LynneC’s review of A SEAL’s Kiss by Tawny Weber
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Blaze 1 Apr 14
Aidan is a SEAL, and he’s known Sage all her life. They’re very good friends, but they’ve never taken the ultimate step. Sage is a flake, or so the text tells us. When we meet her first, she’s a bridesmaid and she’s all dreadlocks and body piercings. I got interested, because who has ever heard of a Harlequin heroine with body piercings and dreads? Sadly, the next time we meet here when she’s a bridesmaid again, she is all grunge, black hair, and dating a rock drummer who is more interested in himself than in Sage or a viable career.
It was good to have a heroine who definitely has a past life and isn’t ashamed of it.
When she comes home to the legendary Small Town that resides in so many Harlequin books, it’s to care for her father, who has pancreatic cancer. There’s this new, revolutionary treatment that may help him, but he needs to think positive. Sage is all about being positive. Sadly, she is now back to her natural, blonde hair and she wears it long. In short, apart from the New Age stuff she vaguely believes in, she’s the picture of a small-town princess. I wanted the dreads and piercings back.
Sage then tells her father she’s engaged to Aidan, because she wants to cheer him up. Like you do. Sorry, but a positive attitude, while helping, doesn’t mean an automatic recovery, nor does a new miracle cure work quite like it’s depicted in the novel. Trial patients have to keep close contact with the clinic doing the trial, and if it’s your local hospital, you’ve won the lottery. And pancreatic cancer is a deadly killer. It doesn’t hurt, until it’s too late, and it’s spread to other organs. So I find that part of the story problematic, to say the least. I really don’t like when something that affects families so deeply is treated so lightly. “Oh look, we’re engaged and the treatment is working!” doesn’t do it for me.
Aidan is brilliant. He’s Sage’s father’s special project. Her father is a professor, and Aidan has done enough classes to earn four degrees, but has fought shy of taking the last few. He’s happy as he is. Aidan never really came together for me, at least not as described, but on the page, when he is thinking and talking, he comes across as a likeable Navy SEAL with no real angsts. He gets on with life and when Sage tells him about the fake engagement, he grins, says, “Hell, yeah” and takes her to bed.
That’s my other beef with the story. There’s a lot of nearly-sex, which I find irritating rather than arousing, and then when they get down to it, it’s LURVE. She has a magic vagina and he has a magic penis. Oh yes, he’s hung, of course. Aidan is just a bit too perfect. His problem, which isn’t discussed until the last few pages, isn’t obvious and seems to pop up out of the blue. He’s happy doing what he’s doing, so where’s the problem? I see what Weber was trying to do, but for me it doesn’t really come off.
However, I do enjoy Sage and Aidan together. This is where Weber shines, getting the two together and letting them talk, argue, and make love. I enjoyed that part. However, the sexual tension is somewhat absent. The book is a leisurely read rather than an “I can’t wait to find out what happens next” story, and I did enjoy it, even if there are some eye-rolling parts.
Grade: C
Summary:
Subject: Navy SEAL Petty Officer Aiden Masters
Current Status: On leave
Obstacle: Deploy “Mission: (Fake) Engagement”…without actually falling for his fiancée!
The goal of Mission: Engagement is simple—a fake engagement concocted to bring happiness to Sage Taylor’s ailing father.
The Rules:
1) Treat it like a military mission
2) Keep the truth undercover
3) The “engagement” lasts as long as the professor’s health depends on it; and
4) No sex…especially with each other!
But the incredibly spirited (and a touch quirky) Sage has never been one for rules. Especially when they involve Aiden’s rock-hard navy bod and a ton of smokin’-hot sexual attraction. Which means in order to seduce this sexy SEAL, she’ll have to completely outmaneuver him….
Read an excerpt.
