Seal of Honor
(Hornet, #1)
By: Tonya Burrows
Publisher: Entangled Select
Published: May 28, 2013
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
It’s a good thing Gabe Bristow lives and breathes the Navy SEAL credo, “the only easy day was yesterday,” because today, his life is unrecognizable. When his prestigious career comes to a crashing halt, he’s left with a bum leg and few prospects for employment that don’t include a desk.
That is, until he’s offered the chance to command a private hostage rescue team and free a wealthy American businessman from Colombian paramilitary rebels. It seems like a good deal—until he meets his new team: a drunk Cajun linguist, a boy-genius CIA threat analyst, an FBI negotiator with mob ties, a cowboy medic, and an EOD expert as volatile as the bombs he defuses. Oh, and who could forget the sexy, frustratingly impulsive Audrey Van Amee? She’s determined to help rescue her brother—or drive Gabe crazy. Whichever comes first.
As the death toll rises, Gabe’s team of delinquents must figure out how to work together long enough to save the day. Or, at least, not get themselves killed. Because Gabe’s finally found something worth living for, and God help him if he can’t bring her brother back alive.
This romance is heavy with suspense. You have the rescue of Audrey’s brother that starts the whole ball rolling but you end up with the snowball effect. Because, pretty soon the guys are in over their head and you are left with one huge snowball full of chaos.
I liked that the guys had to learn to communicate and work together in order to complete their mission. You see, they were all thrown together based off of their skills, not their compatibility. So they pretty much all butt heads and have their little squabbles right from day one. Towards the end they start working together as a team and become a tight knit family. The whole transition to that point, I felt, was very important. You got the see the men grow together as one cohesive unit. One thing I wasn’t overly thrilled with were the stereotypes. For instance we have a southern cowboy (stetson and all), a bad ass leather wearing tough guy, the computer geek decked out in glasses and a drunk “ragin’ Cajun”… you get my point. I would have liked to have saw some originality, maybe have the Cajun wear a cowboy hat simply because he likes the style. Or a guy who just wears jeans and a t-shirt and is normal. But that’s just my personal opinion.
The suspense was probably my favorite of the whole story. Yes the romance was sweet but a lot of times in these types of stories, the threat is all but forgotten in the romance. However, we jump between Gabe and Audrey (who happen to get captured early on), the team at the safe house who are scrambling to find and save Audrey’s brother as well as figure out what happened to Gabe, Audrey’s brother, and the kidnappers. Even when things got a little hot and heavy with Gabe and Audrey, we were thrown back into the action with the other characters in the story.
“Control. Yeah, right. With her, it was nothing but a pretty illusion, and he was already lost. In her eyes. In her body. In her soul. He’s never had any control when it came to her.” -Gabe
Writing has always been my one true love. I wrote my first novel-length story in 8th grade and haven’t stopped since. I received a B.A. in creative writing from SUNY Oswego and I’m now working on a MFA in popular fiction at Seton Hill University.
When I’m not writing, I spend my time reading, painting (badly), exploring new places, and enjoying time with my family. Give me a good horror movie over a chick flick any day. (And, let’s be honest, I’ll take a bad horror movie too!) I’m a geek at heart and pledge my avid TV fandom to Supernatural and Doctor Who. I’m also a big fan of The Voice. What can I say? Guilty pleasure.
I share my life with two dogs and a ginormous cat. We live in a small town in PA, but I suffer from a bad case of wanderlust and usually end up moving someplace new every few years. Luckily, my animals are all excellent travel buddies.
Great post, I just recently started ready military style novels, I really like them. Great giveaway! It would totally awesome to have a character named after me lol
Thanks for stopping by, Emi!
🙂 and I agree, who can resist a man in uniform. I love it 🙂
Enjoyed the review! Will definately keep it in mind for when I get more book money!
Thanks for commenting!
Love military heroes! Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this gorgeous book!
Right? Who can resist a man in uniform?
Thanks for the review!
I love this book, and think it will be a great series I certainly hope to follow!
Thanks, Barbara! I’m so glad to hear you loved SEAL of Honor! Thanks for stopping by today!
is this INT giveaway ?
This sounds really good, I enjoyed your review! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love men in uniform. Especially love reading about Navy Seals. Can’t wait to read this.
Love this =) can´t wait for my chance to read!
Happy Sunday!
//Linda
That is one hot cover!
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing!!