Covert Seduction, Callie Croix

A predictable story about a Navy SEAL, a so-called strong woman and corporate theft.  

- Review by Cindi

Navy SEAL Reid Galvin has spent the past six weeks in hell.  He watched his brethren die in a crash in Afghanistan and was left (with others) to pick up the pieces.  When deployed, he left Becca Anderson behind.  Reid and Becca had a pretty intense relationship... mainly based on sex.  Becca was convinced there was more to the relationship but when six weeks went by with no contact from Reid she felt that she was wrong in her assumption and made strives to move on.  The only problem?  Reid was very much involved in the relationship but for reasons he could not discuss, he pulled away from Becca and there was zero contact.  Reid comes back to the states and immediately calls Becca in hopes of meeting up with her that evening.  Becca had already consented to go to a charity function with a coworker (David) so she had to tell Reid not to show up.

Becca is a computer programmer and had been asked by David to crack the code of a mystery program that he found on the company's computer.  What Becca does not know is that that particular program holds information that could cause deadly circumstances for both Becca and David.  On the way home from the charity function with David, the car is run off the road and into a canal.  Reid, having decided to show up at Becca's anyway, just happens to come across the accident scene within seconds of the crash.  Being a hero (and with no knowledge of who is in the car), he dives into the canal and saves both David and Becca.  David ends up at a hospital and Becca ends up at her house with Reid.  

There is a break-in, a murder and other miscellaneous stuff thrown in to add a little bit of drama to the story.  Then there's the sex.  Quite a bit of sex.  I admit to skimming... often.  There were not two or three pages of sex each time.  There were twenty or more... per scene.  And each time was after something dramatic had happened so for me, it took away from the story.

Becca has a problem with Reid being a Navy SEAL.  Oh she's proud as hell but she still has a problem with it.  Not just the danger involved but the fact that he is out of pocket (so to speak) for weeks at a time.  Granted, while he was away the last time he could have contacted her.  He had access to a cell phone and a laptop with internet.  He chose not to.  But that is not the only issue that she has with his profession.... the same profession that he had when they met.

Overall, I have to say this book was simply okay.  I felt like I was reading the same thing I've read in hundreds of other books... there's the alpha-type male, the so-called strong woman who turns to mush when the man is around, the little bit of mystery and danger thrown in to make it a bit interesting, the lackluster sex between the two main characters and the evil bad guy that was figured out almost immediately into the book.  Pick up almost any book about a male and female and you have this one.  Maybe I'm jaded.  I've read hundreds and hundreds of books in my day.  When I pick up a new one I am always hoping for something new... something original.  I am sorry to say that I did not find that in this book.

This book was provided by Net Galley and Carina Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.