Member Reviews
A good steamy romance with fun characters and an great pace to the story, it wasn’t as unpredictable as I expected but nor was it obvious, all in all a pretty good romantic story that I would suggest to others that was heartwarming and sweet.
The Seals instant family by Leslie North
A good quick easy read from this author read in one sitting . Well written characters a bit of excitement with the underlying story that comes from this romance . Leslie North always delivers.
I love romance reads like this gem by Leslie North! I hadn't read one of her books before but now every time I see her name I immediately add it to my TBR. Instant Family had everything, suspense/mystery, great character building and a love story that felt organic and not forced. I also appreciate how she built the storyline with the secondary characters and hooked me to where I can't wait to find out how their stories end up.
Big fan and can't wait for more!
I’ve always enjoyed Leslie’s books. And this book was no exception. Well written characters , great story !
Loved this read! Couldn't put it down and decided to read it all in one sitting, definatly did not disapoint! Thankyou author!
A sweet but exciting story as only Leslie North can write.
Kenton’s life is turned upside down when he comes home and finds Mia and her nieces living in his home. Not knowing what to do with the gorgeous woman in need, he decides to take charge and give their lives the structure he’s sure it needs 😉.
But, there’s an unknown threat against them all that could tear apart this tenuous family.
I loved Mia and Kenton and I can’t wait for more from Leslie North!
5 stars!!
Leslie North consistently brings great characters and passionate romance to life. As a big fan North's, her name provokes an automatic one-click from me. I am always entertained.
I loved the way this book started with Patrick, Anderson and Kenton talking about family and children and specially the way Patrick and Anderson were encouraging Kenton about starting a family. I still don't get it, What's with Leslie's book's male characters and training the female leads dogs? It's annoying! I hate to read same pattern over and over. Emma's attitude was hilarious and Ava is the little cutie! I love babies. And these two toddlers already got my heart! I was loving this book. I really was. I mean it had everything the other two books were missing until it disappeared just like that. I mean I don't know what the hell happened after 62% of this book. I didn't recognized Kenton anymore, neither Mia. It was like both of them just switched their characters. Kenton was really sweet and was definitely not an inconsiderate control-freak prick. After facing a dangerous moment with Ava going missing and all, when Kenton made love to Mia after everything Kenton just left Mia there. I mean what the hell? And everything was okay after that. I felt like Kenton was using Mia just for sex without ever considering her feelings. Then again that girl has no self respect and okay with whatever way that control-freak asshole treated her. Ugh! It seriously was a 5 star till 62% but I don't know anymore. Same pattern like other two books started again. Where is the groveling and apology? None of the book has it. The guys behaved like an asshole and made lots of mistake and like a doormat girl the female characters melted as soon as the guys say 'I love you'. Where is your self respect? No apology needed because he loved you? And this 'spontaneous' and 'Christmas' shit is from 'The Princess Swap'. At least that's what it felt like. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch the movie. You'll find out. Also, I still didn't get that get together thing between Patrick, Kenton and Anderson's families. Here I thought the author's writing was improving and this book would be different but this one is the worse. Damn it!
The SEAL’s Instant Family (Hartsville SEAL Heros Book 3) by Leslie North is amazing as I have come to expect from her. This book is thrid in the series but can be read alone. It is a military romance, that playson "opposites attract". Kenton and Mia seem like a unlikely pair, but the chemistry is hot and sexy in the bedroom.
I found the storyline was easy to follow and I love the characters. Leslie has a way of capitaving her readers with her writing's. Another fantastic book!
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was one of the better Leslie North books I have read - and I have read and enjoyed a lot of them. This book shares the story of Kenton & Mia. Kenton is a SEAL who is finally ready to settle down - but everything has to be done according to his plans. He plans for everything - yes, that's part of his job as a SEAL, but he also wants to plan out his next five years - he has already purchased a house and now he just needs to find a woman to marry and have kids with. Mia suddenly became the guardian of her toddler twin nieces after the unexpected death of her sister and brother-in-law. When a fire destroys her apartment, Kenton's mom offers Mia the use of Kenton's house - he's away on a mission and isn't due home soon anyway. Well, as luck would have it, the mission ended early and Kenton is sent home where he finds Mia and the girls living in his house. But it appears trouble followed him home and now Mia and the twins may be in danger. Can Kenton save her and can they become a part of his future even though they weren't in his five year plan?
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.
As always with Leslie: good things come in three. So after The SEAL’s Convenient Wife and The SEAL’s Surprise Baby, we now have the Instant Family of Kenton. When Kenton arrives home after a mission (without his buddies Patrick and Anderson, who where busy at home), he finds his appartment in use by a complete chaotic family. For a neatfreak as Kenton, that is a very big deal.
However, his mom had offered his appartment to her friend Mia after her appartment burned down. Having received custody over her twin nieces very recently, Mia is struggling to cope.
But what will happen if the live-in-the-moment Mia and plan-everything-by-the-book Kenton have to share a house for several weeks? Find out for yourself in this wonderful story of opposites attracts, suspense and laughter. Four out of four stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.
3.75/5 stars!
The SEAL hero returns from a mission to learn that there are tenants in his home, courtesy of his mother letting said inhabitants stay due to an apartment fire that the heroine, her orphaned nieces, and her dog experienced before his return. The hero lets the heroine and her small family stay, which ended up putting them all in danger as enemies from his past comes out of the shadows. And as the danger looms near, the hero must also contend with the attraction he has for the heroine. Is he up to the task in protecting this instant family he didn't plan on?
This is a nice Leslie North story with a stoic hero and a carefree heroine. The hero learns about parenting and the heroine learns how nice it is to lean on someone as she juggles becoming a parent to her twin nieces. It was also great to have glimpses of the friendship/brotherhood that encompass the whole series. I liked the way the story flows with romance and a dash of suspense. However, it would have been nice to read more of the dog. Overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more Leslie North books in the future.
