3.5 stars rounded up for mature conversations to balance out the angst!

I actually enjoyed this much more than I thought. Both main characters were a bit young (26 and 28)and angst-ridden for my taste, but the way they actually worked through their issues through open communication and worked hard at their relationship made me enjoy this a lot! It was such a turbulent journey for two guys who were so different and yet somehow worked perfectly together. They had adorable bickering, strong and supportive families and friends, and were just fun to spend time with! I absolutely adored this book, and it seems like the perfect note on which to end a series I seriously need to catch up on.

I adored this book! Probably favorite of the whole series.

Rough Terrain follows Renzo, a SEAL who is a fitness Instagram star and wants to be a jumpmaster, and Canaan, a former rock star working on his nursing degree. Canaan works at the smoothie place on base where Renzo often goes, and when Canaan hears Renzo’s teammates discussing him bringing a man as his date to friend’s wedding, he flirts seriously and offers “trouble.” They go on a date after which Canaan offers to bring Renzo along with his former band-mates on a camping trip.

I loved the progression of the relationship and how close Canaan is to his grandfather. There’s some tension with Renzo’s family between them being Catholic and him being bi and him having guilt and pressure to be the hero. Despite the tension and pressure, it’s so easy to see they love him and want him to be happy.

There is a definite element of insta-attraction but there’s still a great slowness to the emotional development. I also like the blunt discussions around sex and sexual wants and needs. Renzo has some insecurities and I like that Canaan respects those and doesn’t shame them, discussing them clearly to help him gain confidence and security.

I really just adored this book. It was a great read and I adored the ending. Things weren’t the easiest for Canaan and Renzo, but they work together to reach the future they both want, together.

*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

<a href="">Review</a> originally posted on my blog with added content <a href="https://mikkuchan.wordpress.com/">Mikku-chan / A world full of words</a>

Rough Terrain, is one of my favourite books from the Out of Uniform series, definitely in the top three. Renzo and Canaan are honestly one of the sweetest couples; they're fun with the perfect amount of angst. I also really loved the cameos of past characters. This book is such a high note to finish of an excellent series.

While I love this series, I have to say that Renzo and Canaan were my least favorite couple. In the grand scheme of things with this series, it was par for the course story and writing wise. However, for me, Renzo and Canaan were just,,,,just ok for me.

Canaan has had a thing for the tall, dark and sexy Seal who frequents the smoothie place where he works. Needing a fake boyfriend for a camping trip with his ex, Canaan decides to flirt with Renzo and see if he would be game for the trip. Little did he know that having Renzo with him will be life-saving and highly emotional. But can the two men who obviously have sparks flying, make a deeper connection and finally get their HEA? Or will an upcoming transfer put the brakes on a relationship that was destined to fail? With adorable characters and a storyline that had me on the edge of my seat from the opening pages this was another great addition to the series.

I love this series and sad to see that it's ending but happy to see Rooster getting his much deserved HEA.

The love story between Bianchi and Canaan started slowly but quickly transitioned to more. They were a great team and proved that they could work well under pressure.

While I enjoyed the book I think it could have used more heat at times as well as condensing it down a bit.

The final Out of Uniform romance brings a really satisfying ending to what has been a quite outstanding series from Carina Press and Annabeth Albert.

Of the seven books, there isn't one I've starred less than four and the majority have been five star reads. This one falls at a four but only because I'd have loved to have had more when the two of them were together.

I loved Canaan and Renzo, they were such a study in contrasts but absolutely perfect for each other. My full review of this book is on both Goodreads and my own blog.

There’s a comfortably predictability about the Out of Uniform series that keeps bringing me back to read every new book that’s released. We all need those reads that we know we’re going to enjoy and be immersed in, and that’s what Rough Terrain was like for me.

While not my favourite read of the series, it was easy to fall into, with familiar characters – just new leads in Renzo and Canaan – and a new story with a happily ever after… after a whole lot of bumps in the road.

Renzo is a SEAL on the West Coast, but who hails from the East where his family consider him a hero (and would love for him to come home). He’s got plans to transfer back and to be accepted into the Jumpmaster training program, and everything’s going along perfectly until he crosses paths with Canaan – a worker at the local smoothie place who’s easy on the eyes and fun to be around. Canaan’s working while studying nursing after leaving his band former band (he was a drummer) under less than ideal circumstances. He’s being roped back in for a camping trip with his mates, and former ex, and to bring along his ‘boyfriend’… who doesn’t exist.

Enter Renzo.

I don’t mind a bit of the fake boyfriend trope in books – and it was done reasonably well in Rough Terrain. Renzo is quite an uptight character who’s insecure in himself due to his past, but has found some strength in sharing his fitness videos on Instagram. He’s also a nice guy, but his relationship experiences have been strained by his insecurity. Canaan has no such hang-ups which leads to some hilariously awkward conversations between the two of them.

The camping trip is a bonding experience which draws the two of them together – between Canaan’s ex-boyfriend’s deplorable attitude and a situation that leaves Canaan and Renzo stranded and in need of rescue – the two not only begin to unpack their feelings for one another but also their understandings of themselves as people, too.

While not my favourite book in the series, it’s definitely enjoyable and I’m glad I read it. It was nice to have male lead characters dealing with their insecurities and not being ridiculed for it by others.

Now I just need to wait for another Annabeth Albert book…

I enjoyed this book. I felt that it wasn't necessarily as great as some of the previous books, but I definitely liked it! The romance was sweet and it was easy to ship the main characters together.

Renzo and Canaan are both very family focused. I think this is wonderful. If only their families were on the same coast.
Of course it helps that Renzo and Canaan are hot. Made Rough Terrain, a very enjoyable book to read.

3* Well-written, but I didn't connect at all with Renzo The Obsessed and the blurb doesn't cover the gist of the tale.

This is the final book in this series by AA, and tbh, it feels like it should be a final book - it feels like this isn't an organic tale and though it's well-written, as always by this author, it's not one that I believed in, or could really gel with.

Yes, the events in the blurb do happen, but on a much lower scale, i.e., they're almost low-key in the actual 'drama' that there is in this tale, a drama that felt a bit, 'Really, that's your issue?' in the grand scheme of things. I can't elaborate on this because it'd Spoiler things, and also because I'd go off on a tangent about how hmmmm this is, but I'd summarise by saying that Renzo has issues. Issues that he needs to think through and get his head around. At times, I felt like saying to him that he should look at a less fortunate character and be thankful for his blessings, rather than fixate on one not-that-big-a-thing. Seriously, he went on and on and on, even after Canaan had made it clear that Renzo's issue was more along the lines of a dream come true for him.

I loved Canaan's relationship with his granddad, and how they did little things for each other, and I loved how Canaan sacrificed what he did to be able to be there for a loved one, and in another loved one's time of need. But, in contrast, I thought Renzo's father was distant, distracted and disinterested and his mother a bit of a hypocrite who didn't seem as if she was trying very hard to hold back her true feelings - the way I'm expressing this makes it sound more dramatic than it actually is, but it's as if she was silent as a form of a weapon, though at the end, apparently the word 'family' had caused her to have a miraculous turnabout.

Renzo and his social media, which we learned about in the previous book, made him look vain and shallow, especially when it kind of seemed things had to be his way or no way. And, at times he seemed the tiniest bit... deceitful and Me, Me, Me. I didn't connect with him, but Canaan was a total sweetie.

I think the earlier books in this series are the best, perhaps the first 4, but this is a take-it-or-leave-it one for me.

ARC courtesy of Carina Publishing and NetGalley for my reading pleasure.