Bacon’s a dedicated SEAL. He doesn’t let anything get in the way of his job, and he’s highly loyal to his team. But he also has a secret that few people know - Bacon is pansexual. He doesn’t expect to come out to his team, unless he falls for a man.

I’ve wanted to read Bacon’s story for a while now. It didn’t take me long to develop a major crush on Bacon. He’s the total package - strong, driven, and he’s got heart in spades. Plus, the killer bod doesn’t hurt either.

Spencer Bryant is an award-winning journalist who’s shadowing Bacon’s team. Spencer’s married to his career and has a rigid sense of ethics. But from the moment he meets Bacon, Spencer can’t help but be drawn to the man.

The two men don’t get off to a great start. Bacon ends up on babysitting duty, keeping Spencer out of harm’s way. Bacon would rather be in the midst of the action, and Spencer doesn’t like being treated like a burden.

However, underneath the snark there’s an undeniable simmering tension. Spencer and Bacon manage to keep their hands to themselves, but it’s only a matter of time before they give in.

When the mission goes awry, Bacon finds himself turning to Spencer for comfort. The two men go at each other with no holds barred. This is one sexy read!

And it’s not just the physical chemistry that’s obvious to the two men. At some point during the mission, their rocky start turned to mutual respect.

Bacon finds himself opening up to Spencer about his past in a way he’s never done before, and Spencer begins thinking about a life that includes more than just his pen and laptop.

I loved seeing the two men let their guard down. It doesn’t take long for their weekends together to become the most important parts of their lives.

The big stumbling block on Spencer and Bacon’s road to a happy ever after is a book that Spencer wants to write about the military, which Bacon isn’t on board with. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole thing, and neither man handled the situation that well.

But I was really happy with how everything was resolved, and that Bacon and Spencer get the perfect happy ever ending!

Overall, this was a really good addition to the Out of Uniforms series!

Tight Quarters is basically a Navy SEAL falling in love with Anderson Cooper. It was as good as every other book in this series and was able to teach me what being pansexual means.

I gave this an A at All About Romance.

The Out of Uniform series has been a reliable favorite of mine since the first book, Off Base. That book introduced me to the whole military sub-genre in queer romance, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I wasn’t wild about the last couple of books though, and thought the series was losing steam, but Tight Quarters proved me wrong. Sexy and smart, with two compelling and appealing principal characters, Tight Quarters is a magnificent return to form for Ms. Albert.

After a training mission leaves him injured, Navy SEAL Bacon has two choices: take leave, or babysit Spencer Bryant – an award winning reporter and novelist – while he’s embedded with his unit. Unwilling to take leave, Bacon reluctantly agrees to act as Bryant’s liaison. With his team in transition since the departure of two team members (featured in Wheels Up) and tensions running high, Bacon is wary of a stranger – a curious, inquisitive and smart one – shadowing the team and the worried about the secrets he might uncover. Bacon is pansexual – but he isn’t out to his team – and spending time with a super-hot, single, gay silver fox to whom he’s attracted seems like a recipe for disaster.

Ever since the suicide death of his friend Harry, a special forces veteran, Spencer has felt compelled to learn more about these elite forces and the mental and emotional challenges they face. When his request to embed with the SEALs is approved he’s thrilled, and glad he’s kept himself in shape. It’s clear from the moment he arrives on base that there’s a “Don’t let Bryant be alone a single second” order in effect, but he isn’t surprised; “he wouldn’t want a reporter if he were in their shoes either." It’s also obvious that the SEAL assigned to babysit him would rather be doing anything else, but Spencer expected that too, so he does his best to help set his escort at ease. He can tell Bacon is pleased when he keeps up with the team on a training run, and he hopes that with time, his handsome, tall and muscular liaison will become less stand-offish.

Bacon finds himself warming to the reporter and reminding himself not to let his guard down around him. Bacon has secrets and so does the team, and regardless of his attraction to Spencer, he resolves to keep his distance. Spencer won’t risk compromising his professional ethics by getting involved with Bacon, and he does his best to suppress his attraction to him. Their relationship changes when they’re deployed to the South Pacific and the mission goes awry. Isolated from his team in enemy territory with Spencer, Bacon relies on his training and skill to keep them alive. After a frantic, fast paced trek through the jungle, the pair are forced to wait for extraction; in the long hours they spend waiting, they forge a new bond – one that transcends their attraction to one another, and seems destined to last beyond the mission. Once they’re finally back on base, Bacon is sent to debrief, Spencer is sent home and the Navy informs him they’ll no longer participate in his project.

