I'm conflicted. I loved parts of this novel *so much*, but other parts.. not so much. I adore Annabeth Albert's Out of Uniform series, and I'm glad I got the chance to read this advance copy because it's been way too long since the last one.

Sadly, I have to say it's the weakest book yet in terms of writing and plot development - more on that in a bit. But I want to stress how much I loved Isaiah and Mark and Isaiah and Mark together. Annabeth Albert is really good at creating casts of characters you end up caring about, and that alone is worth a lot.

The story in this book focuses on Isaiah, who some may remember from earlier books, and Mark, who I actually did remember. Isaiah and Mark know each other because Isaiah's cousin Cal and Mark's sister Danielle married each other. On their wedding day, Isaiah actually tried to come on to Mark, but Mark rejected him. Six years later, when both Cal and Danielle die in an accident, leaving their three young children behind, Isaiah and Mark have to figure out a way to take care of them while also figuring out their feelings for each other.

I'm going to be mentioning some spoilers in the following passages, so read on at your own peril.

The main conflict is who is going to take care of the kids, but most of the time I just didn't get it. I think the problem for me was that there was way too much telling what the problem was supposed to be - Mark not trusting Isaiah, mostly - and not enough showing for it to be believable. Mark's conflicting feelings towards Isaiah make a bit more sense once we learn he's demi-sexual or maybe gray ace, but the constant telling got on my nerves even after that revelation. Most of their problems just felt so contrived, and while lack of communication is the number one plot device in most romance novels, it was especially frustrating here, because both Mark and Isaiah seem only to forget they can talk when it serves the plot.

And the ending... yeah, no. I didn't buy that at all, *especially* with Isaiah changing his mind in a matter of hours. It was another "conflict" so obviously created just for our reading "pleasure".

I also felt there was a bit too much pathos going on in some of the metaphors, but that may just be me.

In the end, this was the most frustrating kind of books - one that could have been great but was only okay.

My ARC copy of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

This series just continues to amaze and seems to get better and better.

Mark aka "Wizard" is from Ben's SEALS team and paired up with Isaiah, the one who Ben and Maddox had a threesome with before they got together.
They are thrown together basically overnight as daddies to 3 children after Mark loses his sister and BIL.
Watching Mark and "Uncle Ikey"'s relationship grow is incredible. The way AA makes this story so very realistic to a real life situation is phenomenal. Their emotional development alone, together and with the children (with the children being the forefront of the story) was well done. This is a favorite so far!

This is the first book I've read in this series and it can be read as a standalone. I enjoy a good m/m romance read from time to time and I was excited to read this one based on the blurb. However, this book was just an okay read for me. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. However, the story flowed at such a slow pace. There was really nothing that made this story stand out for me and I even though it was an okay read, I expected more. I really thought this book would blow me away and it didn't, so I'm a little disappointed in this one.

~4.5~

Out in the field, Mark is Wizard, the brilliant SEAL medic who saves lives. At home, dealing with the pain of losing his sister and brother-in-law, Mark seeks control. He's used to relying on his own judgement, making snap decisions, and having quick follow-through. One moment of hesitation, and someone dies.

But Isaiah doesn't want Wizard the stoic medic. He wants Mark the man: an incurable romantic, a caring uncle, and the best kisser in the world.

"I like you more than my pillow."

"Yeah, well, I like you more than lots of things."

Chocolate. The ocean. This house. My life.

Squared Away deals with grief in a very realistic way. Mark and Isaiah become daddies overnight. Isaiah is used to being Uncle Ikey. But Mark barely knows the kids; still, he wants to be involved. And in an attempt to control the situation, he completely discounts Isaiah's feelings.

I love hurt/comfort stories, and Isaiah and Mark have to rely on each other to get through each day. The children, two preschool-age girls and a baby boy, are front and center in this story.

This may be fiction, but it mirrors real life. Kids don't go away when you want peace and quiet. You have to take care of them every minute of every day. They're not dolls; they have a mind (and attitude) of their own.

The blurb hints that Mark has some soul-searching to do about his sexuality. That he does, and his discovery isn't what I expected. I enjoy stories featuring demisexual characters, but this is the first time I've read a story where one of the MCs is (view spoiler).

I'm not going to lie: the revelation made me very, very nervous. I like plenty of steam in my romance novels, but the sex here is more subdued; it's more about the connection, the exploration, than heart-pounding passion.

That's not to say, Mark and Isaiah aren't hot together. Annabeth Albert does an amazing job showing us Mark's complex emotional state, what turns him on, and how his feelings for Isaiah change and grow. The relationship development is incredibly well done.

