GRR Reviews Crushed (Sons of San Clemente Book 1) by Katherine Garbera

Crushed failed to properly leverage the ex-SEAL background of the MMC and instead made him a generic tough only good for punching people without any SEAL combatives. As a result, it's just generic street thug warfare (complete with pipebombs and punches) with a little romance.

To recap, Heath "Con" Connelly retired from navy SEALs and is now just surfing in San Clemente passing the time, hanging out with his "brothers". He grew up on the streets and he had always had a thing for Mia Santos... until one day he ran into her and found her beaten and bruised, but she refused his help. Mia Santos is the daughter of a drug lord and her cousins want her pop's territory and is willing to start a turf war over it. They already beat her brother into a coma which he barely survived. Now they're coming after her too, and she knew she must take care of things herself. But when the turf war escalated and Preach's Place was attacked, Con and Mia must join forces, for Con will not let Mia face the challenges alone...

As I mentioned before, for a SEAL, this guy just wade in punching, rather than going for disabling moves. He fights like a street thug, not a SEAL. Which made this another "SEAL fetish" novel. At least the romance and the intrigue about turf war tolerable.

Category: Romantic suspense

Primary Plot: Ex-SEAL must keep the drug lord's daughter (and his friend) safe from encroaching gangs

Tropes: SEAL, mafia, childhood sweetheart, protector, woman in peril

Overall Rating:  2/5