GRR Review Her Loyal SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 2) by Caitlyn O'Leary

Her Loyal SEAL illustrates how romance authors are just fetishizing the SEALs by portraying them as generic badasses rather than using them realistically. While the story started fine, the remaining of the book puts the SEALs in violation of so many laws and violated the "show, don't tell" basic narrative law so many times that by the time the book ended, the romance is barely recognizable, plus the extra bits to introduce the additional characters for the subsequent novels left the plot points dangling just a bit too much, resulting in a BAD book.

WARNING: The rest of this reviews contains MANY spoilers.

The book started with a bang... SEALs are attacking a compound in the Mexican jungle where the Hidalgo family (mama, papa, and two daughters) are kept, soon to be murdered as an example of what happens to traitors to the cartel. Lydia, the older daughter, was severely beaten. And there was the first problem... They had to walk several DAYS to reach their extraction point, really? And they had brought enough food to feed the family as well? Mexico is not *that* big!

From here on, reality slipped further and further away. Despite efforts by US Marshalls to admit Lydia under assumed name to the hospital to treat her injury, Clint Archer, the SEAL that carried her out, literally on his back, was able to locate her and the Marshalls actually admitted him to see her! This was handwaved away as "I'm a hacker".

Then the family was split up, with mama and papa in one location, little sister Beth in another, and Lydia protected by Clint (why split them?) Then a phone call compromised two locations and Lydia had to call in help from her "hacker friends" which introduced yet another girl, "Riley Jones" to be main character in a later novel. Riley dropped off some info and disappeared a few pages later. Beth gets her novel later as well.

Also, while Clint may be on leave, one call and SEALs ended up taking over protection duty FROM the Marshalls (who has traitors in their midst). This violates the navy regulations so hard (it has the same effect as the posse comitatus act that prohibits Federal Troops from being used in the US homeland with limited exceptions) this can only be described as "utter fantasy".

Later the SEAL team was called off to conduct the assault on the Cartel Kingpin's compound (isn't that MEXICAN military's job?), and somehow the team members in the US can track them as if watching Call of Duty replays without going through headquarters or seeking permission.

The entire book is full of far-fetched unrealistic portrayal of various items, situations, and people that cannot POSSIBLY be true, but merely made everything "convenient" for the plot to continue. While literary license is sometimes called for, this is beyond the pale. Add to which situations merely described rather than shown (violating the "show, not tell" edict, over and over again), this book is, I hate to say this, deserve to be sunk in the Marianas trench.

Again, I emphasize: SEALs are NOT generic heroes. They are NOT bodyguards, babysitters, police, or search and rescue, They are elite navy commandos you send in when you want recon or destruction. Sending them to guard witnesses, rescue hostages, babysit pretty girls, or conduct police raids  are not only wasting their training, they can be downright ILLEGAL!

Category: Romantic suspense

Primary Plot:  SEAL falls for the girl he rescued from the jungle of Mexico, need to protect her

Tropes: SEAL, search and rescue, protector , woman in peril

Overall Rating:  1/5 (I'd put in 0 if I could)