GRR Reviews Healed by Love: Nate Braden by Melissa Foster

Healed by Love is a contemporary military romance that deals with a returning soldier and his guilt the possibility of loving his dead best friend's little sister. It has sufficient amount of guilt and angst without being overly melodramatic.

To recap, Nate always had a thing for his best friend Rick's little sister Jewel, but there's the age difference... He went into the military, and Rick joined him a few years later, but died due to a sniper attack. Now Nate is back in Peaceful Harbor, having retired from the military... and Jewel is all grown up. Now Jewel is determined to claim Nate for her own, and Nate is determined to resist because he hadn't told her one terrible secret...

When you add up survivor's guilt and more plus PTSD, shock, and "best friend's sister" all add up to an uncomfortable tension between the two, as they always wanted each other... but can love heal the wounds... or will guilt drive them apart? As this is a romance, HEA is guaranteed, but it was fun getting there. Nate wasn't brooding THAT much, and Jewel... well, she didn't turn into full seductress (unlike a lot of less-well-crafted romances). Just enough angst and inadequacy and shame to spice up the relationship.

Category: Contemporary / Military

Primary Plot: Returning soldier feeling guilty about death of his friend must face the friend's little sister who always had the hots for him

Tropes: best friend's sibling (little sister), PTSD, grief, no good for you, unrequired love

Overall Rating:  4/5