Book Review: Brothers in Arms (Family by Choice #2) by Caroline Frechette

Title: Brothers in Arms

Author: Caroline Frechette

Genre: Supernatural

Rating: 4,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Am I losing my mind, or my power? Right now, I’m not sure which would be worse.

A little over a year after the events of Blood Relations, Alex Winters is doing well, with a relatively comfortable home life with his girlfriend and baby. Although his position as underboss for the Lupino group is starting to weigh on him, he truly thinks the most difficult times of his life are behind him. When he is approached by GenEx, and discovers that there are others with special abilities like him, he finds out just how wrong he is.

I reviewed the first book in the series, Blood Relations, a while back, and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reading the next installment, Brothers in Arms. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

When we meet Alex here, a little over a year has passed since the events in the last book. He’s doing rather well for himself, and seems to have banned out some of the darkness he carried along with him every step of the way through the first book. He lives with his girlfriend, Lori, and their baby in a nice home, he works as the underboss for the Lupino group, which unfortunately forces him to make choices he isn’t always fond of, but which is, all in all, a good job. However, his relationship with Lori is difficult at best. Just like him, she suffers from good days and bad days, due to what happened to her in the past. But all in all, Alex is happy, and hopes things will settle down.

Unfortunately, his dream is shattered when a man from the GenEx group approaches him. The GenEx group has discovered others with similar abilities to his own – his ability to make fire with his mind – and they want to unite these individuals. Alex has a bad feeling about it from the get-go. He doubts they just want to gather them around for a nice chat. But even he isn’t prepared for what’s to come next, and the risks he’ll have to take to protect himself, his friends and family.

Alex has gone through a lot, and his personality has developed in a good way since the first time the reader meets him. Even in this book, he goes through a lot of character development. He’s complex and intriguing, and instead of getting to know him better, I feel like he gets more and more complex the more I figure out about him. I liked Lori too – her dark personality matches Alex’s own, and she struggles. She’s deeply flawed, but she tries her best to overcome the obstacles of the past.

This book offers a more complex plot than the first one, which was a great bonus. If I had to find one flaw in the first book, it would be how simple and straightforward the plot was. Not so here, hence the slightly higher rating.

If you like dark fiction, supernatural, and a good dose of action, then try out this series. You will not be disappointed.