SEALed With A Promise by Mary Margret Daughtridge

Bookish Emmie Caddington fades into the woodwork most of the time. Few men notice her, fewer want her. But Navy SEAL Caleb Dulaude, aka "Do-Lord," is trained to see what others miss--in this case: fey beauty, a killer bod, and quirky charm. He knows she isn't immune to the immediate attraction between them and seducing Emmie can be his ticket into Senator Teague Calhoun's upper-class world.

Caleb was just a trailer-trash kid when he promised to make Calhoun pay for his mother's death someday. Now he's a SEAL, battle hardened, subtle and crafty. He hides his genius IQ behind country-boy charm--and someday is finally here. All he has to do is convince the world (and Emmie) that they are a couple, and he can be a part of the high society Calhoun reigns over. However, Emmie's no fool and knows Caleb has ulterior motives to starting a relationship with her. Emmie has promised herself she'll never again drift into a one-sided relationship. With a makeover to boost her confidence, she insists on commitment.

Hot passion and the increasingly bright hope of a real future together make it easy for Caleb to promise Emmie anything she wants. And as he's drawn deeper into the loving and complicated relationships of a large extended family, it's hard to remember his desire to make Calhoun accountable...But when fate hands Caleb a chance to administer perfect eye-for-an-eye justice, will either be prepared for the cost of keeping their promises?

Hmm...Waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back last year, I read SEALed with a Kiss and really liked it. I thought the characters were interesting and the story was pretty decent. I had some quibbles that unfortunately showed up in this book too, but I'll get to that in a second.

Here's the thing...I actually really liked this book up until a certain moment in time when Emmie does something to Caleb that is just so, well, cruel, that I ended up throwing the book across the room. From that moment on, the author completely lost me. I lost any respect I'd gotten for Emmie and thought Caleb was an idiot for letting her walk all over him. *ahem*

I apologize, I'm ranting. *sigh* I was so bothered by what happened that I kind of Twittered about it. I was disgusted and annoyed that I'd spent all my time rooting for this couple to stay together and then this happened. *headdesk*

I can't stand it. On to the Good & Bad List!


The Good:


For the most part, Caleb. I thought he was an intriguing character and was quite funny (the scene where we find out how he came about his nickname is very funny). I thought the way he handled his unexpected attraction to Emmie was cool. It was different than the standard "I'm attracted, I'll have sex with her and then I'll get away" thing. He made the decision to dig deeper into her and see where things would take them

Emmie: Up until the moment I mentioned above, I was really rooting for her. I thought she was great and though I had some issues with her prickly nature, I could understand it.

Pickett: She's only in the book a few times, but I like her still. And the same with Jax. :)

The Sex: Whoo-boy. The first time? Let's just put it this way...I will never look at mirrors the same way. :D


The Bad:

Obviously there were things that bugged me. I won't go into detail as to what Emmie says or does (unless you email me and ask...), but it was something that was just so unneccessary and contrived that it annoyed me to the point where I just didn't care what happened to them. I finished the book, but I didn't care.

Why Caleb hates Calhoun: Unless you're a complete dunce, you figure out why Caleb has it in for Calhoun quite quickly in the book. I could understand it if Caleb were still a kid, but he's a grown man and this odd obsession just rang false to me. And what he does to prove his point? I lost a ton of respect for his character. *shakes head*


Those are only two bad, but they were enough to take this book from a high grade to a low one. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in a book's ruined potential.


My Rating: D (and an almost DNF)