Rating: 2 Stars out of 5
Marc and Adam are lovers, both serving in the navy at a time when DADT is still in effect though Marc still struggles with his sexuality. When an unwelcome come-on leads to an allegation of homosexuality putting his career in jeopardy, Marc finds himself questioning his sexuality, his life and his future.
I feel like I should be honest that I don’t fully understand how oppressive DADT was or could be. We truly live in much more liberal times that policies that are not even a decade old feel much more outdated, even though it wasn’t that long ago that they were still in effect. So I do agree that I am reading this story with a handicap and therefore I find certain plot points incongruous.
Even though DADT is still breathing fire and brimstone at the time of this story there was a surprising lack of homophobia among the military personnel while this could be true, I still feel that people would not be making this particular sentiment so overtly public for fear of slander and discrimination against themselves though I could be wrong. While in real life all these factors can coexist in a story things should be more cohesive and decisive if the story wants to focus on discrimination you can’t have everyone be so accepting because that particular approach in this book made my understanding of DADT even more tenuous.
Also, I didn’t like Marc’s defence of his homosexuality as he pleads not guilty and I find myself judging him on current standards wherein I wanted him to own up to it and not be ashamed of it when directly confronted with this question. This is the point in the story where the story’s 2018 feel directly contrasts with its 2011 setting, because everyone is so accepting I can’t understand where the discrimination stems from, so I want Marc to uphold 2018 standards. I really don’t know if I am getting this point across but I feel that this is at the crux of my disconnect with this story.
The story is suffering from an incongruous theme but despite that, the story held my interest and I read through this one quite quickly. The story is engaging but the writing and plot progression makes the story come across as very clunky.
I really couldn’t sympathize much with Marc as a character especially over his struggles with his sexuality somehow his struggle only comes through on a very surface level and I really couldn’t get any feel on why he struggled with his sexuality in the first place. I really couldn’t find my space in this story when it came to its characters though I liked Adam and would have liked a bit of his POV, I didn’t really connect with the other characters in the story.
Overall, the only thing that this story had going for it was that despite how many issues I was having with it while reading it this story still managed to hold my interest.
Cover Art by Written Ink Designs. I feel like the cover doesn’t really match the feel of the story but barring that I liked how the cover is designed.
Sales Links: JMS Books LLC | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook
Published April 27th 2018 by JMS Books LLC
ISBN139781634865999
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 
