I always admire when an author tackles a character who is a widow and widower because not only are they writing a romance in the here and now, they have to deal with a very significant part of one of the characters past. In At Attention, Annabeth Albert tackles this with a Navy SEAL who lost his husband two years prior and merely exists in his life of work, his twin 5 year old daughters, and a few get togethers with his friends. He thinks he is doing fine, great even until a sexy, much younger man winks at him in the grocery store and then shows up at his house, the younger brother of his best friend who has changed significantly in the eight years since he last saw him, and unsettles him like nothing has in years. At Attention is a story of healing, of hope, of that rush of new attraction, of friendship, trust building, letting go, and realizing that you can't control your heart even when you have binders and lists to control everything else in your life. I loved this emotional and sexy story. 
 Taking a summer job in the San Diego area to spend more time with his brother seemed like a good idea to Dylan, but his brother's SEAL team is going wheels up leaving Dylan a bit unsettled until his brother, Dustin has a solution to his problem and his best friend Apollo's childcare issues, Dylan can work at the children's summer camp and fill in for Apollo's mother with his girls while she is gone on an extended vacation. Dylan isn't at all opposed, having had a teenage crush on Apollo, but Apollo knows that Dylan will mess with his carefully crafted life. 
 I loved watching Dylan steamroll into Apollo's life and shake him up a bit, for only being 23, Dylan was very self assured, mature, and capable of handling pretty much anything that was thrown his way. I especially loved how easily he related to Apollo's girls and how they immediately took to him. Watching the stoic borderline OCD Apollo have his world upended was pretty funny and while I felt for him and his conflicting emotions, it was easy to see that Dylan brought light and fun into his world, something that had been missing. 
 It wasn't easy for these two, they had to tiptoe through several landmines and make a few missteps along the way, but the things I appreciated are that they always put the girls first and their mutual respect for one another. While the lines got blurred at times and in the heat of an argument hurtful words were spewed, underneath it was easy to see that trust and genuine feelings between them. Their intimate times were at times frantic, at times slow and steamy, and at other times full of emotion neither one was ready to handle, but always, always sexy and mutually satisfying. 
 I appreciated the complexities of At Attention and the fact that it took this couple some time, patience and a whole lot of soul searching to get to their happily ever after. Annabeth Albert continues to prove she is a master at writing gay romance. 
 ARC provided by Carina Press for a voluntary review. 
 4.5 stars 
 This was my first book by Annabeth Albert and she has an instant fan in me! This book was wonderful. It was sexy. It was soulful. It was sweet and naughty. It was full of adorable kids, hot men in uniform, playful guys and enough dirty sex to perk me right up. It was a winner in my eyes. 
 My favorite part of this story was the character development. I felt as it I knew each of these men and they became real in my eyes. Apollo was the broody military man with a broken heart and a world of obligation on his shoulders. Dylan was the fun one, with the boyish charm and a surprisingly responsible outlook. He was Apollo's opposite in almost every way. He was the light in the darkness of Apollo's life and exactly what the man needed to help him live again. I fell in love with both of these men and wanted them to work out (read: wanted Apollo to get his head out of his ass). 
 My only issue with this story was that I felt it didn't cover a lot of new ground from beginning to end. It was perfect, introducing us to the characters, telling their backstory and making the reader fall in love with Dylan and Apollo. But there was no true defining moment. No crisis that brought everything to a head. There was just a protracted internal struggle in Apollo's mind, coming to grips with the age difference and his feeling of betrayal to his dead husband. I would have liked to see more than Apollo taking so long to realize that Dylan was exactly what he needed, AND accept the fact that he had a right to be happy. 
 But aside from the length of time it took Apollo to realize what he had in Dylan, this book was a winner for me. It introduced me to a new author, a new group of men, and a backlist of new books to lose myself in. This author certainly has my attention! 
 ARC provided by Carina Press for a voluntary review.