The Major Gets It Right - Victoria Pade (HSE #2847 - July 2021)

Series: Camdens of Montana (Book 3)

He was the son her father always wanted…
 
Major Quinn Camden is a man of honor. But working with Clairy McKinnon on her father's memorial tests every chivalrous code! Clairy is feisty, beautiful -- and still hurt that General McKinnon mentored Quinn over his own adoring daughter. When their years-long rivalry is replaced by undeniable attraction, Quinn wonders if the general's dying wish is the magic they both need…or if the man's secrets will tear them apart for good.
 
Fantastic enemies-to-lovers story. After her mother's death when she was eight, Clairy's Marine father packed her off to his parents to raise, leaving him free to pursue his career. On his rare visits home, he paid very little attention to Clairy. Those attentions disappeared altogether when ten-year-old Quinn showed up, asking for the general's help preparing to become a Marine himself. Over the next eight years, Clairy found herself shoved aside time and again.
 
Quinn was raised to pursue any goal in a no-holds-barred fashion, so he saw nothing wrong with asking for the general's help. However, with the typical selfishness of a teenage boy, he never saw the effect it had on his idol's daughter.
 
The book opens shortly after General McKinnon's death. In his will, he left instructions and money for a memorial and foundation showcasing his career and those of other town military members. The foundation will help veterans, and is to be run by Clairy. Quinn is tagged to set up the actual display of the general's life and career. This means that Clairy and Quinn must find a way to work together. Furious, Clairy wants nothing to do with Quinn but can't find a way out of it. All she can think of is the way he treated her, even though she hasn't seen him in fifteen years.
 
Quinn knows he has a challenging task ahead of him. He recently learned some things about the general that shook him to the core and caused him to take a hard look at himself and his attitudes. Can he overcome the effects of his mentor's training, or is he destined to follow in his footsteps?
 
The first couple of meetings between Quinn and Clairy are painful. The hurt and anger Clairy feels run deep, and with her father's death, any hope of changing their relationship is gone. She still holds Quinn responsible for keeping her father from her, and she makes no secret of her feelings toward him. Quinn attempts to apologize, but Clairy is skeptical of his sincerity. I liked that Quinn didn't give up and did his best to demonstrate by his actions that he'd changed. In a very emotional scene, Clairy explains to Quinn what life with her father was like, countered by the same events from Quinn's point of view. It was an eye-opening conversation for both of them and the first steps in healing the rift between them. As the general's secrets come out, we see the effect on Quinn as he learns about them and again as he shares them with Clairy. Her reaction surprised him, and I loved how she helped him deal with the guilt he felt.
 
As that rift narrowed and then disappeared, the attraction that each felt began to simmer and grow. The question became one of what to do about it? Clairy, recently divorced from a man who turned out to be much like her father, wants no part of a relationship with a man whose life revolves around his work. At the same time, Quinn's look at his past relationships leaves him wondering if he's capable of a normal relationship with any woman, much less Clairy. I loved watching Quinn's journey as he looked at himself, the changes he needed to make, and the effect that Clairy had on how he saw himself. I loved the ending as he bared his heart to her, and Clairy had to decide if she could trust him and herself enough to have a lifetime together.
 
My only complaint about the book has nothing to do with the story itself. Yet again, Harlequin and its editors have shown themselves unable or unwilling to capitalize the word Marine in their books properly. When writing of a member of the United States Marine Corps, the word Marine is ALWAYS capitalized. Lower case "marine" refers to something related to water or the sea, such as marine mammals or marine life.
 
See:  P 151, The Associated Press Stylebook, 2004
 
Marines:  Capitalize when referring to U.S. forces:  the U.S. Marines, the Marines, the Marine Corps, Marine regulations.  Do not use the abbreviation USMC.
Capitalize Marine when referring to an individual in a Marine Corps unit:  He is a Marine.
Do not describe Marines as soldiers, which is generally associated with the Army.  Use troops if a generic term is needed.