Rough Terrain

Twenty six year old Canaan, returning home to San Diego, after leaving his successful career as a drummer in his band, has refocused his career path studying for a nursing position. Supporting himself while attending a university medical program, Canaan has a job in "The Smoothie Palace" working the counter taking orders and preparing the smoothies for the busy client requests. Canaan loves his job since he enjoys sparring with the Coronado Navy based Seals, enjoying the daily eye candy buffet ..... His favorite, an Italian hunk of muscles known as "Rooster" by his band of boisterous Randy Seal-Mates!

Twenty eight year old gorgeous fairy tale masculine male prince Lorenzo "Renzo" - definitely not in a chance to be in Canaan's league - has been stationed in the San Diego Coronado Navy Base training with his fellow Seals, where the Navy-Seal teams enjoy their daily breaks for a daily special smoothie treat, served up by the five foot eight inch tall cute guy behind the counter at the "Smoothie Palace's" crew of shop-servers.

Canaan's former band manager Kelly invites Canaan to join his old band mates for an Adventure Camping-guided hiking trip in a Grand Canyon Hiking camp reward trip reunion. A surprised Canaan is unprepared for Kelly's invitation, a complete holiday band trip, paid for by his former band, ... when Canaan is told to to bring his "Boyfriend" ... ouch!!!

Part of the reason Canaan had left the band was because the principle lead singer and Canaan had been lovers since high school when their band had been formed, until Canaan discovered unfaithful Damien had been having hook-ups with other guys while they were supposed to be committed to each other! Damien and Canaan's replacement drummer Eric were now the couple.... Canaan must fish and catch a stand-in boyfriend for the holiday excursion!

Player Renzo, the "Rooster" has dipped into both types of fishing catches, hooking or swinging either way depending upon his need and the circumstances. When the cute blond slender "Smoothie" requests him for a favor, suspicious Renzo is unprepared to accept the guy's proposal for a weekend romp! Agreeing, Rooster establishes a few ground rules - maintaining their relationship - HIS cautious barrier! UNDERSTAND ..... ME .......
....... ONLY KISSING !!!

Just enjoy Renzo's and Canaan's fishing trip adventure! Their story is fun, adventurous, delightful, uncomplicated until the adventure runs into a major road block! Tender moments A-line, touching, sleeping together, neither guy is prepared for their consequences.

After the bait - catching your fish, how do you throw your catch back into a fast running river or into a salt water sea ???

Well, someone once said "all good things must come to an end" but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. :-) I have loved the Out of Uniform series so much! Each book in this series can easily be read as a standalone story and each one has been special in its own way.

Rough Terrain is now tied for first place as my favorite in the series; my other favorite was On Point. I think there must be something about two guys getting stranded together with no one else around that really works for me. Canaan and Renzo's relationship starts out pretty slow but Renzo is as attracted to Canaan as Canaan is to Renzo – Canaan just doesn't know it.

Canaan Finley has a bit of a reputation for lusting after Navy SEALs and Renzo Bianchi sure caught his attention when he and his fellow SEALs came into the smoothie shop where Canaan works. Renzo's attracted to Canaan but doesn't intend to lose his heart or get burned again. His last relationship ended badly when his now ex-boyfriend used him to make *his* ex jealous.

I always enjoy a good fake-relationship story and this one is really great. Canaan's former bandmates are going on a camping trip and insist that Canaan bring his current boyfriend. Canaan might have made up a Navy SEAL boyfriend just to get his ex-boyfriend/ex-bandmate off of his back. So Canaan is happily shocked when Renzo agrees to pretend to be his boyfriend for the weekend.

I felt so bad for Renzo that his few sexual relationships didn't really go well (you'll find out why when you read the book). He likes to cuddle and kiss but doing much more hasn't really worked for him in the past. Canaan is determined to show Renzo that there is nothing wrong with him and that he just hasn't met the right person yet (Renzo is bi).

This story has lots of feels in it. Canaan left the band he was in to be there for his Grandpa when his Grandma got sick. After Grandma died, he's continued to stay in the small apartment in back of Grandpa's house so he can keep an eye on him. Renzo lives across the country from his parents and brother but has requested a change of duty station in order to be closer to them. Family relationships are complicated but important in this book.

I could go on and on about this story but you really just need to read it for yourself. If you are a fan of this series you won't want to miss it. If you haven't started the series yet don't be intimidated by the fact that this is book 7. While I almost always like to read a series in order, I can tell you that you won't feel lost or like you're missing anything if you start with this book. Characters from previous books do make an appearance but they are very brief and not really integral to Canaan and Renzo's story.

While this series is now complete, don't despair; Annabeth has a new one coming up soon called Frozen Hearts and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.

***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions***