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Aug 05, 2010

Zosia rated it:

(Okay, so I read this ages ago, but I just reread it and still feel the same way!)

There were a lot of good ideas in this story, but too many tangents for it to come together in a satisfying way.

I did love some aspects of the story, but there is so much great romantic suspense out there, and having just reread some of my favourite Cindy Gerard and Shannon K Butcher books, I expect more from military romance.

However, if you're looking for a decent, quick read, More...

9 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Wendy rated it:

Great storyline with a broody tortured hot alpha who's a hot Navy SEAL and with a headstrong, sometimes pain the ass heroine, this was an enjoyable read. Loved it!

My Jake.

22 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2010

Shawna rated it:

4 ½-5 stars – Romantic Suspense

This is a very good start in a promising new military romantic suspense trilogy that's intense, hard-edged, and emotional. I just wish there had been a bit more romance (and hot sex!) between the H/H. Still, I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the trilogy, Too Hot to Hold. 4 ½...almost 5 stars! More...

8 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2010

Kathrynn rated it:

Disappointing. I tried to like this romantic-suspense, but several things bugged me. First and foremost I grew to distrust the writing. "Things" would be relayed, piece by piece, but changing in such a way that completely contradicted how "something" was initially implied. Distrust. That's how I felt about the writing. And it got much worse.

The way the characters would react to a scene, then the author would--gradually--explain what was happening got on my n More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

Hard to Hold is a good start to a three book series about a trio of brothers (from another mother/father) who are all SEALs. This Navy SEAL-loving girl definitely appreciated the portrayal of these characters who are members of my favorite Elite Special Forces unit. While this wasn't a perfect book, I definitely feel it was worthy of the four star rating I gave it. Here are my thoughts:

What I Liked:
* I liked the message about family being more than just blood. Family is a gro More...

8 comments like (14 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

UniquelyMoi *~*Dhestiny*~* rated it:

Hard to Hold is the first book in the Hold trilogy and my first read by Stephanie Tyler. I enjoyed the writing and the story itself, finding it easy to follow and holding my attention. I’m in love with Navy SEAL stories anyway, and this was right up my alley! I’m not going to go into the plot in this review, as you can get that from the book synopsis, but I am going to give you my thoughts on the story as a whole.

As far as characters go, I really liked, but sadly, didn’t l More...

16 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2010

Miss Kim rated it:

I'm going to stick with my resolution to not force myself to finish books that I'm not enjoying. I made it to page 76 and anbandoned it.

The story has potential. The characters were somewhat interesting, but I felt pulled around from point of view to point of view. It seemed every character in the book got his section, and I found it too much and took away from the story. Plus the hero was supposed to have been in the navy at fifteen. Fifteen! He was such a bad ass that he made a fak More...

12 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 07, 2011

Rjsmommy rated it:

Men in uniform...gotta love them! I've been trying to expand my horizons the last few months from purely paranormal romances and came across Stephanie Tyler's name. This is the first in the HArd to Hold-Navy Seals Trilogy and I loved it! Jake and his brothers were amazing and I even liked Isabelle. Jake is a Navy SEAL bigger than life legend despite his young age. His childhood was horrific and he was "adopted" by his friend's family along with another troubled homelife friend; the More...

0 comments like

Sep 28, 2010

Jane rated it:

Way too much telling, not enough showing. The main characters’ developing relationship could have been better.

STORY BRIEF:
Rafe is a special forces soldier gone bad. Isabelle is a doctor working in Africa. Rafe kidnaps, rapes and beats her and then leaves her tied up in a hut. Navy SEALS receive an anonymous tip, rescue her, and bring her back to the U.S. She is so fearful of Rafe coming for her, that people close to her lie and tell her he is in prison. But he is not. Af More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 27, 2009

Mojca rated it:

This is the first book by Stephanie Tyler I've read and though I love storylines with über-alpha SEAL heroes, I must confess this story was a huge disappointment to me.
There were too many stories overlapping (though they all held a remote common thread), too many characters, too many personalities vying for attention, until I truly got the urge to take out an old notebook and pencil just to be able to keep it all straight.

It was too crammed with details and suspense elements, t More...

