Darby Raye is on her first vacation in years; she is so
ambitious that relaxing is a distraction she doesn't want
or need. As assistant to the US Attorney's office, she's
aiming for the National Security Division, but here she is,
in Hawaii for a week, and checking out the scenery,
specifically a handsome stranger: Dominic. Dominic -- Nic --
Savino is on mandatory leave from the Navy SEALs while
awaiting his trial for treason. He is not guilty, his team
has been framed, and maybe the luscious pixie who's been
looking at him might help him get his mind off his worries
for a while. So Darby and Nic end up "relaxing" quite a bit
until Darby learns who Nic is: a SEAL. Darby's mother has
taught her daughter to hate the SEALs on principle because
Darby's brother Danny died while attempting to join the
elite Team Poseidon. Nic's holiday is cut short when is
called back to home base, and he is shocked when he lays
eyes on the prosecutor: Darby!
Tawny Weber has written such an exciting suspense arc in her
Team
Poseidon series, that it pains me to say that I did
not enjoy CALL TO REDEMPTION as much as I would have loved
to, and the blame is mostly mine, I guess. I had been very
anxious to see how it would all turn out, and I had to wait
until nearly halfway through the book for the ongoing
intrigue to even get under way. There is a very long prelude
to seduction, and while it is lovely and flirtatious in
tone, it comprises the first third of the book with Nic and
Darby's backstories crammed in, which might have been
interspersed a bit throughout. I surmise the purpose was to
show that they were falling in love, which I, unfortunately,
didn't feel as I got too distracted by details on fashion,
décor, desserts and various whatnots while I was dying to
know who is trying to destroy Team Poseidon and why. I found
the structure of the book a bit problematic: CALL TO
REDEMPTION lingers on the build-up to the romance while the
ending is rather rushed, and there were also a few trifles
that bothered me: I couldn't fathom why Darby would choose
to confide her private life to her secretary, even if the
latter was exceedingly persistent in becoming her friend; it
didn't fit with Darby's personality. Neither did I
understand while both Nic and Darby were on board for a full
week fling before even "sampling the merchandise"; tiny
details, you might say, but they stuck with me for some
reason. Anyway, at some point, we eventually get to the
trial, and had I been Darby, I would have bowed out due to
the obvious conflict of interest, which she acknowledges,
but she is too consumed by ambition to consider the notion
for long.
Readers who have not read the previous installments of this
series need not worry, because all the information
pertaining to the suspense is painstakingly mentioned, along
with reminding us of Nic and Darby's tryst, which nearly
took me out of the story. Nic is a lovely fellow,
well-balanced and engaging, while I felt Darby lacked depth
as a character. I believe a reader who does not suffer from
my terminal tunnel vision with the suspense angle will enjoy
CALL TO REDEMPTION for its romance more than I did, but in
the end, I was rewarded with a great finale.
The Poseidon team are hard-bodied, fiercely competitive
Navy SEALs. But when a sensitive mission goes disastrously
wrong, three of the team's finest will have to trust their
hearts and instincts to uncover the truth…
No strings. No questions. Just pleasure. For a few blissful
days, Lieutenant Commander Nic Savino is enjoying a wild
fling with the sexiest stranger he's ever laid eyes—or any
other body part—on. It's almost enough to make the stalwart
SEAL let down his guard for once. Until he learns that
assistant US attorney Darby Raye—his Darby—is
heading an investigation designed to destroy him…and Poseidon.
The gorgeous eyes that Darby spent her nights gazing into
are now glaring at her across a courtroom. This case could
build her career, but if Nic's not a traitor, then he's
being framed by forces powerful enough to eliminate every
obstacle in their way. And the tentative trust she and Nic
are rebuilding—as well as their very lives—could become
collateral damage…