Spencer might have lost his opportunity to embed with the SEALs, but he isn’t willing to give up on writing Harry’s story. When Bacon tracks him down to his hotel, insisting they do something about the attraction between them, he can’t resist him. They spend a passionate night together and when Bacon whispers goodbye in the morning, Spencer is convinced he won’t see him again. He reluctantly departs, but during a pit stop at his parents home in Hawaii, he gets an email from Bacon… and eventually the pair agrees to get together when Bacon’s deployment ends.

When Bacon – whose first name is Del (the name he uses whenever he’s with Spencer) – shows up at Spencer’s Los Angeles condo, the reunion is everything both men hoped it would be – and more. Their chemistry is electric – in bed and out; Spencer loves taking care of Del, and Del flourishes under Spencer’s tender affection and care. Both men are superbly characterized, and despite the opposites attract premise, they’re well matched. I loved that Ms. Albert doesn’t belabor their disparate ages or experiences – Spencer grew up surrounded by wealth and privilege; Del lived in fear of a drunken, violent father and joining the military was his escape – but instead shows us two mature men willing to be vulnerable for each other. They cherish each other’s successes and failures, and provide each other with a safe space to be their truest selves. The relationship is intense from the start and they fall hard for each other.

Spencer hasn’t forgotten Harry – or his guilt over his death; Del hasn’t confessed to his team that he’s with Spencer or that he’s pan. These things together, and Spencer’s anxiety about the depth of his feelings for Del, ultimately prove their undoing. Time apart provides much needed perspective however, and allows Ms. Albert to bring the story full circle. Harry’s suicide triggered Spencer’s interest in special forces and their lives post-service, and eventually, brought him to Del. Del’s passion for life is intrinsic to who he is – and is a reaction to the suicide of his closest friend. I loved how the author ties these disparate threads together as she drives the narrative to a happily ever after. Del and Spencer are good men facing a difficult situation and both make mistakes. Their struggles feel very authentic to the story and to ‘real life’ coupledom. Ms. Albert perfectly captures the nuances of this relationship, and the challenges both characters face in balancing their private and public selves with their work/play time. I was wholly invested in them finding a way forward together – and their eventual hard won reconciliation.

In Tight Quarters, Annabeth Albert breathes new life into an already satisfying series. Del and Spencer are terrific principal characters – their relationship is my favorite in the series… so far. Readers can find much to love in each of the Out of Uniform novels, Tight Quarters is another high note, and with no end in sight, we have plenty of great stories to look forward to.

Oh how I love the guys from Annabeth Albert’s series, and in this case the Out of Uniform books. These stories focus on Navy SEALs in southern California and I’ve loved all the couples and their stories. This one is no different.

The last book I’d listened to, Squared Away, set Bacon up for being the next bachelor and sure enough, this is his story. Bacon is a sharpshooter for the SEALs and with all of his buddies beginning to settle down, he’s starting to feel the pressure of his loneliness. Spencer’s a serious investigative reporter who’s managed to get assigned to a SEAL team for a story he’s working on. Naturally all the guys are wary of a reporter, but Bacon is especially aggravated since he’s been assigned to “babysit” Spencer throughout his time with the team -- while finding himself attracted to the silver fox hottie. Meanwhile Spencer is trying for a meaty piece on how SEALs are treated after injury -- or whatever else he can uncover -- and as he gets to know Bacon better, he begins to feel conflicted between being a professional getting the story, and the close bond he’s forming with the attractive, grumpy SEAL assigned to him.

I always snap up Annabeth’s Out of Uniform stories, and I’m not disappointed here. They’re just fun, but they always get me with the angst and other issues the guys bring to the table. Bacon can’t forget his first love and how he lost him, and the divorced Spencer is haunted by the memory of a Navy vet he befriended who later committed suicide. I don’t know the first thing about what actually goes on in the military, but I think Albert does a lot of research and nothing seems glaringly out of place when I read these books, so I’m happy. And really, her characters and stories always boil down to the relationships between the heroes, their baggage (which varies in intensity) and how they find their way to each other after some conflict arises. It also never ever hurts that the sexy times are seriously hot … and sweet. I always love her guys and their relationships with the other heroes of the series.