11 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

Cindy rated it:

I started with the Shadow Force books and once caught up thought I would go back and read her first series. Being that I was now familiar with Stephanie's writing style of having multiple story lines going on in one book the influx of information given being that this was the first in the trilogy didnt bother me. This trilogy is about 3 brothers. 2 adopted and one natural. Jake Hansen had to kill his abusive step father when he was young and it has forever haunted him. Isabelle Markham was in Af More...

3 comments like

Sep 22, 2011

Shelley rated it:

This was an excellent book,rated it 5 stars. I would recommend it if you like military romance suspense books. This is my first Stephanie Tyler book and won't be my last. This is the first book in a trilogy. Jake is a Navy SEAL who was instrumental in rescuing Isabelle(who had been kidnapped,abused, and raped) from Africa. Isabelle is a Plastic Surgeon who had been working for Doctors Without Borders when she was kidnapped by her bodyguard Rafe (who had been hired to protect her because More...

0 comments like

Nov 25, 2010

Jess rated it:

I really enjoyed this book.. I have seen it on a few of my friend's shelves and have been a bit of a rut lately so I decided to go out on a limb and try this series out. Needless to say I'm happy that I did. I blew through this book in about a day, it was really great. Suspenseful, romantic, alpha males everything I enjoy in a book.

Lieutenant Jake Hansen is the main character in this book, although his brothers are also featured quite often. Jake is a Navy Seal and at the beginning of More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2010

Wendy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2010

Amber rated it:

Catherine Mann is the only military romance author on my auto-buy list. However, when I tackled the first title in Stephanie Tyler’s SEALs trilogy, I was blown away! It’s not just the chiseled, bad-ass alphas that make these books must-reads – it’s the whole package. The heroes are so real, especially Jake in Hard to Hold, which is my new favorite romantic suspense. (It even edged out Nora’s Honest Illusions and Public Secrets…which is saying something!) The heroine deals with the recent and hea More...

0 comments like

Jul 18, 2010

Darcy rated it:

I have been wanting to try this author for a long time after reading the books she writes with Larissa Ione, as Sydney Croft, but just hadn't gotten around to it. So finally when I was at the library I saw the book sitting on the shelf and I grabbed it and now I am just kicking myself for not having made this a priority to try sooner.

The main men in the book are so alpha male types that they rate off the chart. Like most men that need control they have issues and if Jake's are anyt More...

9 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2010

Dee rated it:

You know how some books you feel at home on the first page and, before you know it, you're finished? Well, this wasn't one of those books for me.

I love books on SEALS especially when there's plenty of action and hot sex but there wasn't alot of either in this first book of the "Hold" series.

Perhaps it's because I just finished reading Alexis Morgan's "Paladin" series and, before that, some of Lora Leigh's "Breeds". After that, I read " More...

0 comments like

Jan 16, 2010

Jacqueline rated it:

I really wanted to like this book more. On page 4 though, I almost put the book down. The hero tells us he as been in the Navy 11 years since he was 15. I'm sorry, there's just no way that would have happened in 1998. You have to show too much paperwork to join the military these days. They know who you are and they don't let 15 year olds in. Second, he was put in the SEALS training straight out of bootcamp to teach him a lesson or something. Again not going to happen. You have to be at t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2009

Lea rated it:

If you stop by Stephanie Tyler’s blog you will see a picture of a very pretty lady with long dark hair hugging ‘Gus’, her big Weimaraner dog. Appearances can be deceiving and I cannot believe this sweet affectionate appearing lady could craft such a gritty, action packed, thrilling novel about total Alpha military heroes, and yet, she has.

I first came to know of Stephanie Tyler’s work through author Larissa Ione when I followed the breadcrumbs after reading her books to the ACRO ser More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2010

Rochelle rated it:

I enjoyed this book, especially since I've been going through Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters withdrawal!
This was of a similar theme, a Navy SEAL rescuing a woman, they both have issues, they eventually fall in love.
I found this was a book that took me a little more concentration or I miss details. Perhaps that is why the book didn't flow perfectly for me, but still very good.
I did think that Isabelle's feelings for Jake moved a little fast, but that might have been driven More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Alicia rated it:

Note to Contemporary Authors: LEARN BASIC GRAMMAR. That's how one writes comprehensible sentences that allow your readers to understand what they're reading. It looks like Tyler was trying to emulate Nora Roberts's inability to write intelligible sentences, but she does it with none of the charm. For example, <spoiler>"'It wasn’t the kiss,' she said, hated the way her face flushed."

