Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Afraid to Fly
SERIES: Anchor Point #2
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 347 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 16, 2017
BLURB:
Once a fearless fighter pilot, Commander Travis Wilson is now confined to a desk. It’s been eight years since the near-fatal crash that grounded him, and it still rules his life thanks to relentless back pain.
Lieutenant Commander Clint Fraser almost drowned in a bottle after a highly classified catastrophe while piloting a drone. His downward spiral cost him his marriage and kids, but he’s sober now and getting his life back on track. He’s traded drones for a desk, and he’s determined to reconcile with his kids and navigate the choppy waters of PTSD.
Clint has been on Travis’s radar ever since he transferred to Anchor Point. When Clint comes out to his colleagues, it’s a disaster, but there’s a silver lining: now that Travis knows Clint is into men, the chemistry between them explodes.
It’s all fun and games until emotions get involved. Clint’s never been in love with a man before. Travis has, and a decade later, that tragic ending still haunts him. Clint needs to coax him past his fear of crashing and burning again, or their love will be grounded before takeoff.
REVIEW:
Years ago when Travis Wilson crashed his jet he was lucky he survived. Hell, he was lucky he could still walk–especially seeing as how the other pilot with him no longer can. But while he walked away from the crash, it doesn’t mean that he did it without a scratch. Left with chronic pain in his back, it is probably sheer force of will alone that allows him to pass his physical tests every year so as to keep his place in the Navy.
Flying drones may have not been the most glamorous job the Navy had to offer, by Clint Fraser was good at it. Until one disastrous mission that left him with PTSD, a divorce, and a promise to never drink again–on threat of permanently losing all contact with his kids if he did. Years later, he is still crippled by the constant nightmares and flashbacks. But because he never stepped foot on a battlefield it is hard to find people–even military–who understand what he is going thru.
Travis and Clint have more issues than they have solutions, but from the moment Clint walks into the Navy Ball with his (soon to be ex-)boyfriend on his arm, they are irresistibly drawn to each other. They both know though how easily these things can crash and burn–particularly when factoring in a double dose of PTSD and back pain that only seems to have bad days and worse days–and they both worry that the other is going to figure out that enough is enough and cut their losses before they both end up in flames. However there is always that small chance that they don’t…and that chance is just enough for them to keep trying.
I’ve been looking forward to this sequel ever since I finished Just Drive. Travis shows up in that book as a friend of Paul Richards, and even his small part in that plot was enough to get me interested in his own story. I find stories written from the perspective of people who suffer chronic pain to be kinda interesting, in that it is not something I really think of, and I like seeing how an author can throw me into that situation and see where we go. Plus, in stories about the military, most of what comes out is pretty heavy on the he-man, super-soldier side of things. I like seeing alternatives to this. If only because it seems like dealing with this kind of thing is something that would come up in the real life military, and I love books that can weave romance and reality together is such a seamless manner.
There was slightly less angst in this book, and as a consequence I both enjoyed it more and a bit less than the first book in the series. More, because the issues were a bit more subtle and were not tied to some big outside force that might or might not tear them apart. I’m kinda partial to books that can do this well. A lot of the time I just end up getting annoyed with the characters for not figuring out their shit already, but here is was easier to see just how all the things in these two’s heads was going to have to blow up at some point. And, I guess, I could sympathize with the characters more. It didn’t seem like they were doing it for Plot!, but because they were just two messed up guys who haven’t figured out how to handle some things yet.
On the other hand, not having some outside force actively tearing on them meant that the pace was a bit more slowed down in this book. Which wasn’t bad, but I really liked that constant push-pull of Just Drive so this book had a different feel going in it. They were two different guys in a totally different situation, so that’s understandable. I did like that this book wasn’t totally focused on the coming out aspect of their relationship, though. They seemed so natural both in private and out in public. It was nice. I like coming out stories, but they can get a bit cookie-cutter if the author is not careful, and having Clint’s coming out be a small part in the whole that is this relationship really put the emphasis on the more important things.
Overall this was a very good sequel and a really good book just on its own. All the characters were well written and I found this book very easy to just sit back and enjoy. L.A. Witt once again shows how good she is at constructing highly believable military situations without bogging down the readers who really don’t know anything about the military. While I’m not sure if there is a third book in this series planned at the moment, I hope there is more. I’ve found Anchor Point entirely interesting and would love to read more about the men who work there.
RATING: 
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