**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.**
What a great story! This is the first book by Leslie North that I've read and I truly enjoyed it! The characters were engaging and memorable and the plot was written well and at a page turning tempo. Now I have to backtrack and read the first two books of the series.
I liked this book, short without too much conflict. The characters were likeable but I'm not sure if I really got to know them all too well, not sure if it was because not enough of each character was detailed or because the book itself was short and the story was more plot-driven than character-driven.
I don't read too many novellas because of this particular point.
There were a few errors in the book but nothing major.
Overall it was a pleasant book, I do like the Author's writing and would probably read a longer book by this author
(this is my first from this writer)
I received this arc from Netgalley for an honest review:
Book number three in the Seal novella and opens with the Seal team commander Kenton arriving home early with the mission he was on not being a success. The person he and his team were after was not captured so he has left the base going home to figure out what went wrong.
Once home Kenton is totally surprised by what is waiting for him. Mia is at his home with her two nieces who she is now the parent of after her sister and brother-in-law were killed in a car accident, along with a dog. She is there because her place was damaged by a fire. She is at his house because his mother volunteered his home because he was gone. Now home this all changes his plans, his plans were house check, then-wife and children later not now, and the dog is not a plus especially not being trained.
The story though works with the people he was after on his last mission are now after him and the children on his home turf. Here is when you also get the two men from the other two books that make their presence as well as work on him making a commitment to Mia and the twins. This book has some humor, romance, and of course action with them fighting the people after them. Overall a good story but I still liked the second book overall better.
The writing is fairly simplistic. That combined with the quick moving plot results in the feeling that the characters are quickly described, and their personalities set in simple terms (Mia is the flower child, Kenton is a strict scheduler and rule follower) I didn’t really feel any connection to them. I never worried for their safety or felt any real emotion towards them.
Mia goes where the wind blows her, basically, and freely takes what people offer her in kindness. Kenton is obviously a bit of a control freak, but everything just seems to work out for him. Mia kind just rolls over and goes with it for the most part. She’d probably get in a canoe without a paddle and set off down a river if someone told her to the way she’s portrayed.
For those who wonder, the sex scenes were decent, if that's what you are looking for, but it takes about 50% of the book in order to get to the first one, but somehow still manages to feel a bit rushed. The actual scenes are fairly well written and I'm assuming this is why so many people give these books such high ratings. It does redeem the book a bit, but I don't think it makes up for everything else.
Conclusion
I don't know. All in all this is not what I thought it would be. Most of the reviews for this book and her other books are quite complimentary, making me wonder what on earth I'm missing. The smut was pretty decent though.
Leslie North is a very prolific author and is known for her very straightforward titles. The titles of her books tell you exactly what to expect (truthfully you don't really need to read a blurb to know what they are focused on. Her books definitely fall in line with others in this subgenre of romance - like Susan Stoker. While I enjoyed this book - I didn't love it.
Kenton is an active duty Navy SEAL who just returned from a less than successful mission. He lives his life according to plan and doesn't have room for failure or things left undone. When he arrives home - he finds his house invaded by Mia and her twin toddler nieces. Kenton's mother had offered MIa his house to stay in after her apartment burned down. Mia's life has been spent with little going to plan or on schedule. After her parents died, she didn't follow any set plan and moved around the country - wherever the wind took her. Until her sister and her brother-in-law were killed in a car accident and she had to take on her nieces.
I liked Mia's care and compassion for her nieces - though I snorted a bit at her full embrace of free-range parenting. I think maybe she took things a little too far - giving choices and love and freedom to choose their own path is great - but free-range parenting, for toddlers, does that within a more structured framework. It is clear the twins are both a little bit at sea without the structure they once had. When Kenton walks in an basically takes over - he schedules things to the Nth degree - definitely going to far in the other direction. He and Mia make mistakes - both big and small (especially when MIa has one definite TSTL moment and Kenton lets his control freak nature go too far).
I think what I didn't love is the lack of depth I felt in both characters. They both had their good points - but seriously Mia - you left the twins with a guy you knew for barely a day - who has no child experience - and seemed completely unfazed by it. It all worked out - but really? Also I was bothered by some of the details - like how the three guys., childhood best friends, ended up on the same SEAL team and seem to be the only people involved here (when typically SEAL teams have seven members and I am guessing the chances of them all being childhood best friends seems pretty much a long shot).
Overall - this is a light read with some moments of danger and a lot of sweet parenting moments with twins.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.
If you're looking for a quick romance, this may be the book for you. It was sweet most of the time, our Navy Seal finding himself living with an already made family. When I was younger I feel like I would have liked it more because this was exactly the kind of book I drooled over in my early twenties. Unfortunately, as I get older, I care more about the way people talk to one another and I wasn't always a big fan of the way Kenton spoke to Mia so I had to knock it down a bit. He was so hot and cold that by the time the two did realize their true feelings for one another it felt exactly as the title suggests, instant. It wasn't there... And then it was.
Not for me anymore, but I can see how someone younger or someone just looking for the romance of it all would like it.
The SEAL’s Instant Family is a beautifully written story. I was hooked from the start and I found the plot unique and refreshing. I couldn’t put it down and was excited to keep reading since it was so intriguing something I was not used to read in romance books. I really recommend people to read this story about family, compromise, and love. #TheSEALsInstantFamily #NetGalley
Third and final in this trilogy and the best of the three. We meet Mia and Kenton, who are wound into mayhem by a trafficking ring. There is action, mystery, drama, romance, steam and an HEA. Again, overlook the title and cover. Good read.