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)

SEALed With A Kiss by Mary Margret Daughtridge

The Back Blurb-


HE CAN HANDLE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, EXCEPT THIS...

Jax Graham is a member of an elite military team, but when it comes to taking care of his four-year-old son after his ex-wife dies, he's completely clueless.

ONE PERSON CAN HELP HIM, IF HE'LL LET HER...

Family therapist Pickett Sessoms knows just how to help a rough, tough Navy SEAL deal with a scared and lonely little boy, but not if he insists on going it alone.

When Jax and his young son Tyler get trapped by a hurrican, Pickett takes them in against her better judgement. Jax figures Picket's high maintenance, just like all the women he knows, and she figures he's not commitment material. But when an outing turns deadly, Pickett discovers what it means to be a SEAL, and Jax discovers that even a hero needs help sometimes...


I really, really liked this story. I saw a review for it over on the Book Binge blog and thought it sounded interesting. When I went to B&N to pick up the latest Karen Chance book, I snapped this one up.

This book was interesting. Ms. Daughtridge made each of the characters in this book come across as real people, which I enjoyed greatly. Jax is a tough, take-charge kind of guy who is completely overwhelmed by everything that life has thrown at him lately. He has a little boy he barely know and who barely knows him, his ex-mother-in-law is not what he expected and he just doesn't know which end is up.

Jax & Pickett meet up quite quickly and things just kind of progress from there. He's impressed by her ability to help his little boy communicate and she's impressed by his manly muscles. At first it comes across as superficial, but as they slowly get to know each other, mutual respect & understanding take the relationship to a whole other level.

What I liked about this book...Jax & Pickett. They come across as real people. Each of them have their good points and their bad points. They're not 1 dimensional & they can be down right mean to each other at certain points, but that's what real people are like.

Tyler-he comes across as a real 4 year old. He likes to play with his trucks and he's smart.

The location. It's the beach, it's hurricane season, and everyone is battening down the hatches. It's interesting.


What I didn't like-Pickett's entire family. Annoying & very much of a type. Nothing that separates them from the rest of the annoying families out there in romanceland.

Pickett's job. It came across almost like an afterthought.

The "deadly" outing. It seemed kind of tacked on. Wasn't anything like I expected and was a bit of a disappointment.


Overall, I really, really enjoyed the book. There are moments of sweetness that just make my heart go pitty-pat. The sex is hot without being HAWT and Jax has a patience & tenderness with Pickett that's really surprising.

As for Pickett's name, honestly, it didn't quite fit her mom especially. She comes across as a WASPy control freak & to have named her daughter Pickett? Uh-uh...that was weird.


My Rating: B-