This was my first book by this author and it will be my last unfortunately. This reader cannot give this book a favourable review as I thought this book was a waste of time, paper and effort not only on the part of the author, the agent and the publisher but also on the part of this reader.

It is the usual uninspired plot line of Hero returns home after years away and is reunited with an unrequited love who gets themselves into trouble and whom he has to save. With the typical ‘Happy Ever After’ ending.

The characters did not ring true. The SEAL could not have been further from SEAL material if the author made him an actual seal. To make matters worse we are constantly reminded that he is an ex-Seal. The female lead was a waste of space and played the poor put upon female to a ‘t’. When the characters are allowed inner dialogue this is constantly repetitive and boring beyond belief.

The good guys and the bad guys were obvious right from the get go and nothing was really left for the reader to ponder over. And without giving too much away, they got what they deserved.

The author pays attention to the action part of the book but neglects character and plot development together with character back stories. There was little to no sexual chemistry between the main parties and nothing to get the reader caring about what would happen to them.

This story has been done to death in many different styles, forms and set in many different scenarios and eras. Please authors come up with something more original, interesting and thought provoking for your readers. They will thank you for it.

In short this reader found this novel to be an absolute waste of time paper and effort.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review. ( )

In Morgan’s romantic suspense novel, Navy SEAL John Sloane returns to his Texas home to save the family ranch and reconnect with his estranged father and twin. To his surprise, he reconnects with his old high school sweetheart, Alicia Adams, who is now widowed and the mother of a four-year-old daughter. When the child is kidnapped and Alicia is accused of the crime, John pulls out all the stops. Placing his career and heart on the line, John takes the lead to save a little girl while proving himself worthy to the love of his life.

A fast-paced chilling story of a Navy SEAL who returns home to right a wrong of the past and save the life of a small child—a great addition to the Texas Family Reckoning series. ( )

Good story. John had come home after receiving a message that his father had had a bad stroke. He has taken leave in order to help out on the ranch and try to reconnect with his twin brother. He and Brian hadn't seen each other or spoken in twelve years, after a misunderstanding over a girl and both being blamed for a deadly fire. Brian took the blame and sent John off to join the Navy. Now he's back and seeing Alicia again is bringing back memories of how it used to be.

I felt some sympathy for John as he didn't know what to expect when he got home. His father is worse than he expected, the ranch is in bad shape, and his brother tries to beat him up. John is glad he's there when Alicia's daughter is kidnapped. He swears to her that he will find Lauren and bring her home. He's had quite a bit of experience doing rescue missions overseas, so he expects that he won't have too much trouble. He doesn't expect Alicia to be as much of a distraction as she is, and overconfidence causes him to make some basic mistakes. Those things together with some general feelings of discontent have him rethinking his future.

I had mixed feelings about Alicia. She was a fantastic mother, and had had a really bad time of things since her husband's death. Her in-laws are a real piece of work, and thanks to them she's barely making ends meet. She is terrified when her daughter is kidnapped, and goes to the only person she can think of who might be able to help. She's still mad at John for leaving without saying goodbye, but she also discovers that some of those old feelings are still there. She tries to resist them as they make her feel disloyal to her late husband. I got frustrated with her during the whole kidnapping event. In spite of everything that John told her, she spent an awful lot of time believing that if she could just get Lauren back everything would be fine. She couldn't get it through her head that everyone thought she had staged the kidnapping herself and getting Lauren into her hands would just make her look guiltier. Sometimes she would be strong and willing to do whatever John told her to do then she would turn around and turn into a horrible whiner. She did redeem herself at the end by being the one who kept her head.

There were some very interesting twists and turns with the whole kidnapping plot. We knew early on who was behind it, but some of the details only came to light bit by bit. I liked seeing John call on his friend Dev for help, and liked seeing him deal with the fact that he got more help than he originally wanted. Dev provided a calm voice of reason when things would get a little heated.

The secondary story of the estrangement between John and Brian was very good. As twins they should have always had each others' backs, but there had also been some problems over John's feelings for Alicia. The night of the fire, both John and Brian thought the other was guilty and they had never talked about it letting their feelings fester over the years. I loved seeing the way that they finally confronted those feelings and actually talked, thanks to Alicia treating them like the children they were behaving like. Once they actually talked, there ended up being more questions than answers, creating an excellent lead-in to Brian's book. ( )