Hot Seal Independence Day
by Elle James
My review:
“Independence Day” is a cleverly positioned book that melds the worlds of the ‘Hot Seals’ and the ‘Brotherhood Protectors.’ It’s done so smoothly that you needn’t have read any of the books in either series in order to enjoy this one. If you are familiar with those series’ you may recognize a few of the secondary characters in this story.
Jack has been in the Navy for 14 years. He was married right out of high school and his wife left him before he even finished SEAL training, so he doesn’t have a very high opinion of relationships being able to survive the stresses of military life and the physical separations brought about by deployments. He’s content with his life however, and after a couple of back-to-back overseas assignments, he’s ready for a couple of weeks of solo fishing. Anne is hiding out in the apartment building where Jack lives, renting the apartment across the hall from him under a false name while she hides from a vicious ex-boyfriend. When things go sideways for her, she flees her apartment and hides out in the one across the hall. It’s nonstop danger and action as Jack at first unknowingly helps her, and then becomes determined to help her. I don’t want to say much more about the plot, but I can assure you that Anne is a strong, fierce character and Jack shows himself to be a stellar human being, not just a very capable military man.
After all the great action I thought the conclusion came a little suddenly. I wish we could have seen a bit more time up the two of them together developing their relationship. Even so, I really did enjoy this book and I definitely recommend it as a good, quick read.