinking “I need to get her to a hospital.” No. Let’s not be too sensible. Sleeping off a head injury after some between the sheets action is the best way to deal with that.

 

At first, I thought Ben (Semper Fi) was a 3 ♥♥♥ but the more I think about it, I have to give it a 2 ♥♥.

The plot foundation was an okay start: Marine romance with best friend’s sister. In an effort to make the story line different, the author added elements that did not fit together well. The villain was weak. Characters Ben and Mari did not connect with me. Some of the way that they behaved did not make sense while they were supposed to be reasonably intelligent individuals. He was a Marine colonel and she was a librarian. The story should have been better. Even the cover was mediocre to me.