Sergeant's Christmas Siege

Alaska Force Series, Book 3

By: Megan Crane

Narrated by: Rachel Dulude

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

When straight-arrow, by-the-rules Alaskan State Trooper Kate Holiday is sent to investigate a local band of secretive commandos in remote Grizzly Harbor over the holidays, her least favorite time of year, her objective is clear: disband Alaska Force and arrest them. But Kate didn't count on the diabolical temptation of Templeton Cross. The former Army Ranger exudes charm and has absolutely no respect for the rules of law that govern Kate's life - too bad he also makes her mouth water and her knees weak.

Templeton has always been good at keeping his game face on and his emotions hidden, especially in combat. But working with Kate brings back memories of losses he prefers to keep locked up tight. As the pressure mounts - and Christmas draws closer - it's a given that someone's going to get hurt.

Trouble is, the more time he spends convincing his careful, wary trooper that there's more to the holidays than her memories, the more he wants to keep her around. Forever. But forever is the one thing a man like Templeton can't do. Not even at Christmas.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Megan Crane (P)2019 Tantor

Great romance will warm up a winter night!

There is much to like about this romance novel. The narrator provides consistent voice characterization with excellent emotional nuance and personality for each character. She has a pleasant voice and captures the tone of the various scenes very well. The plot of the story builds in intensity with wonderful character development through introspection, shared insights, nuanced dialog, gradual revelation of meaningful backstory, and through the characters interacting with each other. I enjoyed the nonverbal details and psychoanalysis of characters' behaviors.

There are a couple of scenes which surprised me as they departed from traditional romance-novel alpha-males seducing the leading female--Kate is a feisty trooper who goes after what she wants when she makes up her mind to do so, and our Alpha male has standards. There are two detailed sex scenes and several kissing scenes. They are definitely for adult audiences only--so have earbuds handy if little ears are listening. However, I was disappointed there are only a few, very brief action-fight-scenes. I had hoped to see Templeton and Kate sparring or taking down bad guys more than twice. I am also disappointed that while the story is set during the Christmas holiday season, it's very secular. The bad guys seem to have more faith, albeit misguided, than the good guys.

Other problems with the story: There are scenes which made me scratch my head--Why did the 'bad guy' plant an explosion in the final location? Seems stupid. There are a few lines that don't make sense--What's the joke with Chuck Norris? Why would the 'bad guy' at the end get wrapped up and also 'probably held on'? The epilogue suggests that Templeton worked toward reconciliation with someone from his past. This relationship is glossed over, and the strings pulled to get him out of his situation are *really* glossed over. Regarding Templeton--he's described in juicy detail when he first appears, but rarely/never does the reader see details about him other than he is very large, has golden eyes, cheekbones, and a great smile. What happens to his hair? His brown skin color and his his Hawaiian god-like image? He becomes a silhouette. There are many more references to Kate's hair color, her rosy skin tones, full lips, brown eyes, physique, clothes, hair style, etc. Very one-sided.

I most appreciated the wonderful descriptions of Alaskan scenery and winter landscapes. I am glad the author included so much imagery. I am curious to read other books in the series as I like the author's grasp of human psychology and relationship development.