"It could be with you . . . I want it to be with you . . . But I'm also working on being more pragmatic with my big dreams--"

"Dream with me. Please.

Perhaps in another book the ending might have been too sugary, but it really worked here. I believed in Mark and Isaiah. I loved all the secondary characters, including MCs from previous books, and the focus on family and friends.

Mark has to learn to let others take care of him, and Isaiah how to be patient and enjoy each moment as it comes. They take the slow lane together.

"You're my person. The one."

After not liking the previous book Wheels Up as much as I hoped I would - I'm just not a big fan of those boss + subordinate settings - we are back to me liking Squared Away as much as all the other books, meaning it got 4,5 stars. Just a head-up.

Be aware that if you don't like reading about kids, this book won't be for you, because the kids take a big part of the book and let me say they were adorable. I personally couldn't care less if children are part of a book or not, it's ok if they are a part and it's ok if there are not. As long as they are not super annoying - never read about annoying kids in a book - I'm good.

I really liked how the relationship between Mark and Isaiah progressed, but I knew what the big fallout between them would be from the very start. It was obvious, but throughout the whole book I hoped that Annabeth Albert would choose a different way. Still I waited for the other shoe to drop and sadly it did. That "twist" made sense, but it was a bit unnecessary, all they would have needed was a bit more communication, but I'm picky when it comes to that. Don't mind me. Otherwise I really liked the dynamics between Mark and Isaiah and also between those two and the kids.

Also I'm happy that Annabeth Albert introduced some different sexualities as well, which I won't name. Read the book if you're curious ;)

Overall I was really happy with this book and can't wait to read the next one, which I hope will be about Bacon - the guy, not the food. If Annabeth Albert ever chose to write a book about talking food I would probably still read it though, just saying. LOL.

Rating: 4,5 stars

4.5 stars.

"I think I like you more than my pillow." Mark yawned.
"Yeah, well, I like you more than my pillow."

I really, really enjoyed this book. I've read all the other books in the Out Of Uniforms series and this might be my favorite so far. I also love that authors are taking a chance and writing more books that include interracial couples.

I loved how Annabeth made everything feel so real; their everyday struggles of raising children, the pain of loosing loved ones. I loved seeing how Isaiah was with the kids and how much he loved them but also took care of them with so much patience. And how Mark tried to help and step up.

"You're my person. The one."

I was also surprised with how some things turned out. I liked learning more about Mark being considered grey ace. Or demisexual. And what it means to be considered that. This book was more about their connection to one another rather then it being sexual at every turn.

Overall, this was a wonderful read and I crossing my fingers that Annabeth keeps writing more books. She's fast become an auto-buy author for me.

Annabeth Albert did it again! Isaiah and Mark revisit past history when their brother and sister respectively die in a tragic accident leaving them to pick up the pieces and figure out the future with the couple's three kids. Isaiah was incredibly relatable but I loved Mark's journey as he worked through his inner struggles and figured out a huge piece of himself. Without giving any spoilers, Squared Away definitely had some new elements in it to make it stand out from the previous books. Loved it! Go order it!

There were also a couple characters mentioned that I could definitely see coming up in the next book. Swenson? Bacon? I want more. 😁

I liked that Annabeth Albert dealt with a situation I have never come across in M/M fiction: a character who is asexual, or a person has little to no sexual desire or sexual reaction to others, or demisexual, a person who can only become sexually involved after establishing a strong emotional attachment to someone. I felt that Mark began the story as asexual and became demisexual once he became involved with Isaiah. It was certainly a very different situation for a couple to be in with a book in this genre. I thought the explorations of Mark and Isaiah trying to figure out their relationship were refreshing and interesting.

But here’s my biggest problem with Squared Away and the main reason I didn’t love this book. I could never buy Isaiah’s claim or desire to be the guardian of three kids. I found it rather hard to believe that a 24 year-old single guy with a reputation as a player who had apparently slept with half of Marks’ team would really want to be responsible for three kids who weren’t his own. Frankly, I found it difficult to believe that Isaiah thought of them as “his” kids. And part of that reasoning is that, as readers, we didn’t know Isaiah. We basically meet him through the presumptions of others, and then he kind of spends the rest of the book trying to prove he's not that person. He assumed responsibility for these kids in the week after their parents’ deaths, but we never saw Isaiah before their deaths, and we didn’t see him in the time between the deaths and Mark showing up, so all we knew was that six years ago he made a pass at Mark during a wedding, had a reputation as a tramp who occasionally babysat for Danielle and Cal, but suddenly became the doting parent to three kids who he didn’t have much of a claim to. I’m not going to pretend to know a lot about custody proceedings, but I don’t see how Isaiah would have a valid claim as guardian to those kids over Mark. Mark was their uncle, brother to the children’s mother. Isaiah was just a cousin to their father.

