SEAL’s Honor

Crane (Edge of Ruin) opens the Alaska Force romantic suspense series with a high-octane but somewhat implausible story. When Blue Hendricks retires from the Navy SEALs and heads to remote Grizzly Harbor, Alaska, relaxation is the last thing on his to-do list. Instead, he’s determined to join up with Alaska Force, a tight-knit cadre of other retired military special forces operatives, and keep saving the world. Then his former neighbor Everly Campbell shows up, terrified: she witnessed her roommate’s murder, and she’s afraid she’s next. Somewhat reluctantly, Blue agrees to help her, and they head back to Chicago. Encounters with thugs and Molotov cocktails ensue, and soon Everly and Blue are running to stay alive. As an unlikely villain goes to dramatic extremes for unclear reasons, sexual tension ratchets up. Crane makes the age-old friends-to-lovers trope fresh and appealing, and readers will forgive the story’s flaws in the face of skilled characterization and vividly described action. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (Nov.)