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Book Review of Tall, Dark and Devastating: Harvard's Education / Hawken's Heart

Tall, Dark and Devastating: Harvard's Education / Hawken's Heart
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Not my favorite of the series. This is a re-issue of "Harvard's Education" and "Hawken's Heart" (It Came Upon a Midnight Clear).

"Harvard's Education" was the better of the two story. It was okay but there were a few things that are just personal pet peeves. Can't understand why media almost always try to pair up couples that are the same ethnicity. It's really rather racist and completely unnecessary. You also have to really suspend reality to like this story as well. For example Harvard and PJ gets it on while they are in the midst of danger, waiting to rescue Cat. I had a problem with the fact that the SEALs never were going to give this team a chance and were getting friendly with PJ so she can back them in the decision. And somehow, independent PJ was okay with that. Good things about the story was that Brockmann wrote with a little more humor with her phrases. She also didn't try to write Ebonics dialogue. She did throw in a few more "brothers" and "sisters" in there but it wasn't overbearing. PJ was very similar to Lucy in Blue's story but I liked her as well as Harvard. You get to see a bit of growth in Harvard's character. I loved that Harvard came from a good family. For a while there, I thought all SEALs had a sob story. Again, it was a decent story if you can put on hold any resemblance of reality.

"Hawken's Heart" was horrible, mostly due to the characters. The plot was okay but very holey and unbelievable. I liked Crash in the other series but here he was such a jerk that I couldn't get into him. I really couldn't have cared less what happened to him. Nell was so pathetic (as she repeatedly tells herself in the story). I have no idea what Nell saw in him. Nell reminded me of an abusive wife who kept going back to her husband. It was painful to read. I did appreciate getting to know Daisey and Jake since I read Jake's story already. It was great background on their relationship.

If you are into this series, I guess you should read it but it was a bit of a disappointment for me.