A couple of nights ago, I had an unfortunate encounter with an espresso. The espresso was delicious; its consumption, way too close to bed-time. Oh, happy sleepless night, however, I had a great encounter with a romance novel. A heck of a book hangover the next day, but delicious in being able to read Susan Cliff’s Navy SEAL Rescue in its entirety. I cut my romance-reading teeth on romantic suspense and this year I’ve had the privilege of reading two great practitioners: Anne Calhoun and now, Cliff. Like Calhoun, the suspense was tense and interesting; the background didn’t pander to chest-thumping American patriotism; the main characters shared a hot, tender relationship; as individuals, they were neither idealized, not caricatured. Hero and heroine managed to be flawed and yet sympathetic. Cliff’s novel opens when the heroine, Layah Anwar Al-Farah, rescues Da-esh (Islamic Front) captured SEAL, Petty Officer William Hudson. While saving the American SEAL from beatings, starvation, and eventual death is an act of mercy, Layah, in fact, has other plans for him. She will ensure that he heal and regain strength in order to help her and a group of refugees cross the Zagros Mountains into American-allied Turkey, and eventually, at least for Layah and her orphaned nephew, Ashur, into Armenia and her parents’ safe arms. Well, the best laid plans of mice, men, and beautiful Assyrian doctors often go astray …

I loved Cliff’s Navy SEAL Rescue for three reasons, all of which make her romantic suspense stand out from the he-man HOOHA patriot-heroes and TSTL heroines that the subgenre is peppered with: the protagonists possessed interesting personalities; Cliff did some research on the complex politics of the region that don’t always show American involvement in a good light; and William, Layah, and the refugees’ journey kept me on the edge of my bed (because sleep was ne’er to be had, not till the last page was Kindle-tapped).

William and Layah were the heart of the novel and kept my sympathy and attention. I appreciated that William’s soldiering was borne of his risk-loving, daredevil youthful ways. As William says about his younger self: “He’d wanted to chase tornadoes and climb mountains and touch the sky.” And he ensured that grey hair sprouted from his mother’s scalp daily. Joining the military, honing body and regulating his impulses not only rendered him an elite soldier, it matured and tempered him – until one reckless mistake saw him captured. While William doesn’t agonize over this, he does consider, regret, and hope to learn from his actions. He’s not driven by nationalism, but loyalty, as he says, to “his country and his team.” In a way, Layah is as well. As a doctor in Damascus, she saw enough of what war can do. As a woman who loved her rebel-soldier husband, she’s known grief and loss. As a minority Assyrian Christian, she wants nothing but a place of peace and security for her war-orphaned nephew and herself. William’s SEAL training and mountain-climbing skills are going to ensure that she reaches that place. What neither count on, in their mutually-convenient bargain, is the inconvenience of falling in love.

Through Layah and William’s wary initial encounters, Cliff builds a romance that doesn’t assume that the reader can’t understand the complex political situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, disputed Kurdistan, politically wily Turkey, and minorities caught in geopolitics, such as Layah’s people or the Yazidis they travel with. Here is one particular William-Layah exchange I valued:

“This country,” he muttered.

“What about it?”

“It’s a goddamned mess, that’s what.”

“Yes, it is. We live in rubble left by the US intervention.”

He made a sound of skepticism. “Your wars go back centuries, before the US was even founded.”

“Before your ancestors stole land from the natives, you mean?”

That’s a burn, Billy-boy!

In the course of their pulse-pounding journey (with a knuckle-biting stop in Iran), Layah and William gain respect, liking, and mutual understanding for each other. They evolve from seeing each other as means to an end, as expedient, to a seeing the other as desirable, worthy, lovable, and not the one-dimensional American and/or Arab. My one moue of disapproval was minor: there’s a lot of lusting in circumstances one would think were not lust-inducing. But there are also wonderful moments of “we’re alive!”, let’s seize life with “a snowflake-melting, life-affirming, toe-curling kiss.” The betrayals are superbly believable and the HEA darn satisfying. Whether you’re going to stay up till the wee hours like I did, or like a reasonable person, take this in at your leisure, I would urge you to read Cliff’s humble category if you read only one romantic suspense novel this year. Of course, you MUST also read Calhoun’s Turn Me Loose …

With Miss Austen, I would say that I’ve found a new romantic suspense writer to follow and anticipate and deem Navy SEAL Rescue “no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” Emma.

Susan Cliff’s Navy SEAL Rescue is published by Harlequin Books. It was released on April 3rd and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Harlequin Books, via Netgalley.

I could not connect with the hero or heroine in this one and ended up DNFing. I enjoyed this author in the past but this one did not work for me.

So this book came out surprisingly well. I was amazed at how much was put into this book in the short amount of pages. This book really packs a punch with non-stop action. Then there that blazing connection between William and Layah that was pretty great. I loved both characters and how they worked well with each other. But then again William didn't have much of a choice where Layah was concerned it was obvious she'd do everything that she can for those that she cares about. I loved how strong, and resourceful Layah could be. This was a pretty great book and I really enjoyed reading it. Highly Recommend!

This was a total goat screw of a situation.

That line perfectly describes this fantastic romantic suspense novel. In short, Navy SEAL Rescue is a story of an Assyrian doctor who's caught up in the war in Syria and Iraq and manages to escape the Da'esh, the Islamic Front, with a daring trek over the Zagros Mountains into Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, and thence to safety in Armenia with the help of a Caucasian American Navy SEAL. The best part of the book is how both the hero and heroine rescue each other over the course of the book - each leads the other in different aspects of the story - and largely, how comfortable both are with the other being in charge.

