Hot Seal: Heartbreaker
by Cat Johnson
My review:
“Hot SEAL: Heartbreaker” by Cat Johnson is a light-hearted story about Alicia and Brian, 2 commitment adverse people who agree to ‘fake date’ as a way to get their respective friends and family off their backs about not being in relationships. Of course, we know where that ends up … Alicia’s friend even comments that she “saw a movie about that once.”
This book doesn’t contain much in the way of Navy SEAL Special OPS mission action, but that’s OK because there’s plenty of relationship action … or maybe I should say non-relationship action because the lead characters are fake dating. We don’t learn many specifics about the ex-boyfriend who broke Alicia’s heart enough to completely sour her about men and relationships, but it’s really very clear that the damage caused was significant. Brian’s nickname is Heartbreaker, but it’s made clear that he is really a good guy. In fact, he ends up doing a lot of the “heavy lifting” in making the relationship between the 2 of them something rewarding for them both.
I liked that we learn enough about the characters to define them as individuals, not just career stereotypes. The banter between the characters is sharp and witty, the humor in the book is both sweet and salty, physical chemistry between them is physical chemistry between them is scorching hot, and the secondary characters are valuable parts of the story. If you’re familiar with this series, you’ll enjoy cameo appearances by a few familiar SEALs. I loved the way Cat Johnson incorporated a very hot trend into the end of the book, but I won’t say more about that because I don’t want to give it away. Suffice to say that the ending is great fun and will leave you with a smile on your face, as well as satisfaction about how far Alicia and Brian have come.