Review: No Flag by Liz Borino

Reviewed by Whuppsy
No Flag by Liz Borino
Lazy Day Publishing
Novel: 255pgs
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
For Mike and Will, “No Flag” meant “come home alive”, but will their love survive what happens next?

Captain Mike Kelley does not ignore his intuition, so when sexy bartender Will Hayes captures his heart, Mike embarks on a mission to win him over to a Domestic Discipline relationship. Will accepts with one caveat: Mike must promise not to renew his Army contract. Mike agrees, and they spend a year building a life together, getting married, and starting a business.

Only days before their café’s grand opening, Mike receives news that threatens everything he and Will have built. The Army invokes the Stop Loss military policy to involuntarily extend his commission and send him back overseas. Will, left alone to cope with the café, must rely on the support of old friends who may no longer be trustworthy. Through emails and Skype calls, Mike and Will keep their love and structure alive…until the day a horrific terrorist attack occurs on Mike’s outpost.

Mike awakens in a hospital with a devastating injury and no memory of the attack. As the only survivor, Mike’s memory may be the key to national security. Mike struggles to cope with his injury and Will struggles to support the man who always held him up. Both fear they have lost their previous relationship. Will has Mike back rather than a folded flag, but in the aftermath of war, can they rebuild the life they had before? Especially when those closest to them may not have their best interests at heart?

Review
Army Captain Mike Kelly meets Will Hayes at a bar where Will is the bartender. They go home that first night and…nothing happens. Nothing happens during the first two months of their relationship. Which by the way is driving Will crazy. Will finally confronts Mike regarding what’s going on. Mike lets Will know that he’s into Domestic Discipline. Will is taken aback regarding this new information, however, he’s intrigued by the thought and he thinks that being with Mike is worth it. He just has one caveat-Mike must not renew his contract with the Army, which Mike does. They sign a contract and move forward in their Love and Lives.

For a year, they’ve worked to make their relationship grow. They get married and start a business together. Everything is going so very well and then the bomb gets dropped. Mike gets called into the office and is told that they are extending his commission under the Stop Loss Policy. They are both understandably upset, but what can they do?

While Mike is away they keep in touch via email and Skype doing their very best to keep the home fires burning. Will is getting support from his friends from college-Seth and Casey. Things are moving along until Mike gets injured during a terrorist attack. Mike returns home fearing that he’s not able to be the man that Will needs him to. That he needs to be to feel whole.

Mike, however, is the only survivor from the terrorist attack and he’s being asked to give a briefing regarding what happened before, during and after the attack. Between this and Will’s “friends” Casey and Seth giving grief, how will this end?

This book was a really good read. I loved seeing the relationship between Mike and Will blossom and grow. To watch and see how they both dealt with the separation and aftermath of the attack. How friendships endure and fail. I will say however, that I wanted to smack Will a couple of times regarding his dealings with Casey. I also didn’t understand Seth’s reactions to what was going on, but I guess it added to the angst of the book.

It was a pretty well paced book. I enjoyed how it ebbed and flowed along. There was no time that I wanted to bang my head on the wall and wish it would move along. I also loved the way the book was set up. Starts with Will learning of the attack and moves back in time to when they first met. I also like that she named the chapters. It gave you a glance into what was going to happen. I liked that the book had some angst, but it was never overwhelming or didn’t drag on and on.

I would say that this is a great book to read. You’ll enjoy reading about Will and Mike make mistakes and find their balance again. If you have a few hours and want to read a book that you will fall into, this is the book for you.

3.5 Pants Off