If you’re an Albert fan, and especially an Out of Uniform fan, this will be a must read. I liked this one.

4 pieces of eye candy
https://wp.me/p6h30q-2Mw

4.5 stars!

This book is the sixth one in Out of Uniform series, but if you haven’t read the previous ones don’t worry, it works perfectly well as a standalone. I have for now only read this one and the previous one and while I do wonder about characters that are briefly mentioned, they do not have that much of a role to make the reading unpleasant.

Tight Quarters features Bacon, a SEAL in a team in which the reporter, Spencer Bryant, is embedded. Despite being older and certainly less prepared, Spencer fits quite well physically. However, everyone is on their toes – worrying what might end up in an article.

Due to an injury, Bacon gets ‘babysitting’ duty of taking care of Spence, keep him in the loop, but not too much. It goes without saying that he isn’t thrilled and would rather be with his brothers.

There’s a lot of sexual tension, but they don’t act on it. Spencer because of his journalistic/professional integrity. But when the mission goes sideways and Spencer is unceremoniously thrown aside, so is integrity and second thoughts. Besides, Spencer is not a reporter embedded in anymore, right?

At this point the relationship and its struggles actually begin. Bacon and Spencer have to deal with absences, long drives to see each other…but that is not what becomes a problem. The problem becomes when Spencer has to choose between a story that is personally important to him, and Bacon.

I love how Bacon isn’t just ‘sure, ok, you’re sorry let’s go back together’, but tells Spencer he was hurt and doesn’t shy away from his feelings. And they actually discuss things through in general. The level of communication was much better after that.

I loved Spencer’s determination and dedication to his profession, but I also loved how he was friends with ex-prof and mentor, and how the mentor’s words impacted his life.

It was an enjoyable book with different types of tension, compromises, friendships, and cameos from previous characters and I really want to read a book about one character from this one.

This was a really good book. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I would read more books from this author in the future.

Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series has been a consistently enjoyable one in both print and audio, despite the odd blip. Tight Quarters is the sixth instalment, and I was glued to it from start to finish, zipping through it in two or three sittings. Yeah, yeah, I know – I’d listen to Greg Boudreaux read his shopping list, but fortunately, Annabeth Albert has provided him with something MUCH sexier and emotionally satisfying (although I don’t know – maybe his shopping lists are sexy and emotionally satisfying?) to get stuck into, in this tale of a journalist who embeds with a team of Navy SEALs looking for a story and finds something he really hadn’t bargained for.

We met Petty Officer Bacon in the previous book in the series, Squared Away, and at the beginning of his one, he’s more than a little bit pissed off because the finger he dislocated on a training exercise has him sidelined and unable to take his regular place on Team Alpha. His annoyance is further compounded when he is directed to be the liaison officer for a reporter who is going to embed with Bacon’s unit during their next mission. The team’s recent shake up following the departure of its XO (executive officer) and explosives expert (Wes and Dustin from Wheels Up) coupled with the rumours that the pair are now an item and began their relationship while working together despite the strict non-fraternization policy, make Bacon – a friend of both men – very hostile to the idea of a journalist poking around for a story and he resents being demoted to the role of babysitter. Even worse – the reporter is Spencer Bryant, a heavyweight, multi-award-winning journalist and author who is openly gay… and is one seriously hot silver fox. Under any other circumstances, Bacon would have so gone there – but he’s got to keep Bryant at a distance and away from anything that could potentially embarrass his team or the Navy in general.

Spencer Bryant, who, we learn, trained as a dancer before a knee injury put paid to that career choice, turns out to be all the things Bacon least wants him to be – interesting, compassionate, charming, easy to talk to, and utterly gorgeous. Spencer plans to follow up his book about injured veterans with one about how modern warfare operates in the field, but there’s more to this project than simple curiosity. While researching his last book, Spencer became friends with one of his interviewees, who subsequently committed suicide. “They don’t see us, No one cares,” he’d said in his final text to Spencer – who has been determined ever since to find a way to honour the man’s memory and raise awareness of the plight faced by others like him. Maybe by showing the workings of a special ops team, he can help people to truly value veterans in need of assistance; and after months of back-and-forth, form filling and screening by Navy PR, he’s finally about to make a start on the project.

