I'll Be Your Drill, Soldier in The Freeloaders

Sep 22, 2009 ElaineY rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mm, military-themes

I have never heard of this author and can't find anything else by her but if I could give this book 7 stars, I would. It was hot, it was emotional, it was funny. I laughed and cried as I journeyed with this bunch through five-plus years of their lives in the US Army.

I loved every man in this book even though at the start, I wasn't quite sure I would even like Ryan. But Drill Sergeant Grabowski - loved him the moment he appeared even if he was a little scary and that first sex scene between him a I have never heard of this author and can't find anything else by her but if I could give this book 7 stars, I would. It was hot, it was emotional, it was funny. I laughed and cried as I journeyed with this bunch through five-plus years of their lives in the US Army.

I loved every man in this book even though at the start, I wasn't quite sure I would even like Ryan. But Drill Sergeant Grabowski - loved him the moment he appeared even if he was a little scary and that first sex scene between him and Ryan...I wasn't sure about that except that Ryan did want it, too. Because of their respective positions, it was a little too close to sexual harrassment/rape except for the fact that Grabowski had been featuring in Ryan's dreams as much as being a nightmare in waking life.

But Grabowski turns out to be as sexy as Ryan thinks he is, he's soft inside and as the story moves along, you find that Grabowski himself wasn't proud of that sexual episode himself. Their romance develops slowly but surely even though they don't verbalize their feelings. When they finally do, it was oh-so-satisfying.

There's no mystery, murder or intrigue in this MM romance. The suspense is in the relationships between these men, their early days in the Army and the relationships forged during those scary days and which last for years after that.

There's that last exchange of emails between the men that cracked me up as no book has for a long, long time. The men are trained up, sent out, return and are shipped back out again. I held my breath when one of the men back home hears knocking early in the morning and doesn't want to open the door, knowing such visits always brings bad news.

Since the author is new to me and I've never bought anything from this publisher before, I was rather apprehensive about the ending. Would someone not make it back from Iraq? No, please don't make it Ryan or Grabowski.

You'll have to read this book for yourself to find out the ending but you know me...if there wasn't at least a strong HFN after everything, I'd be cussing and swearing, right?

Instead, I'm wanting to give it 7 stars.

REVIEW OF REREAD ON 30 OCT 2010
I gave this book the maximum of 5 stars when I first read it last year. On my second reading, I enjoyed almost as much and give it 4.9 stars. I still enjoyed IBYDR more than most of the books I read this year but compared to the first time, I felt Ryan's and Philip's relationship could have been given more page space rather than all the day-to-day journaling of their basic training. That said, if there were no size constraints for the author, I would have been happier, this second time around, with a slightly longer book if I could have gotten more time with Grabowski and Ryan away from the army. I wanted to be with them when they weren't "working". R&R with Grabowski would have been hilarious, I think.

Overall rereading pleasure: not as much as my reread of Mexican Heat by Baumbach and Lanyon. ...more

25 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2010 MsMiz (Tina) rated it really liked it

Shelves: pdf, glbt-all

Aside from the ebook formatting and my disdain for the book title, I absolutely adored this book. I have read it 3 times over the last 2 days! It just worked - the story line and the characters were engaging, addicting and the right mixture of men with feelings. It is going on my re-read list. I would love to read more from this author as well as sequels.

10 likes · Like · see review

Jan 30, 2010 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: glbt-fiction, contemporary

I’ll Be Your Drill, Soldier by Crystal Rose has been a difficult book to rate. The beginning was rather choppy, but once it got into the army basic training it smoothed out a little. It was a procedural kind of writing, but with enough crisp character detail and insight into army life that I found it incredibly readable. Even though there was not too much focus on the romance at this stage, it was rather engrossing. The build up to the smexorin was smokin and I’d read it again just for that! The ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2010 Ashley♥Alexis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-owned-e-books, my-a-few-of-favorite-things, profession-law-military, genre-m-m, my-desert-island

omg. This is not what I expected at all. I laughed and I cried. I really dont understand why this is considered Erotic because when i think of Erotic i think of randomly bumbing uglies, the love these guys shared for eachother wasnt random at all. I LOVED this book.

The emails made me smile and cry all at the same time. I was slighty confused about the emails because things that were sent directly to one person would be
referenced by another person. did everyone just randomly see all the emails? ...more

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May 12, 2010 Absynthe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, cops-emts-soldiers-detectives, romance, 6-stars

Truly exceptional. Loved this book. If there were 6 stars, I would have given it that many.

Unlike most m/m novels where the plot revolves around the m/m aspect of the book and is secondary to the sex, this book is thick with a really engrossing plot who's main characters happen to be be m/m.

All the characters were interesting and the sex was very hot. Even tho there wasn't much of it. But again, this was a novel about the characters, not about the sex.

I read this book in one sitting. Yes, I kno ...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Deanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, m-m, military, ebook

4 3/4 stars :) I was suprised at how many laugh out loud moments I had while reading this book. The tension build up between Ryan and Grabowski was just delicious. Supposedly this book is 566 pages - it felt more like 250 while reading it. I stopped about 3/4 of the way just because I didn't want it to end. I would have liked it if a bit more time was spent while they were actually starting their relationship. I would love it if the author would do little stories about the characters or even a b ...more

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May 21, 2010 Cori rated it it was amazing

Even after reading multiple reviews about this book, I still had some mild expectations of it being a campy military book that I would likely not finish.

That was definitely not the case. I loved the characters in this book - the humor, relationship building, and how they all deal with extremely difficult times.

I would recommend this book.

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Sep 24, 2009 Maygirl7 rated it liked it

Shelves: m-m

I feel a little conflicted about what to write. I liked the first half but feel like the second half went on way too long. And I feel a bit disappointed, too. The reviews here were so glowing and, perhaps, my expectations were too high because of that but it wasn't great which is what I expected. ...more

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