The Seal’s Secret Lover
Series: Alpha Ops #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novella
Author: Anne Calhoun
Release Date: February 2, 2016
The first in the Alpha Ops novella series that features an alpha Navy SEAL who meets his match in a buttoned-up firecracker who is hiding a passionate side.
Logistics director Rose Powell agreed to chaperone her grandmother on a guided tour of Roman ruins on one condition: her brother Jack would come with her. But when Jack backs out, his best friend and fellow SEAL Keenan Parker takes his place. Without a working cell phone, Rose’s orderly world drifts into dreamy days and hot, secret nights in Keenan’s bed. Keenan left the Navy but never made it any farther than Istanbul, much less to a viable future. Until he does, he’ll show Rose things she didn’t know about herself. Can he give his heart and his future to the woman he promised his best friend he’d never touch?
I’m beginning to see the truth has its price.
I was craving a romance that was different and preferably a little bit of a mind fuck and when I read the synopsis for Unhinge, I knew I found myself a winner. It was a book that I read in practically one sitting not only because it read quickly and the writing grabbed me, but because the mystery of what was going on was driving me almost as crazy as Victoria was. Unhinge was exactly the kind of different I wanted.
Victoria has no recollection of her life before Fairfax Hospital, where she believes she’s been for the past three years when it’s really been six months. She knows two things; she loves her baby daughter, Evelyn, that’s in the institution with her and that she’s told that her beloved husband, Wes, is dead after a tragic accident. The details of how, why, and when are blurred within the shadows of her own mind. Determined that the hospital doesn’t hold her answers, she stops taking her pills. But there’s another two things that she knows; She sees her supposedly dead husband every day when he visits her in her room and a mysterious stranger that visits her is tugging not only at her memories but her heart. Her mind is frayed, but she’s convinced her husband is alive. So then why is everyone telling her he’s dead?
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Silent Scars was my first book by this author and I can say with certainty it will not be my last. I do think I did myself a disservice by jumping into book 4 in this series without having read the previous books. Don’t get me wrong, this works well as a standalone and I was never confused, but it’s clear there’s a history with the secondary characters that I was missing. Ryan’s relationship with his brothers is something I would have loved to have read first before jumping into this book, but it is what it is. I definitely plan on going back and reading the rest of this series now.
Diane Alberts remains one of my go-to authors in category romance for constantly delivering on the swoony and panty-melting romance with deliciously stubborn heroes. Her Shillings Agency series has been a favorite of mine from the beginning. I’ve been itching to get my hands on Steven’s book since a little peek of him in 
A sexy, captivating and thrilling conclusion to a trilogy that captured me from the very start! If you haven’t met Hudson Chase, you haven’t lived. The man is intense, sinfully sexy, protective, with a touch of broody. While I’m not usually a reader of trilogies since my attention span seems to wane somewhere around book 2, I’ve been dying to get my hands on this book for one reason and one reason only: Hudson.
Always Dangerous was my first book by Dee J. Adams and it’s safe to say after finishing, that it certainly won’t be my last. I love a steamy romantic suspense, and Adrenaline Highs delivers on that end flawlessly. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, but Lana, this is book 6 in the series and you’re starting with this book. And to you, my OCD friend, I say, I like to live dangerously.
Right then.
Aurora Rose Reynolds books always have been and will continue to be my guilty pleasure. A little fluffy, a lot steamy and with a dose of insta love, I don’t know any other author that can pull all that off in one book and actually make me enjoy it. Something about this boys and their “booms”. I can’t even explain it. But I like it.
Now before you start reaching for rotten tomatoes and pitchforks, allow me to clarify my rating here. See, here’s the thing, I liked this book. It was wonderfully written and being my first book by this author I already know I’ll be reading all her others. I’m also completely hooked on this series and absolutely loved the set up as well as all the secondary characters. I also truly enjoyed both MCs here. At this point you’re probably sitting there and thinking, then why the hell are you marking this only 3.5 stars?
Well…bluntly put…it was just too sweet for my tastes. *ducks flying tomatoes*
Now I loved that this wasn’t a source of shame or secret for him. He owned it. It wasn’t a secret and he didn’t make it one, nor does he make it a given to spread it around campus either. The problem? I just don’t buy it. Ugh. I’m sorry! It’s that damn cynic in me, but a college junior, surrounded by football groupies, all his teammates are male sluts, but he’s a virgin because…reasons.
But this was also wonderfully…refreshing. This is my second time reading about a male virgin and I believe Jen Frederick pulled it off very well. Knox is just one of those characters that you can’t help but love. He goes after what he wants with a single-minded intent and feels no need for immature mind games that you’d find with most heroes in the NA genre.
What ultimately brought my rating down was 2 specific things.
In the book’s defense I am not, nor will I ever be a fan of insta-love, no matter how well it’s pulled off. And it IS pulled off wonderfully here. It’s just not my cuppa. I can’t help it. I gave it the old college try (pun intended) but could never really see past it. Perhaps because he was also a virgin on top of everything else? Whatever the case may be, I suppose I just wanted a little more interaction between them before this came into the mix. Like say, at least 12%?
It felt good to give in, to surrender. He rewarded her with more pleasure. Sex with him felt like embracing a thunderstorm, riding a wild bronc.
It’s been a hot second since I first met Jesse as Kimber’s famous pop star boyfriend in 
