Gosh, I’m a sucker for so many different tropes, but right there at the top of my favorite trope list is when the romantic interests have a history. Better still is when their past relationship didn’t end well. I guess you can say, I’m a sucker for second-chance romances.

In Into the Blue, Eric “Thor” Jansen, whom you first meet in Fly With Me, is shocked to find himself face to face with the one he let get away, Becca Madison. Their romance goes back to high school and ended in college when he chose flying over her. Yep, he broke their engagement with a too clichéd Dear Jane letter. When he sees her in a bar in Columbia, SC, ten long years have passed and he’s still mourning Joker’s death (a fellow fighter pilot and good friend).   

Shocked doesn’t come close to expressing how Becca feels when she sees Eric after an entire decade, and the emotional toil it takes on her is too much for her to handle, so she bolts. That may put him out of sight but he’s definitely not out of mind. Eric is that guy. The one who broke her heart. The guy who left her devastated when he broke off their engagement. And she’d be lying if it didn’t still hurt. Seeing him again unearths a whole host of unwanted feelings.

If you like your heroes a tad more on the beta side, Chanel Cleeton is an author you’ll absolutely love. Yes, they have an edge, but it’s tempered, the sharp points smoothed over so they’re not quite so sharp. Eric may have been in turmoil when he opted for a fighter pilot career over Becca, but he knows what he wants now, and he pretty much lays it all out there. He wants another chance with a woman who’s determined not to give him an inch. Okay, maybe a foot—or a yard.

Becca matches Eric in the emotional vulnerability part. I love that she tries hard not to fall in love with him all over again—if in fact she ever fell out of love with him. However, the attraction between is just too strong, especially now that he’s back home for three weeks and their hometown is small enough that it’s hard to avoid him. Plus, he won’t give up as he presses her for more.

As in Fly With Me, the secondary characters and subplots in this book are great. Becca is introduced to Eric’s whole fighter pilot family. My interest level ratcheted up a notch whenever Easy or Dani came on the scene. Honestly, my anticipation of their book, On Broken Wings, is off the charts. I love books where there’s fabulous camaraderie between a group of friends, and the Wild Aces series has this in spades.

What also attracts me to Ms. Cleeton’s books is that there are no easy answers. There are no fabulously wealthy protagonists whose money can make everything right—although I love those books too. :) For Eric and Becca, making their relationship work and endure will take a willingness to compromise and sacrifice, and lots and lots of love. And thank goodness, they are lucky to have all three.

~ Beverley