GRR Reviews Semper Mine (Sons of War) by Lizzy Ford

Semper Mine by Lizzy Ford is a story about enemies to lovers, where both partners have deep wounds that caused them to develop coping mechanisms to hide their real psyche.

Marine Corp Captain Sawyer Mathis returned to the US to attend the funeral of Mikael, who died on a mission he headed. That man's brother Pyotr lost a leg on the same mission. He also met Katya, the sister to both, and Katya only saw red, for Sawyer is the man that brought one of her brothers back in a box and other in pieces. Sawyer endured, and put her out of his mind. Months later, Sawyer and his team were back in the US, to help run a special summer camp for children who had lost parents... and found he had been paired with Katya. But as they learned to tolerate each other, they found that each has deep dark demons and gained each other's respect. But what they were not ready for... were feelings of love.

Surprisingly emotional, you get to learn reasons for each of their coping mechanisms. Sawyer's mom ran off, and dad died young, leaving an uncle who doesn't believe in love and a fist is the only way to teach. The military became his refuge, where he buried himself in work to not feel. Katya had suffered major burns on her back in the fire that took her mother, that she felt ashamed to show her body. She also felt like she had to be the mom of the family, to the point of smothering, not trusting anyone to make any decision, and so self-reliant it bordered on reckless. Katya saw Sawyer as a heartless military machine, not seeing the empathy and nightmares he only unleashed in private, while Sawyer only saw Katya as the rebellious and reckless girl he should never get close to ("no good for you"). It feels a little uneven, IMHO.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Military man meets sister of the man who died under his command; later they have to help each other run a kid's summer camp...

Tropes: no good for you, military, enemies to lovers, scars,

Overall Rating: 4/5