Guarding the Single Mother
by Leslie North
Kindle Edition, 147 pages
Published September 12th 2019 by Relay Publishing (first published September 9th 2019)
Goodreads synopsis:
Retired Navy SEAL, Clint Backwater, enjoys his solitary life as owner of the Ask Questions Later gun range. It’s the kind of place you find because you know a guy. So when Leila Ortiz, a petite woman with a “baby on board” sticker on the back of her car—and an 18-month-old boy in her arms—shows up at the range, panicked and desperate for a gun, he knows something is wrong. Having grown up in the foster system, Clint has seen what happens when you let yourself get too invested—things get messy, people leave. He made himself a promise to never get emotionally involved again, but the former SEAL in him feels the tug to help this woman and her child.
Leila’s ex-husband is being released from prison early on good behavior and she found out too late. He was supposed to serve five years, not two, and Leila is unprepared to protect herself and her son. She promised him they’d never run again—they’ve made a nice life for themselves and the last thing she wants to do is leave it all behind.
When Clint refuses to give Leila a gun without lessons, she agrees to return to the range to learn. At first, Leila won’t say why she’s so desperate for protection, but when the threats from her ex escalate, it becomes clear what she’s afraid of.
Clint is a loner. Always has been, always will be. So when Leila and her little son enter his life, it hits him—hard— maybe being alone isn’t what he needs. Still, having his solitary life disrupted when he invites the little family into his home is a bit tougher to take than he thought. With Leila and her son in danger, though, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe—even putting up with stray toys and changing a nappy or two.
But the biggest danger might be to his heart, when it starts to look like the safest thing for Leila and her baby might be to leave her problems—and her budding relationship with Clint—behind.
***
4.25 Stars
This is the first book in the SEAL Endgame series by Leslie North.
North has a great way of drawing us in and getting us invested in the characters and the situation. I was immediately drawn into the whole situation almost from the word go. Who doesn’t feel for a mother who is being put on the spot by a nasty ex? Especially a nasty ex who is also an ex-con and just fresh from his jail orange jumpsuit and let out into the world.
I am not sure this entire scenario would have unfolded like this in real life. You just don’t walk into a gun range to buy a gun from a stranger (no matter how nice and polite) and end up staying with the guy at his home. It is not something I would really encourage without a pretty good background check and a vast knowledge of his relationship history. I understand that the whole “she’s desperate” thing kinda throws off the whole dynamic but still… I am not sure I would have acted in the same way myself.
The kid in this book was probably the best behaved baby in all of book-dom. Barely ever misbehaved and seemed to like Clint from the get-go. This was all based on the conclusion that babies have good people radar and will act nice around those who are nice.
Despite my reservations about how they initially meet, this book has a lot of ups and downs that make you wonder if the two will ever get together. Even when he rushes to the airport and stops her from leaving, they don’t have the “I will love you forever” speech and “I will never let you go” was only spoken by Clint and it took longer than I thought necessary for Leila to accept the possibilities between them. I wanted to back hand her and shake her at that point. What in the world was she thinking? The little dim-wit. I doubt you will find a thirty-five-year old male who acts more like a dad than most dad’s I know.
Overall it was a great book. But despite my liking of their match-up, I felt the chemistry a bit lacking based on other North books I have read. I wanted a bit more sizzle and burn. But I guess I can’t always get what I want. But this might just be your speed. Check it out if you love romance.
I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.
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