Review: A SEAL at Heart – Anne Elizabeth

He Lost Just About Everything On That Mission….

Being a Navy SEAL means everything to John “Red Jack” Roaker, but a mission gone wrong has left his buddy dead, his memory spotty, and his world turned upside down. His career as a SEAL is threatened unless Dr. Laurie Smith’s unconventional methods of therapy can help him.

Maybe She Can Show Him How to Get it Back…

Laurie’s father was a SEAL—and she knows exactly what the personal cost can be. She can’t resist trying everything to help this man, and not only because she finds him as sexy as he is honorable.

As the layers of Jack’s resistance peel away, he and Laurie unearth secrets that go to the highest levels of the military— and the deepest depths of their hearts…

Series:
Release Date:  December 4, 2012
Publisher:  Sourcebooks
Source:  Provided by Publisher
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

I always enjoy a good military romance, but this was one that gives readers a completely different point of view…that of a soldier recovering.

Jack Roaker finds himself back in San Diego trying to recover from a SEAL mission gone wrong.  He’s lost his memory of the mission and his best friend.  Desperate to figure out what happened, Jack’s willing to do what he has to to regain his memory, even if that means letting Laurie Smith, the woman he can’t get out of his mind, use her massage therapy on him.

What really drew me to this story was Jack.  Here’s an active military man, who was severely injured during a mission, trying to cope with what happened and his memory loss.  He doesn’t want to talk to a shrink, he doesn’t want to sit in group therapy, he just wants his mind to be fixed and remember.  Jack really doesn’t want to get into the gray area of his healing, because it will force him to look at other aspects of his life that make him who he is.  Your heart breaks for Jack because (from the outside looking in) you can see the man just wants to be loved and keep the small family that he had intact.  But  everything changes for Jack when he meets Laurie.

Laurie has lived around SEALs for her entire life.  He dad was one and her adoptive family is a retired SEAL.  She knows how SEALs are and she’s vowed to stay away from them.  But there is something about Jack that appeals to her.  Despite her protests to herself, she finds herself believing in Jack and wanting to help him regain what he’s lost and be able to go back to doing what he loves…despite what that might cost her.

Jack and Laurie were characters that I loved together, but also really liked them apart.  They knew who they were and could stand by their decision.  If they were wrong, they had no problem fessing up to that.  They both had an inner strength and courage that only seemed to deepen when they were together.  If Jack had never regained his memory, this still would have been a fabulous story…because of these two characters.

A pleasure to read and certainly not my last Anne Elizabeth.