I got very tired of the total lack of communication between Mark and Isaiah which furthered their problems, caused more drama than was necessary, and was, to me, proof of how immature they both were that they couldn’t sit down and have a conversation. Mark had completely valid and intelligent reasons for hiring his own attorney regarding custody, and I felt that Isaiah was being stubborn and stupid in not realizing how it was better for the children if Mark was given custody of them and their inherited wealth. He obviously couldn't support three kids on his own, and his stubborn intention to do so was pure selfishness, putting his own desires before the needs of the children.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the read. I thought Mark was an interesting, albeit it highly self-contained, character, and his struggle came across as genuine and isolating. I found him intriguing. I guess, in the end, I just wish I had felt the same about Isaiah.

Also, I once again did not realize this was part of a series, so I can say that it can be read as a stand-alone book. I didn’t feel that I missed anything by not having read the first four books.

Squared Away is the latest in Annabeth Albert's Out of Uniform series,. It focuses on Wizard, the SEAL team's medic. When his sister and her husband die in a car crash, he wants to take care of their three small children, but before he gets there, their older cousin Isaiah has stepped in. Isaiah and Wizard take care of the kids together, and exactly what you expect to happen happens. There are so few plot surprises, but the conflict and emotion between the main characters is genuine and fresh. Even though their HEA is inevitable, it's worth every page to experience it with them.

With a series like this, it's common to have characters from past book,s show up, so readers can see how their lives continue. There's a bit of that in Squared Away but not a lot, and that's fine, too. The main characters are more than enough to make this book strong and enjoyable.

Another fabulous addition to Annabeth Albert's Out of Uniform series, this one sees her skillfully directing the narrative of a demisexual/gray ace MC and a slightly younger man who have family connections between them to add to the complications.

Mark is a Navy SEAL but he finds it difficult to adjust to having Isaiah James, his brother-in-law's cousin, in his life after an accident lands them both with the potential guardianship of three young children. Isaiah has been coping just fine on his own since his cousin's death and doesn't need the complication of Cal's wife's brother swanning in and thinking he'll take the kids away.

But there's always been a powerful attraction between them and when Mark finally owns up to his sexual frustrations and his thoughts there's been "something wrong" with how he feels attraction, Isaiah isn't just there for him, he's actually "his person", the one other being in the world who is absolutely perfect for him.

There is a level of connectivity between them which is carefully nurtured and, although there is angsty,it never becomes overly dramatic and when things come to a head, there is an honest discussion about the problems and what needs to be resolved.

This whole series has been a delight and it was lovely to catch up with some of the guys from the previous books and now can we please get a HEA for Bacon :)

While all of Annabeth Albert’s titles in the Out of Uniform series are excellent, “Squared Away” is my favorite addition to the lineup. After a tragedy, Mark returns from a SEAL mission to care for his deceased sister’s children. Isaiah, a cousin of the children’s father, is already taking care of the day-to-day needs of the family. The two men settle in to the work of raising young children while managing their own grief—and a growing attraction. Mark, however, is on the asexual spectrum and has real anxiety about pursing a physical relationship with Isaiah. To top it all off, the children’s guardianship is not a done deal.

“Squared Away” focuses on family, but it is also deeply concerned with exploring love. Isaiah’s open heart and easygoing nature are a wonderful match for Mark’s need to take care of people. Albert’s writing always pays great attention to intimacy and affection, and she has outdone herself in this novel. It is an uplifting and resonate addition to the m/m genre, especially for its representation of non binary identities. Highly recommended.

4.25 Stars! I haven't really read a good romance about an ACE character and I thought this story was done very thoughtfully. Mark and Isaiah are thrown into a tough situation when their siblings pass away and their kids need a guardian. I LOVED Isaiah. He was so ready to take responsibility for his nieces and nephew and from day one knew what he wanted. Mark was more shell-shocked and took a while to figure out the path he wanted to take. These two at times seemed not to be very romantic but then again...some of the scenes were very passionate. The connection they formed truly evolved into a true family dynamic and they definitely were a team. This book deals with a lot of struggles not only involving the relationship between Mark and Isaiah but the eventual care of the kids and dealing with how Mark wanted to be seen by his workmates. Through all of the ups and downs of the story, I enjoyed all of the different aspects to this story and really fell in love with both Mark and Isaiah. Very cute.