Review: Marco is here!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2013
I was provided with the ARC of Marco for a frank and honest review. Stories with military men are a fave of mine and Marco as book number two continues a hot new series by Melissa Schroeder, The Santinis. The Santinis details the love lives of the four Santini brothers, who are all military men, super sexy gorgeous hunks and also fantastic men to have on your side as friends and also as family.This is not just a military story. First and foremost these are romances and it just so happens that the heroes are military men and brothers! These brothers have been through a lot courtesy of their chosen careers and trying to gain the love of their women they go through a whole lot more. Being men, sometimes they do the stupid things men do and as a reader you just cannot help but shake your head and wish that you could reach through the pages, give them a slap and wake them up. Thankfully these Santinis are a clan that sticks together. Add Mama Santini who helps to lead and control this brood of men and they get a lot of help and direction, some wanted and some not appreciated but given with love nonetheless.It is no different in Marco. Marco is so different to his brother Leonardo, as chalk is to cheese. Marco is a Navy Seal who lives in Hawaii away from the rest of the Santini clan, but that doesn't mean that he is so far removed from any of them. There are of course numerous phone calls and personal visits that help to keep him connected to his family.He is renting his home from Alana Kailikea, who it turns out has been through tragedy early in life and despite this she has come through this with a desire to help others. Marco is a little bit infatuated with his landlady and yet being the type of person that he is, he doesn't think to take his infatuation any further, until a visit from his brothers jolts him into action.Alana has been hurt by another man, and this is mentioned, but not really detailed enough in my opinion to explain Alana's reluctance to date anyone. Marco is attracted to Alana's beauty and sweetness, yet there is not very much that he knows about her. He has heard her talk about her family, but in the time that he has been renting the cottage from her, he has never seen them.Alana is quite a private person and she keeps a distance from Marco and she has one friend who knows her warts and all. Colin has known her since childhood and these two lean on each other through the good times and bad. Colin has his own relationship issues to deal with, but he is always there for Alana and she for him. He sort of provides another male for Marco to be a bit jealous of and help him stick his foot in it.  As well as this Colin is also  the male friend in this story who gives the warning don't hurt her or else, as well as being the one who encourages her to go for it, like a good girlfriend would, but that is it.The repartee between the brothers is great. They interact on such a level that the reader can just feel their connection and see how well they understand each other and know what annoys and sets the others off. I love Gianni, Gee. He is hilarious and really knows how to push his brother's buttons! I am going to love reading about him!Marco refrained from telling his brothers about his beautiful landlady and when they visit they just cannot help but tease him and really push his buttons. Their visit is the catalyst that makes Marco start to try to get to know Alana much better than he knows her at present. That however, proves to be more difficult than he imagined. Alana is a bit shut off and to get anything out of her is like getting blood from a stone. Marco doesn't know much because Alana isn't openly forthcoming about herself or her past. It proves a bit difficult to start a relationship, much less build a strong foundation and Marco resorts to the internet to find out more about his landlady. What he finds goes in part to explaining who Alana is but I can understand that for Marco he wants the information to come from her.I liked Alana and I liked Marco but there seemed to be a bit of fire and spice missing from this relationship. Alana doesn't reveal much about herself and then she is annoyed that Marco doesn't make a move.This story wasn't as fiery or emotionally angsty as that of Leonardo and Marianne. Marco and Alana finally do come together but she still holds back and all he can do is strategically withdraw himself and hope that Alana realizes that she needs to open up and stop hiding from him for the relationship to progress. She holds back from him and then accuses him of holding back from her. Her argument really didn't hold water in my opinion and this was quite weak on her part. What she was accusing Marco of hiding from her, she could just have asked him and I am sure that he would have told her. It wasn't a part of him that he was purposefully with holding, unlike Alana who just kept a lot of information from Marco.Their sexual encounters are hot and sexy but I really felt that there was a lack of emotional connectivity between the two. Perhaps in part that was because Alana was so unwilling to share, because she was afraid to get hurt, but I also felt that it was because this story was shorter than book one and there wasn't enough room to develop the characters as much and to really get to the core of who they were.Will these two have a future together or will Alana's reluctance to share stop them from moving on and having a serious relationship? Will Mama Santini have to get involved again? An enjoyable story and I can't wait for number three in the series.