Hot Seal Redemption by Lynn Raye Harris

Hot Seal Redemption by Lynn Raye Harris

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Blurb

Bailey Jones doesn’t know jack about babies, but she knows how much it sucks to have a deadbeat father. So when her sister drops off her newborn baby and then disappears, Bailey is ready and willing to confront anyone, including a six-foot-two, sexier-than-sin Navy SEAL sniper, and make him do his duty.

Alexei “Camel” Kamarov is not the sort of man to carelessly father a kid, but as the oldest of six, he does know a thing or two about babies. The firebrand on his doorstep might have mistakenly tagged him as the baby daddy, but Bailey is cute, and Alexei is more than willing to give her a hands-on class in Baby 101.

When a ruthless criminal comes looking for the missing sister–putting Bailey and the baby in danger–the situation escalates. Bringing them under his roof and enlisting his HOT teammates to help find Bailey’s sister are easy. But as Alexei and Bailey draw closer, passions erupt and feelings tangle.

That’s nothing compared to the danger lurking in the shadows–and the test that awaits them both. Bailey will need to give everything she’s got to redeem Alexei’s faith in love. And he’ll have to move heaven and earth to save her–before someone takes her away from him for good… 

Review

This is actually a 3 ½ drink review, but I don’t know how to put half an emoji down. Assume I drank that martini to cope with the presence of a baby and move on.

And actually, that’s kind of the whole of the issue I had here. Babies. I had one. She’s the light of my life, don’t get me wrong, but babies aren’t romantic or sexy in any way. They smell terrible, they interrupt everything, and their needs always come before your partner, your own, or anyone and everything else. This is because they are loud, and because there is no one else who can do anything for them. When babies try to do something for themselves it is an unmitigated disaster, witness one of my cousins pulling a pot of boiling water down onto himself as a baby.

So. Babies. Not romantic.

And that’s what drew me to this book, honestly. While the baby was presented as something that brought the two main characters together, it wasn’t ever presented as “romantic.”  I liked that. Bailey’s sister abandons the baby into her care, with no warning and no forwarding address. And the baby doesn’t wind up striking some kind of Major Baby Fever event, either, because that would just be gross. Bailey and Alexei are good people – weirdly good in Alexei’s case – and they’re trying to do the best they possibly can by this tiny little creature.

You may be pleased to learn the baby isn’t on the page very often. Concern for her is an issue. Planning for her is an issue. Bailey learning to care for her is an issue. But we aren’t looking at eighty thousand words of diapers and drool here.

I always find myself a little hesitant to read het stuff that involves babies, because I find myself terrified that the book will be used to reinforce every negative hetero-patriarchal norm I’ve ever hated. Hot Seal Redemption didn’t do that. Bailey is a strong woman who does what she needs to do, in spite of the frankly terrible hand she’s been dealt in life. If I had half the determination and focus she has, I’d be in the Senate by now.

Alexei is a little different. He’s got some weird hangups around love, but they make sense for him and let me tell you, as someone who also has multiples in her genes I completely understand why he’s so scrupulous.

There are moments when I found myself cringing, more because of expectations set by other authors than because of anything Harris did. Harris, on the contrary, surprised me with the way those scenes played out. There was one instance that stands out. Bailey is an exotic dancer, and Alexei experiences a moment of jealous fury as he considers the men watching her. But then he checks himself, aided by her after he admits his issue, and recognizes that he doesn’t get to judge or say a damn thing because Bailey is not property.

Isn’t that awesome?  I love it. Love it love it love it.

In fact, I generally liked Alexei. He followed the “strong, silent type” of hero model, but tempered by common sense and maturity. He went and talked things through to address his issues. He was also a genuinely kind man. Who else would open his home to a stranger and an infant – remember, loud and smelly – with absolutely no ties to him? 

So why three and a half stars?

The “suspense” side of the plot was a little over the top. I know, I’m not exactly in a position to throw stones here, and a lot of people love it. I don’t want to give anything away, but the actual perpetrators came off as a bit of a caricature and didn’t feel integrated with the rest of the story.

Also, and this is going to feel silly, but the title didn’t make a lot of sense. The “Hot Seal” is part of the overall series theme, and people looking for romance involving Navy SEALs generally want the servicemen in question to be hot. But “Redemption?”  Alexei hasn’t done anything – at least not on the page – for which he needs to be redeemed. On the contrary, he’s a damned saint. So is Bailey, really.

So I found myself staring at my e-reader going, “I was told there was a redemption here. Where is the redemption?”  But there was not.

There was however some rousing violence toward the end, a hero and heroine that will restore your faith in humanity, and some very funny Navy SEALs. With Abs.