"'Markham, you’re safe. We’re with the U.S. Navy, and we’re going to get you out o More...

4 comments like

May 08, 2011

Inga rated it:

I've spent entire Sunday reading this book and enjoyed it so much that I grabbed the second book the next day.

What I liked most. Main characters’, their relationships, loyalty and support. Jake and Isabelle were well developed and had their charm. Both with their issues but those issues were resolved smoothly. I also was intrigued by two other brothers and am eager to read their stories.
What I also liked: all four of them sticking together. Firstly brothers and then, brothers a More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2012

Sharon (twilightcrazie) rated it:

Jake!!! I really liked this Navy Seal who has a dark past and is constantly haunted by it!

This really could have been an excellent story, but it was a bit too jumpy and that really took away from what could have made Jake and Isabelle's story stand out. I really liked how Jake and Isabelle couldn't get each other out of their minds after her rescue (She was a Dr and was kidnapped and raped by her own bodyguard while she was in the Doctors without Borders program. Jake and his SEA More...

1 comment like

Jun 19, 2010

Leontine rated it:

“We want to be in a situation under maximum pressure, maximum intensity, and maximum danger. When it is shared with others, it provides a bond which is stronger than any tie that can exist.”- SEAL Team Six Officer.

I read this quote at the beginning of the prologue and instantly was taken to Africa where a situation unfolded that was maximum pressure, intensity and danger. It was where Jake rescued Isabella from her captor and instantly a connection is formed. From the moment I read h More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2010

Gina rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2010

Natasja rated it:

Jake Hansen grew up with an abusive step-father and when he died in a fight with Jake, the Waldron family took him in and raises him as one of their own. But Jake was trouble from day one and the only thing left for him was joining the Military at the age of 15. Now he is one of the best Nave Seal of their unit, because Jake doesn’t hold back. While a dangerous mission in Africa, his unit finds an American woman, a hostage. Jake cannot believe his eyes when he sees the woman tied up, and beaten More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2010

Janna rated it:

There are some books you really look forward to reading and then they just can’t live up to your own high expectations. There’s no one else to blame but yourself. Hard To Hold by Stephanie Tyler turned out to be such a book for me. Based on three Blaze novels about three SEAL friends by this author I really wanted to read her new contemporary military romance series about the brothers Jake, Nick and Chris, all Navy SEALs too. The first book about Jake was released on November 24, 2009 and the th More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2009

Pearl rated it:

At the end of a mission in Djibouti, Jake, his brothers Nick and Chris and the other members of his Navy SEAL team are on their way to the extraction point when word reaches them a doctor working with Doctors Without Borders has been held hostage and left for dead. They are to rescue her and get her out of Djibouti. The hostage is none other than a US senator's daughter, Isabelle Markham. When they get to her, she is in very bad shape and the fear she won't survive is great. But they manage to r More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 13, 2010

Laura rated it:

3 1/2 stars
1st in a Navy SEALs trilogy.

Lt. (jg) Jake Hansen helped rescue Dr. Isabelle Markham with his SEAL team in Africa. They connected during the rescue, but he knew it was a high-stress situation and maybe not what it seemed. When Isabelle arrives at his base in Virginia to work at the hospital, he is shocked and a little shaken by her presence. When he is asked to help protect her from the same man who harmed her in Africa, he is uncomfortable, but wants to keep her s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2009

Auntee rated it:

Hard To Hold is the first book in Stephanie Tyler's new trilogy about Navy SEALs, and for a first book in a series, it was pretty good. Not outstanding, but good enough to hold my interest and wanting to see where this series is heading. As I've found out with most series, the first book seems to be the toughest to read. There's lots of background about the numerous characters and details about the direction of the series that the author has to lay out, and usually the first book of the serie More...

13 comments like (13 people liked it)

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