SEAL's Honor by Elle James

SEAL's Honor (Take No Prisoners Series): A Military Romance

Print Length -  197 pages
Publisher -  Elle James
Published -  February 9, 2014
Amazon -  Link
Genre -  Action & Adventure,  Men's Adventure, Military Romance
Series -  Take No Prisoners Series, Book 1 of  7
Sexual Content -  4/5
Language -  coarse

Synopsis

SEAL Reed Tucker doesn’t believe in commitment, until he tangles the sheets with one hot pilot, Delaney O’Connell. His phobia against commitment is challenged when his best friend asks Delaney to marry him first.

As a helicopter pilot for the 160th Night Stalkers, Delaney knows the risks of loving a SEAL. When her lover's friend loses an arm in battle, she can’t refuse his marriage proposal when he's already lost so much. In love with one man, pledged to marry another, she’s torn.

Tuck and Delaney must come to grips with the happiness they owe themselves and the happiness of their friend who has lost so much.

Review

I've never had any interest in military romance novels for the same reason I have no interest in the military.

Having grown up in a military-style home, there are few memories that lean toward the romantic.

The predictability involved is another reason, and here is that predictable list:

Contrived: check
Tattoos: check
Lots of F-bombs: check
Blood & Gore: check
Bad to the Bone mentality: check
Livin' Large: check
Motorcycles & Bars: check
Best Buds Forever: check

And they all appear in SEALs Honor, which came as no surprise.

Still, it is important to try everything at least once, and so I did with this novel.

The story itself had merit, so I am offering a blogged review.

It is well-written but with the expected edit issues here and there, yet the author knows her military jargon at most and certain aspects of combat at least.

Trouble was, the story tended to come alive more with the combat missions than with the romance.

And while I did picture both leads clearly in my head, I still had to wonder about Delany vacillating between proclaiming to be a tough-ass 'pilot' with zero inclination to love to a suddenly swooning 'woman' yearning for real love.

It surprised me how much I liked Tucker, the male lead, and despite some of the negative reviews found at Amazon, I happened to enjoy the way these two went at it in the heat of the moment and even between missions.

I read for the romance in general, and these scenes didn't detract from or spoil any of the other action in this story.

Believable and added spice to their defensive posturing.

I'm also in the habit of skimming my way through most sex scenes but especially the graphic episodes.

The names used were a bit contrived, and she put a bit too much emphasis on SEALs being the toughest, most bad-ass military personnel on the block.

The author is listed as a *Best-Seller, and yet this novella was filled with just as much tell as there was show, and you know what? It didn't bother me one bit.

The twist ending was nice, but it might have had a bit more impact if this had not been a novella.

Still on the fence about whether I'd want to read another military-style romance novel, but Ms. James offers a ton in this series if you are interested:

SEAL'S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

SEAL'S HONOR

SEAL'S DESIRE

SEAL'S EMBRACE

SEAL'S OBSESSION

SEAL'S PROPOSAL

SEAL'S SEDUCTION

SEAL'S DEFIANCE

Brotherhood Protector Series:

MONTANA SEAL

BRIDE PROTECTOR SEAL