After a couple of days, the team is deployed, and on the long flight to their island base, Spencer and Bacon – who has, until now, been very guarded – begin to really talk to one another. Spencer tells Bacon about his injury and change of career; Bacon tells him a little about how his no-good father’s constant belittling of him made him even more determined to succeed and become a SEAL. There’s an undercurrent of attraction running between them, but it’s not overdone; Spencer, who is divorced, thinks that perhaps he’s not cut out for relationships because his career is so important to him, while Bacon is certainly not going to risk the career he loves for a meaningless fling. Their slow getting-to-know-you phase is extremely well done, and Ms. Albert really ups the ante when the operation they’re on goes south in a spectacularly bad way and Bacon and Spencer are forced to rely on each other and work together to keep out of the sights of the bad guys while they wait for extraction.

The failed operation marks the end of Spencer’s time with the unit, which, while it means a change in his plans for the book, has the advantage of meaning that perhaps he and Bacon can explore the attraction that’s sparked between them since they first set eyes on each other. The pair get together whenever they can over the next few months; to burn up the sheets, yes, but for far more than that, too. There’s tenderness, laughter, caring and genuine affection between them as well as scorching chemistry; their relationship is incredibly well-developed into something genuine and so, so strong. Between visits, they exchange emails, and given I’m a complete sucker for stories in which correspondence plays a part, I loved their exchanges, which so clearly show the depth of their feelings for one another. Both characters are real and relatable which makes it supremely easy to buy into their romance being about much, much more than sex.

There’s a fair bit of angst in the story, too, but none of it is over-the-top or manufactured. Bacon’s is a tough job, both physically and mentally, and there’s one incredibly moving scene - in which we get to see just what a toll it takes – that moved me to tears. And there’s one conflict that has been inevitable from the beginning; Spencer is determined to write a book about how the military is failing in its duty of care and he knows Bacon won’t be okay with it. He’s convinced it’s a story that must be told, even though he’s known right from the start of their relationship that he can’t tell it and have Bacon in his life. Ms. Albert makes them work for their HEA, which makes it that much more satisfying in the end.

A moving, gorgeously romantic tale, Tight Quarters is easily one of the best books in the Out of Uniform series, and Spencer and Bacon have become one of my favourite romantic couples.

Tight Quarters by Annabeth Albert
Book #6: Out of Uniform Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 4½/5 stars

Spencer Bryant has finally gotten his dream assignment, being embedded with a SEAL team. As an award-winning journalist, this is the assignment he was wanted and waited patiently for, for a very long time. Thanks to a very personal and tragic experience, Spencer feels obligated to complete this assignment and produce a piece that not only honors the service of military members, but also brings attention to the care, or lack thereof they receive following grievous injuries and separation from service. Spencer has no intention of ruining anyone’s life or exposing information that could hurt the teams or the Navy, but he is committed to telling this story.

As bad luck would have it, Bacon gets stuck with the reporter being embedded with his team. Though Bacon knows Spencer’s work and even admires it, Bacon isn’t interested in an outsider poking around and potentially harming the men he serves with all. Bacon sees Spencer’s presence as a nuisance at best, and a potentially hazardous situation at worst. On top of every other emotion Bacon is feeling toward Spencer, there is also the intense attraction which just makes Bacon angry. The final straw, Spencer is a genuinely nice man who makes his intentions clear from the very beginning; Spencer may be attracted to Bacon, but he has a code of ethics that won’t allow him to engage sexually or personally with a source.

And then everything goes ass over tea kettle . . . .

With a terrible and simultaneously fortunate turn of luck, Spencer and Bacon find themselves in a position where they can, in fact be together. On so many levels, Spencer and Bacon as a couple are simply perfect. They are both dominant personalities that instinctually know when to let the other take the lead. Spencer understands Bacon’s post-mission mentality and knows how to help him decompress while Bacon knows how to support Spencer in his life and career. The sex is amazing, and the feelings, despite each’s best efforts, are beginning to grow. Unfortunately, there are some serious problems, and most of them, Bacon knows nothing about until it’s just too late.

