Novel: I’ll Be Your Drill, Soldier
Author: Crystal Rose
Genres: Military, Romance
Released: 2009
Part of Book Series: Standalone
Summary: Ryan Gracin had a good life until he told his parents he was gay. Since they yanked their support for college he had to find a way to pay for it. Little did he know that joining the Army was going to change his life forever. Especially when he was introduced to a Drill Sergeant who was nicknamed ‘Big Daddy’.
Phillip Grabowski had joined the Army to follow in his father’s footsteps; by the time Ryan entered, he had already made a name for himself. He was a soldier’s soldier, but Ryan was making it really hard for him to remember that.
Post’s Author Opinion:
Note: This is a personal opinion, it does not reflect YaoiOtaku’s official position towards the novel.
The author’s name is Crystal Rose… I should have known better.
These days I suddenly felt like reading something military (still do), some serious stuff, maybe angst, tough guys, stuff like that, but this novel is so far away from that I am surprised I actually made it though all of it. There were okay parts too, but that doesn’t change the fact that I almost dropped it.
The novel started off pretty interesting. We get some military training, young boys learning what army is all about, it was good, decent start. We are introduced to the characters, they are likeable and none of them seem to have any flaws. They all are straight forward guys, funny, hot, very hot, as everyone and their mother stated countless times, super likeable, dedicated, later affected by the horrors of the war and—in case I didn’t mention it—so freaking hot. Like, hot hot.
The way one of the main characters is presented as being hot by most of the supporting characters was bordering really freaking close to sexual harassment. Ryan would just go in a room and instead of someone saying “hi, how are you” when introducing themselves, they would say “wow, you are so hot”. It’s so unrealistic and disturbing.
What also annoyed me was the mention of “girls”. Someone “moaned like a girl” or “sighed like a girl” or even freaking felt like “a virgin 16 year old girl on her prom night”. Look, if I wanted to read about sighing maids, under-age virgins and everything girl related, I wouldn’t be reading a military BL novel. I’ll give credit to the story for keeping me interested enough and making me laugh a few times, but I rolled my eyes way more often, so often that I thought I’d find another realm back there, one where authors don’t compare men to little girls. There were some instances of banter where I let the comparison slide, it fit, but when I’m reading a steamy sex scene between two guys, the last type of visual image I would ever want would be that of a girl a few years older than one of the character’s own daughter.
The characters were not completely terrible, like I said, they were just trying to make things right, they are all decent guys, there is some depth to them, albeit could be more, but they are not from this type of novel. I don’t know where they are from, they could be from something rose tinted, some suburban love story, but not this.
The last few chapters of the novel made me wish I would have dropped the novel the first time I thought about it. These two guys claim they can’t keep their hands off each other, and yet they go over two months barely touching because for some reason they want to take it slow after all that’s happened. I can’t figure how they both turned into virgins all of a sudden. There was a hint of something justifying it, I’ll say that, but it was poorly played to the point it didn’t make any sense. I can only describe the ending as a cheap soap opera, I don’t think I’ve ever read more crying and more uncontrolled emotions than from these military men for whom control means everything. I would have been happier if I would have re-read the Marshal Series, but mistakes have been made.
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