William Hudson (Hud) is a Navy SEAL, who's been captured in the Telskuf region of Iraq. When his interpreter, Hasan, is murdered by the Da'esh in Syria, he pursues them into Telskuf, where he's captured, put in solitary confinement and only let out for beatings and torture.

This particular corner of hell was an underground spider-hole with four walls, a solid dirt floor and no light. The only exit was an impenetrable metal door.

For two months, he exists in darkness, starved and treated like an animal. Remarkably, he is able to retain his sanity and equanimity through hours of mental and physical exercises.

Dr. Layah Anwar is an Assyrian Christian who was born in Iraq and studied medicine in Damascus. Her father is from Armenia, where her parents currently live. Layah's wedding to Khalil, a Syrian Muslim, was frowned upon by her parents to the extent that they didn't attend her wedding, so she didn't bother to inform them when he was murdered by the Da'esh in Syria to Layah's everlasting sorrow.

Working as a doctor on people torn apart by bombs and gunfire, Layah has seen so much despair and tragedy that she abandons her plans to practice medicine in Syria. Rescuing her now-orphaned nephew Ashur – Hasan’s son - she flees into Iraq to escape the Syrian war, only to get caught up in the toils of the Da'esh. She's desperate now to get over the Zagros Mountains to Armenia, the only country in the region likely to welcome an Assyrian.

But she won’t be able to make the journey without help, and Layah decides that the Navy SEAL hidden by the Da'esh in Telskuf will undoubtedly have the training and physical ability to guide herself, Ashur, and their small band of Assyrian and Yazidi refugees over the mountains to safety. Despite the fact that he and his SEAL teammates had failed to protect Hasan, Hud is her only chance to elude war once and for all, so she conceives an audacious plan to rescue him, bombing his cell and getting him out with the help of Ashur and her cousins. Hud is perfectly willing to go along with Layah's plans during his short recuperation, though once he finds out  he's to be her ticket out of there, he balks. Professional regulations do not allow SEALs to engage in freelance missions to help refugees escape. But Hud is out here on his own, and Layah is his ticket to get out of Iraq alive and into Turkey and thence to an American base.  Now he was free and determined to stay that way.

So both Layah and Hud declare a tentative truce to their bristling hostilities, leaving behind only the simmering attraction between them. From the very beginning, they cannot keep their eyes off each other, but as Hud comes to know Layah better, he finds himself unreasonably jealous of her late husband, with whom she still appears to be in love. He wants her focus all on himself, but Layah continues to dream about Khalil. Hud can conquer the Zagros, but how can he dislodge an idolized husband from Layah’s heart?

This novel shows how a delicate balance of sexual tension and intimate relations coupled with caring and intelligent conversation makes for a good romantic story. The constant undercurrent of the war and the fact that, as an Iraqi Assyrian woman and an American navy officer they are on opposite sides, makes their romance all the more poignant.

The combination of teasing and tenderness made her chest tighten with emotion. If only they could always be like this, without the ugliness of the world threatening to tear them apart.

The depictions of the mountain climbs, the war zone, the travel map of the region, and the tribal rivalries and culture are all very well done. I am reasonably up on the politics of the region and I have read enough books about climbing to have a sense that Cliff has done her research thoroughly.

I give the author high marks for talking unflinchingly about the destruction Americans have wreaked in the Middle East and their cultural insensitivity and ignorance of the region. It takes courage to put touchy politics in a romance novel, but for this particular book, it works really well. Both the protagonists are savvy, intelligent people, who, despite their disparate backgrounds, are trying to find common ground with each other, and that requires understanding the socio-political and cultural realities of each other and their situation.

In this short category format, Susan Cliff has penned a large, sweeping story. Navy SEAL Rescue has all the derring-do of a suspense tale, a heart-pumping, tender romance, and solid regional setting details to knit together a complex whole. All in all, it’s a highly recommended book.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

There are parts of this read that I liked such as the mystery / action / suspense part, but in terms of character development & likeness, I didn't much care for either H or h. Hero's characterization especially of Middle Easterners was off-putting. Writer must have put her own prejudices in this book and that turned me off completely.

For the most part, this was an okay read that I finished quickly. I liked Cliff's writing and would be interested in trying more from her.

But . . . I didn't always love the hero. I didn't feel like I got to know the heroine as much as I wanted. And I was a bit uncomfortable with how the heroine's culture/identity was sometimes treated, as well as how the hero viewed basically all the Middle East countries, including thinking all the people living in that area of the world basically look the same/must be interchangeable. It was all enough to make me uncomfortable and more than a bit ragey. It's a bit hard to pinpoint exact passages that made me feel this way. Mostly it was just this gut feeling that "Hey....I'm a white reader and I'm pretty sure this isn't how this should be approached....". I wish I could provide less vague feedback in regards to the racist-like undertones, but the best thing I can say is if I had that niggle in the back of my mind while reading, then there's probably something truly problematic here.


For those parts alone, I'd probably give this one more like 2 stars, max. For the overall book, a 3. For a quick romantic suspense, this one may just hit the spot for you.

Hud’s story was one that had many twists to it. Susan’s writing is so descriptive that you feel as if you are a 3rd person living the story with the characters.