A SEAL's Seduction

A SEAL's Seduction
by Tawny Weber
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
I've been off my Harlequin Blaze kick for a while, so I wasn't too sure about this one. But at the time it was free, so I couldn't pass it up. Hot guy and a confident woman is a pretty potent combination.

Alexia is a very focused and driven person. She knows what she wants out of life and is not afraid to blaze her own trail. It took her a long time to get to this point and she shows a lot of strength of character to have accepted who she is. She's got issues with her parents trying to run her life, but she doesn't give in. Some of the time, she takes the avoidance tactic and feels guilty about not meeting everyone's expectations, but she's still her own person.

She also knows her own sexuality and isn't afraid of it. There was nothing duplicitous about her desires or her sexuality. She occasionally second guessed herself and often gave her motives a thorough investigation, but she was very honest and open about what she liked and what she wanted. Even her fears were well thought out and she was very truthful with herself about how she felt.

Blake is in the middle of his grief over losing his good friend. He can't figure out if he wants to be around anyone because he's just not sure how to deal with life now that his friend is gone. Blade was sweet and caring in a quiet sort of way. He didn't always have a lot of words, but he was able to handle his own emotions and Alexia's emotions in a straight up sort-of way. He was hot and caring – pretty much exactly what you'd ask out of a Blaze hero.

The story took place in two different time periods – separated by about eight months. Getting to know the characters' initial interaction was nice and then letting them stew and mull over their attraction was a good foundation for the remainder of the story. I was a little bothered by the “good-old-boys” sort of assumption that Blake definitely had some other sexual relationships in between these eight months.

I couldn't tell if I was supposed to feel like both characters pined for each other or not. On the one hand, they're still thinking about each other. On the other, life kept moving on either way. I felt like they had a certain amount of Insta-Lust to start out with, but they weren't really sure if they liked each other that much anyway so no harm, no foul if Blake's with other people in between.

The times Blake and Alexia were together were well written and sexy. Lots of heat, but not over-the-top. Seemingly two well-adjusted adults who were comfortable with their own sexuality.

While I really liked this book and read it within two days, I didn't feel completely drawn in to Blake and Alexia's emotional relationship. The bit of adventure was well written and all of it was fun and sexy, but they didn't have very strong emotional responses to their situations, excluding Alexia not wanting to date a military man. They weren't necessarily very open with each other, even though we get quite a bit of narrative openness. I was happy for them to end up together, but I didn't feel emotionally that they couldn't live without the other. Perhaps this is something I've forgotten about Blaze books in general – maybe they are more likely to be largely sexual and not very emotional significant.

I'm excited to read Cade's book next though. This author had a fun, sexy style and it'll be enjoyable to see her next pairing. The snippet we got at the end of this book looks promising.