CHOOSE ME (The Archer Brothers #2) by Heidi McLaughlin-a review

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Click HERE to read Sandy’s review of book one -STAY WITH ME

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 1, 2015

Two brothers.

One woman.

One son.

One choice.

Lives ripped apart, shattered and rebuilt.

Evan and Nate Archer: Brothers, best friends, warriors and now enemies. Both in love with the same woman. Both determined to fight for what they want.

Nate Archer promised to protect Ryley Clarke in the event Evan didn’t make it back. It’s a promise between brothers since the early days of basic training. Nate never considered that his feelings, long buried since high school, would resurface and grow stronger.

Evan Archer wants answers. He wants someone to pay. After being gone for an unprecedented amount of time, nothing is making sense now that he’s home. Most of all, he can’t understand how his brother ended up engaged to his fiancée. Evan is determined to uncover the mystery, and win back his family.

The Archers are about to fight dirty.

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REVIEW: CHOOSE ME is the second installment in Heidi McLaughlin’s adult, contemporary The Archer Brothers romance series. The focus of the storyline is on Navy SEALs and twins Nate and Evan Archer, and the woman they love Ryley Clarke.

Some background: Six years earlier, several months into a secret SEAL mission, Evan Archer’s SEAL team was presumably ambushed and killed. Fast forward to present day, where Evan and his team return home to shocked family members and lost loves. Evan’s brother Nate is now engaged to the woman Evan loves, and has been raising Evan’s child as his own. When Nate and Evan begin an investigation into the missing six years, they uncover some disturbing information and a twisted plot.

Told from alternating first person points of view (Nate and Evan) the storyline follows the growing animosity between Nate and Evan. Once beloved brothers, their emotions and pent up frustrations build as both men declare their love for Ryley Clarke. Ryley is caught between the love of two men, and her heart has a difficult time letting go. As Evan watches his only son call his brother ‘Daddy’, he considers walking away before destroying the family that he loves.

CHOOSE ME is a storyline of intrigue, secrets, illegal operations and murder. Evan and his Team have become the pawns in a war they knew nothing about-someone back home was pulling the strings and the government knew nothing about the continuing mission.

Evan’s SEAL Team is present as they continue to uncover to truth behind their original deployment. Families have been destroyed; lovers have gone missing; confusion reigns throughout. Tucker McCoy’s story is the next to be told-his wife and daughter have disappeared and Tucker is lost in a world of grief and hate.

Heidi McLaughlin pulls the reader into a heartbreaking storyline where two brothers have loved the same woman since they were young. Evan is the man who had stolen Ryley’s heart; Nate is the man who continues to put that heart back together. I am NOT a fan of love triangles, but in the case of Nate, Evan and Ryley, the angst and anxiety of the fated YA triangles is absent, and in this the reader is aware that the painful resolution will not be as painful as once thought. Yes, there are moments when the brothers play Ryley against one another but it is to be expected in the grand scheme of things—under the circumstances. I was almost hoping for all three to end up together.

CHOOSE ME is an emotional tale; a storyline of mystery, drama, staggering revelations, and passionate ideals. There is heartbreak and loss; friendships and family; saying good bye and letting go. Each brother will get their happily ever after although each reader will see something different in the conflict resolution and outcome-the wrap up was idealistic and perhaps improbable but comforting-none the less. Heidi McLaughlin invites you in for a roller coaster ride of emotional high and lows.

Reviewed by Sandy