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Book CoverSandy M’s review of SEALed with a Ring by Mary Margret Daughtridge
Contemporary Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 2 Mar 10

I read and reviewed Ms. Daughtridge’s first book, SEALed with a Kiss,and was very pleasantly surprised. Besides the usual ups and downs of a relationship nowadays, she gives her characters an added hardship of some kind that makes their lives even more real for the reader.

In SwaK is was the hero’s son and their relationship, along with touching scenes between them, that burrowed into my heart. In SwaR the hero is wounded in action, comes home with injuries to overcome and scars to live with. Ms. Daughtridge has a splendid way of getting these characters inside your head as well as your heart.

Davy is the typical buff and handsome SEAL and he knows it. He also uses it when it comes to the ladies, but his personality keeps him out of jerk territory. He meets JJ at the wedding of a buddy, they spend a hot and heavy night together, but JJ gets away the next morning before Davy can even get her name. He returns to duty in Afghanistan, and while deflecting the enemy from his men is when he’s seriously injured.

In the meantime, JJ has to contend with her grandfather’s edict that she marry within the year or he’ll dissolve the family car business instead of bequeathing it to her. That’s the same problem that drove her into Davy’s arms the previous year. Her life has been that business, and finding that she can’t legally fight her grandfather’s wishes, JJ decides to go with the flow but still make it work to her advantage. She’s about to become engaged to one of the men the old coot picked out, but the closer it gets to ground zero for the proposal, the more doubts she has. It’s his attitude toward a homeless man and his dog that shows JJ what she’s in for. She opts out at the last minute.

Taking the advice of a friend, JJ decides to find a SEAL to marry. It’s the perfect solution. He’ll be gone most of the marriage and she’ll have free run of the business. Meeting up with Davy again is perfect timing and embarrassing. He doesn’t remember her or their night together, which doesn’t help the old ego, but he’s determined to go back to his duty, so they both win. They negotiate back and forth until an agreement is reached, JJ giving more than what she’d like, namely more of real marriage than she wants, and Davy’s brothers and sisters are taken care of as their late mother wanted.

After Davy’s injury he’s still the same man, but he’s not. He still knows how to come on to a woman and make her feel good, but he now has problems with numbers, thus affecting his job as a medical corpsman. He and JJ have their ups and downs because he hides this side of himself, hoping to remain in the military. I liked the fact that his facial scars didn’t slow him down, he didn’t become self-conscious about it. It’s his medical issues that make him such a terrific hero for me. You feel what he feels when he’s confused at times, but you also feel his need and want for JJ once their life together begins.

There’s plenty of secondary characters to keep everyone’s lives interesting, JJ’s grandfather, Jax and Picket from SwaK and other military friends, even the jilted fiance. This is another feel-good story from Ms. Daughtridge. Her crisp writing, engaging characters, and sense of humor stand out just as in her first book. So pick one of her stories up and get SEALed. You won’t regret it.

SandyMGrade:  A-

Summary:

She’s got it all…except the one thing she needs most

Smart, successful businesswoman JJ Caruthers has a year to land a husband or lose the empire she’s worked so hard to build. With time running out, romance is not an option, and a military husband who is always on the road begins to look like the perfect solution…

He’s a wounded hero with an agenda of his own

Even with the scars of battle, Navy SEAL medic Davy Graziano is gorgeous enough to land any woman he wants, and he’s never wanted to be tied down. Now Davy has ulterior motives for accepting JJ’s outrageous proposal of marriage, but he only has so long to figure out what JJ doesn’t want him to know…

Read an excerpt.

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