Guest Review: SEAL of Honor – Tonya Burrows

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.

Series:  HORNET #1
Release Date:  May 28, 2103
Publisher:  Entangled Publishing
Source:  Provided by Publisher
Buy the book at:

Reviewer’s Thoughts

A ragtag group of mercenaries comes together to form a private hostage rescue group (HORNET) in Tonya Burrow’s Seal of Honor. After severely hurting his leg in an accident Gabe Bristow, a former Navy Seal, has little options left so he agrees to lead the group to rescue Bryson Van Amee from Columbian paramilitary rebels. A linguist, a computer expert, a former FBI negotiator, a medic, and a demolition specialist come together as his team, each with their own problems and issues that threaten to unravel the trial by fire mission before it even begins. Add to this is the hostage’s sister, artist Audrey Van Amee, and Gabe has a mission that seems impossible before it even begins.

The Columbian setting is the perfect place for intrigue, action, and sultry romance, and there is plenty of all three in Seal of Honor. The book was a real page turner, with the action going until the end, one situation or problem arising after another, which kept the reader constantly guessing. It is nice to see how Gabe tries to work through the problems and emotions due to his abrupt departure from the SEALS, which makes one anxious to read the backstory of the other men in his group. One of the things I liked was that it was told from the perspective of different characters, so the reader was able to jump from one part of the action to another. All in all, Seal of Honor was a solid beginning to Tonya Burrow’s new series about the fledgling rescue group, HORNET.