The Bottom Line: Let me tell you what! I went into this book suspecting I wouldn’t particularly enjoy it, but I was absolutely and quite pleasantly surprised. In general, I greatly dislike reporter characters, but Spencer proved to be a cat of a different color. With the exception of one big misstep, which he absolutely regrets and fixes, Spencer proves himself to be a decent and honorable man. Bacon, apart from one scene/event, is equally likeable to Spencer and I simply loved his devotion to both his career and Spencer. While I’m generally all about the characters, I found the plot the real winner in this book. I expected this book to one thing all the way through and I got something completely different. That completely different was exactly what I wanted and didn’t even know it 😊 Finally, I love it when an author I’ve read for quite some time can still surprise and delight me and that is certainly true for Annabeth Albert and her Out of Uniform series.

This book was so different than the rest of the series, but I mean that in the best possible way.

Bacon (did I mention I love that name!) and Spencer bring out something in the other that they didn't think they would ever share or discover about themselves. They shared intense experiences and feelings than really brought them together when they really shouldn't.

Thankfully, they did. Read this entire book at the beach in one day. I could not put it down,

Overall an enjoyable story, but I was able to easily set it down mid chapter, so not captivating. I liked Bacon from the beginning, Spence took me a little while to warm up too. The chemistry between them was great, and the sex was steamy. A little bit of drama mixed it and boom, good story.

Wow! This was a steamy and fun read. It had a nice level of angst, and yet at heart the heroes were realistic and tender... on occasion. I liked this better than the last few Albert books I read, and now I need to read more of these military/SEAL romances!

I really like this series and it seems to get better with each installment.

There's a lot of tension in Tight Quarters aside from the growing sexual tension between Bacon and Spencer. Bacon is a member of the same seal team that Dustin and Wes belonged to in Wheels Up. Their (secret) romantic involvement didn't go over well with the team. Which is just one of the many reasons why Bacon isn't anxious to let anyone but his closest friend in on the fact that he's pansexual. Having being put on babysitting detail with Spencer just ups his stress level. While you don't necessarily have to read all the books in this series to enjoy the individual books, connections like this add another layer that I really enjoy.

Things got really intense in Tight Quarters. More so than a lot of the other books in this series so far. Spencer was determined to make the most of his assignment, but the men on the team didn't trust him. There were some pretty strong reasons why getting this story right was important to him and some times he couldn't really see beyond that. Getting close to Bacon wasn't smart because regardless of what the guys thought about him, he had a strong sense of ethics and certain boundaries he wouldn't cross.

Bacon was loyal to his brothers on his team, but that didn't mean he respected them all. There were some pretty strong personalities within the ranks and he wasn't sure who among them would have is back if they found out about his sexuality. He was getting tired of hiding who he really was though and I really felt for him. He and Spencer were great for each other, but the timing for anything to develop between them was totally off.

I really love the real life circumstances that Annabeth Albert puts her characters in. A lot of tough issues that are unique to the military are tackled and I really like the way she handles them. Tight Quarters was definitely a great addition to the series and I really hope there's more to come.

This is one of my favorite series and Albert one of my favorite auto-buy authors. I say this in every review of her books – are you sick of it yet?? lol

I was really looking forward to Tight Quarters because the romance is between a SEAL and an embedded reporter – a dynamic I haven’t really about in military romances.

Spencer, an award winning journalist, is approved to be embedded with a SEAL team on the front lines and they welcome it about as much as you would expect. Not at all. But they Navy wants some good publicity and he does prove himself by keeping up with the guys and mostly out of the way.

When Petty Officer Bacon is injured – he’s basically put on reporter baby sitting duty when a dangerous mission comes up. The mission goes south, leaving the 2 men stranded from the team and they forge a connection.

Once the mission ends and the men are saved they attempt a relationship which proves difficult. Bacon isn’t out to his team as pansexual and Spencer is still working on his assignment. After a veteran that Spencer was close to takes his own life - he feels he owes this article about the extreme stress, injuries and PTSD the elite teams go through to both him and the families that have shared their stories with him so far.

And that’s where most of the conflict lies. Spencer and Bacon have great chemistry and balance each other out but Bacon wants to protect his team from bad press and Spencer wants to inform the public about their sacrifices. Both have valid reasons and arguments for their views.

