Fatal Heat: A Navy SEAL Novella [Mass Market Paperback]

**Some spoilers**

Former SEAL Max Wright is still recovering from a devastating RPG attack. Spending a long time in a rehab facility to regain the use of his leg, he can now walk, but it is painful and slow. His commander has given him use of a beach house to relax, and further recuperate. Physically he is exhausted, but mentally he is still reeling from the fact he is no longer a SEAL and what that means for his future. Let's just say Max is not in a very good mood.

His next door neighbor happens to be the god daughter of his commander. Paige is a plant geneticist. She normally dates fellow scientists, but when she bakes cookies for her new neighbor and gets a glimpse at the big, surly, strong Max, she can barely control her lust. He intimidates her, until she realizes how gentle and caring he is towards her dog (also named Max).

Paige is working on an Argentina research project involving splicing a human growth hormone gene into corn, making corn crops grow at a very fast rate. But something is fishy. Her work partner Sylvia and project leader, who is in Argentina overseeing the project has not returned Pagie's phone calls for days. And soon Paige will find out why.

I love Lisa Marie Rice books and those written under her pen name, Elizabeth Jennings. She writes suspense books filled with over the top, crazy hijinks, and smoldering sexual tension. They are just really fun to read. And the first 30% of this book lives up to that. The sexual tension between Max and Paige is really well done.

So everything is great, and I'm soaking up the sexual goodness and bracing myself for the crazy suspense that I know is coming. And it does come, but with a big WTF. The WTF comes in the form of a dog - Pagie's dog also named Max. I'm just going to call him dog here so we don't get the two Max's confused. Paige loves dog. He is an 8-month old border collie mix breed. The dog is hyper and crazy and the love of Pagie's life.

Heading into spoiler territory:

Bad guys come in to kidnap Paige, and they shoot dog in the head. Dog is laying there unconscious in a pool of blood. Paige gets dragged away. Max comes home and dog wakes up and after weaving for a minute or two starts barking and runs out towards the beach! After Max has his friend hack into NSA satellites (which I believe much more than dog) they realize there is a secret island out there . So Max and dog start swimming:

Quote: The dog wanted Paige back as much as he did. He was wounded - he'd been shot in the head - and yet he was unwavering. He'd jumped into the inflatable without hesitation and had remained utterly still while, underwater, Max towed him. Dogs don't have good eyesight; the way they make sense of their world is through their noses.

For the dog, Max had suddenly disappeared, and the inflatable dinghy with the uncertain footing simply began moving. It must have been terrifying, but Max saw no sighs of fear in the dog, only determination./Quote

Really? The dog antics go on for more than just this.

The superhero dog kind of killed this story for me. I also want to mention that at least in the arc I received on my kindle, the story is done at 69%. The remaining 30% are just excerpts from other books. I wasn't ready for the story to be done so early!

Can't say that I loved it, but I did like it, which was a bit of a relief. I really went into this story hoping not to be let down because lately LMR has felt off to me. While certainly not in the league of my top LMR favorites, Fatal Heat is a definite improvement over Darkness at Dawn and probably, in its own way, just as good as Hotter than Wildfire, at least for me.

I can't say Fatal Heat is a great story, as it does have its problems: it's a short read that could have been, and maybe should have been, a little longer. Ending at 69%, it had to move along at a fairly quick pace, with the actual romance also having to be rushed along, but that is usually the norm with LMR, the h/H connection and attraction being almost instant and easily accepted. I would have loved more time seeing Max and Paige together. I really like those two as a couple, and there was more to be seen there.

There is no denying that LMR can write one fine military alpha, and what I loved most about the story was Max. I do think there was more to be explored with the hero's past. A lot of what I love about the wounded hero, emotionally and physically scarred, was left by the wayside due to the push to arrive at the action and due to the time constraint of a short story. Even with that detracting from the full emotional potential of Max's story, I did love Max as a hero. With more pages, Max could have been awesome.

Fatal Heat has all the hallmarks of an LMR story, whether you've come to hate them, expect them, or love them. Certain aspects of her style I do find enjoyable, even if at times predictable, but I do have to agree with other readers/reviewers that LMR needs to make some changes. She needs to tighten up the story, finding those places to be more concise. I still want her give me what I've come to love about her while at the same shaking things up some in ways that show and count. I very much want a five-star read again.

For the length of story, I did get elements of the LMR that I love - the strong and yummy alpha male protector, that gritty can't-wait-to-have-you sexual chemistry, the very feminine balanced by the very masculine, and a fairly solid story with, at the heart of it, a sweet and sexy romance. You might like this story more or less that I did, and while not a great or a wow story, for me it was a good read overall.

Okay, let me start by saying it may not be a 5 star book to everyone, but how people rate it a 2 or 3 star review is beyond my understanding. The only thing wrong with this book is it's length. Wish there had been more of it. Loved the dog. Loved the main characters. Loved the wounded hero with the willpower to overcome so much. Mrs. Rice always injects heat and tederness into her hero. Would'nt we all love a man who can love us that way? It's only $1.99 and i found it to be a really good read for a short story (novella). If your a fan of Lisa Marie rice as I am, trust her to deliver an entertaining read. Of course I can't wait for the next book in the Protectors series Nightfire, where we learn the truth about Harry Bolt's sister? Lisa is sooooo deep. Love all her books!!!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 26 reviews  3.7 out of 5 stars