Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: The Arrangement
SERIES: Men of Ulwich
AUTHOR: S. Bolanos
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 324 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 7, 2026
BLURB:
He saved his life two years ago. Now he’s the last person Marc needs showing up — and the only one he can’t stop thinking about.
Fresh out of the Army and finally living on his own terms, Marc Weathers has a plan: restore his great-aunt’s wreck of a flower shop, enjoy the Alabama summer, and absolutely do not think about Sergeant James Gallagher. He’s zero for three before the man even walks through the door. The problem isn’t that he’s attracted to JD. The problem is he’s not sure he’d know the difference between attraction and owing someone your life.
JD’s done plenty of things in plenty of places with plenty of people. He knows attraction. He also knows how to leave — he’s done it a dozen times. What he doesn’t know is what to do with a man who looks at him like he’s a puzzle worth solving and won’t give an inch. Or why, for the first time in years, leaving doesn’t feel like the obvious answer.
One borrowed summer. One flower shop full of things that mean something. Two people who’ve spent years learning how to say everything but what they want.
Good thing one of them speaks fluent flowers.
REVIEW:
Marc is freshly out of the military and looking to refurbish and reopen his great aunt’s flower shop. He ropes a fellow soldier into helping, but that guy backs out and instead calls a favor into James to go in his place. James in on leave and takes the opportunity to get away and decide on whether to re-enlist. Just so happens that James is the leader of the unit that rescued Marc when his unit was taken captive. Their somewhat forced proximity ignites their attraction, but they each have their reasons to not go all in and their lack of communication about this causes some apprehension/issues in the relationship actually taking hold.
Marc and James have some great chemistry. Their banter and growing relationship was really funny and sweet, as Marc shows James all things about southern hospitality. James also is the perfect person to help Marc through his PTSD episodes which, even though the worst is triggered by James, have to be dealt with, and this really bring them to light and forces Marc to face them.
What I loved: Military/Ex-Military dudes together, while finding their feet in a life outside the military. I loved how Marc and James navigated their relationship and continued with the red/yellow/green system to make sure they were both on the same page. They also helped each other face their respective family issues; another thing that really needed to be dealt with.
What I struggled with: This is really sweet story, which in itself wasn’t the problem. When the pet names started to become more frequent, this pushed the story into overload territory for me. First, James calls Marc “Baby Boy” a lot which just felt off. Then, there are the flower names, which I understand go with the theme, but Marc calling James “Honeysuckle” made it difficult for me to take them seriously. Again, these are me issues, but they made it difficult for me to stay invested at times.
All in all though, this is a really sweet story that I think a lot of people will love for the various reasons I mentioned.
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