One of the things I love about this series, is whenever Albert touches on an issue – she researches and develops it fully. In the case of Tight Quarters I felt like she ultimately dodged the issues a bit.

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying they get their HEA but it came at the expense of a serious topic. I thought what Spencer was trying to do was important – and yeah – it all works (even in that regard) for everyone but Spencer seeing things through took a backseat to the HEA - in my opinion anyway.

Still one of my go-to series so I recommend it highly even if I’ve loved some books more than others. Each book features a new couple and can be read as a stand alone although there is some cross over of characters.

I'm going to seem a little ungrateful as I review this book, I know it. When I finished reading Squared Away, I was hopeful and excited for Bacon's story, so I should have loved this one. In each of the other stories in this series, there has been this amazing pull and originality.

In this one, however? There just wasn't. It felt tired, existing of tropes that had already been seen and explored in the previous five books in this series. With nothing new to contribute, the story of Bacon and the reporter Spencer Bryant fell flat to me. There was an age gap between the two of them, a bit of a forbidden romance given that Spencer was embedded in Bacon's team, but that was resolved fairly easily and my dear friend the 'lack of good communication' trope reared its head from there.

Actually, I do tell a lie; there was something quite new that was contributed, something that I haven't seen in the genre before. Neither one or the other was more dominant. Throughout the story, they switched, and they talked about their switching back and forth, which was fairly delightful.

Despite that, this read was a little bit of a lack lustre experience for me.

DNF at 50 percent.

Ever have a dish in a restaurant that was skillfully prepared, perfectly spiced, and beautifully plated? Something that would be considered the ideal meal by the next hundred people who try it, and yet, you just didn't like it? You fully expect that other people would enjoy it, and you could probably name several reasons why diners would love it, but it just doesn't ring your bell?

That's how I feel about Tight Quarters. It's a well-written book by a talented author with complex characters and a creative story. It's got light moments, and nail-biting moments, and sexy moments, and everything else that's expected in a romantic suspense. But for some reason, I just couldn't get hooked on it. After setting it down somewhere around the halfway mark, I found I just wasn't compelled to pick it back up again.

And for goodness sake, "Navy" - when referring to the branch of the military - should be capitalized!

Abuse was this a hot and sexy book with a great bunch off characters and a really engaging a well written story that kept off the pages!

The characters were great and the erotic scenes...well what can I say?! Hot!!!! But the rest of it was a bit bland. Bacon and the rest of his army buddies were believable and well rounded and the banter between them on point. I never read a erotic novel with 2 men in the staring roles but I got to say, It was eye-opening ;)

Tight Quarters is a solid addition to Annabeth Albert's series. It's always enjoyable to have characters from previous books pop up and in a natural way. Looking forward to Rooster's story!

This is my third Annabeth Albert book. I do enjoy her stories and do casually like military romances. But they do feel a little redundant. All of the ones I've read had 1 character that was in some kind of denial and there is a good amount of angst surrounding that.

In addition to being a M/M military romance, there's a fairly substantial age difference between Spencer and Bacon. And it was almost a non-issue which I liked. Both of their families and friends were supportive. There was more tension from Spencer's job as a reporter. This was realistic considering the importance of secrecy in the military, but sometimes the drama felt a little overwrought.

Bacon's passion for the military is probably one of my favorite things. When writing a LGBTQ+ story it would be easy to trash the military and service(wo)men. Ms. Albert shows some intolerance but also explores the complexity of a changing world. Bacon's desire to be a lifer and love for his team was very beautiful and jumped off the page.

I will read more Annabeth Albert books because I trust her as an author. However, I may try a different series to hopefully avoid some of these redundant storylines/romances.

I enjoyed this for the most part. I didn't fully fall in love but I fell enough in like to still root for the couple. The blurb is a bit misleading, I expected the straights they end up in to be a lot more dire. But I liked how no nonsense the main characters were. They had lines they wouldn't cross and they actually didn't cross them....completely. They respected each other. That seems like such a simple thing but it's really not. They eventually get it together and refuse to let themselves run. I loved the side characters, who were mostly new to the series. I got a little emotional at one point, you'll know it when you get there. All in all this is a solid entry in the series.