Steel My Heart (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) Heroes in Hardhats Book 3
Military Romance/Suspense
Independently Published
September 14, 2021
336
Bantom Freed’s flesh has healed. His prosthetics finally feel like second nature. Yet he can’t shake loose the ghosts that haunt him. No amount of therapy can convince him he couldn’t have saved his SEAL teammate that horrible night, and he owns that failure every waking and sleeping minute. He’s certain guilt will stalk him forever…until he meets Steel.
Steel Grisher has a past that still leaves her gasping in terror at random moments, but she’s risen above those fears to become tops in the motorcycle restoration field. She has a father who loves her, and an aunt she didn’t know existed until recently. What more could a woman ask for? How about a handsome, hurting SEAL whose life is also tormented by specters? Can she convince Bantom they’re better off fighting those demons together? The answer will have to wait until they solve the mystery of Aunt Astrid’s shady guests.
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Once again, I am back for another visit to Safety Tulaine’s property where the most amazing wounded veterans await the time that their house will be built and this time it is the class clown, Bantom Freed whose home is going up. Bantom hides his painful past and dealing with the loss of both his legs and the need for his prosthetic ones by joking and playing pranks on his buddies but how long can he keep up the act.
Bantom can’t get over his last mission in Afghanistan, the mission that cost the life of his friend Vine. Bantom still blames himself for her death and it is something even his psychologist parents couldn’t help with, it was Tex once again coming to the rescue by sending him to Safety where being around others like himself got him to finally put suicide in the rearview mirror.
Everything changed for him when he was driving home and saw a beautiful blond riding a Harley. Determined to follow the Harley and the blond, he followed her to a rest stop where she approached him and allowed him to inspect her bike. Bantom wanted to see her again and handed her a piece of paper with names of his colleagues who she could call for references and hoped she followed through.
Steel Grisher is heading in Bantom’s direction in search of someone she hopes is a relative. Steel was adopted and through a DNA search she found Astrid Bengtson unsure of their relationship to each other but searching for information about her heritage she courageously knocks on the stranger’s door. She never expected to be greeted by a woman who looked so much like her and who embraced her and revealed she was Steel’s aunt. What she discovered was that her birth and subsequent adoption was tragic and something I will not discuss in this review.
Now that Steel has found her aunt and has agreed to spend the summer, she decides to call Bantom’s references because like him she found herself drawn to the strange man. Steel called one person at a time on Bantom’s list and each morning he waited to find out who she called and when she would finally make a call to him. Steel has painful memories of a time when she was fifteen and kidnapped and like Bantom she hides her pain. When they finally get together will they be able to put their pasts where they belong, in the past.
Bantom reveals his missing legs and is sure that Steel will go running for the hills but she is totally fascinated, she rebuilds bikes so his mechanical legs are a work of art in her eyes and his stumps, well she could care less. Now the two of them with secret pasts find a strong bond with each other but trouble is brewing. Astrid has rented out bungalows on her property to men that are definitely up to no good and all the veterans are determined to protect her and her niece and find out what is going on. What is going on was quite a surprise and you will have to read this book to find out what it was.
What can I say, I love this book, I love this series, I love the characters, and I would love more heroes in hardhats. If you haven’t started this series then you are missing out on some great reading so just go get book one and you will thank me.