Navy SEAL's Match

Fairhope, Alabama #6

by Amber Leigh Williams

He believes he can’t be saved—she’ll prove him wrong!

Former SEAL Gavin Savitt always knew who he was—until his last deployment ended tragically. Now he’s home, his mind hijacked by trauma and the shadow of his once-perfect sight. Yet in this new hazy, unclear world, one person stands out—Mavis Bracken.

There are a million reasons why Gavin shouldn’t be with Mavis, including that she’s his best friend’s little sister. Yet he longs for her touch, her freckles and her special way with wild, skittish beasts like him. He just needs the courage to take his life back. And Mavis won’t let him give up without a fight.

Genres: Contemporary

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published May 8, 2018

About the author

Amber Leigh Williams has been a romance author since 2006. When she’s not writing, she enjoys travelling and being outdoors with her family and dogs. She is fluent in sarcasm and is known to hoard books like the book dragon she is. An advocate for literacy, she is an ardent supporter of libraries and the constitutional right to read. She has lived on the Gulf Coast for most of her life. . Find out more about Amber and her books at www.amberleighwilliams.com

Reviews

[Lorrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, what to say about this book. Well, first off, it was all over the fucking place with just about everything. There was no consistency from the beginning to the end on what stuff was focused on. The first half of the book his vision issues were the main focus, then half way through all of the little things pointing to this disappeared. To be honest, other than telling us about his vision loss at the beginning, by the end of the book he appeared to have normal sight again based upon nothing more than how he's describing things. It's almost as if the author forgot about his problems. Ditto for his anxiety attacks/PTSD. About halfway through the book it all disappeared.

There's nothing I hate more than a character who spends the whole book with the whole 'Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll go eat worms' mentality. That's Gavin the whole book. Then there's the new-age, sometimes vegan, paranormalist who just HAS to save him. My god, both the hero and the heroine were two very big stereotypes of the worst kind. And on top of that, they weren't even completely fleshed out stereotypes. It's as if 'PTSD symptoms' and 'what is a witch' were googled for research, then only the tl;dr was used on the first article that popped up.

This book could have been so much more, but too much came from way the fuck out of left field (like her epilepsy, and the seizure she had made zero impact on the story, but was included for god knows what reason), and the characters were boring and underdeveloped. Not to mention the whole dysfunctional family crap is so tired and overused these days (and what was up with Kyle's hatred of Gavin? Maybe I was sleeping when this was mentioned in the beginning of the book, but by the end it was all why the fuck is Kyle acting this way?)

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Navy SEAL’s Match” by Amber Leigh Williams is a Harlequin Superromance that is part of the ‘Fairhope, Alabama’ series and features Gavin Savitt, whose military service left him with both physical and emotional wounds. The unexpected contacts with his best friend’s sister, Mavis Bracken, help him deal with some of his challenges, but this may not be enough to keep him from repeating his pattern of fleeing from those who care about him.

This contemporary military romance has one of my favorite tropes, a wounded hero, and the author does a great job of depicting not only his challenges but some of the impact on those who care about him. I love Mavis’ quirky personality and her unconventional approach to various problems but I thought her handicap was a little glossed over and I was a little troubled about some of the blowback the pair had to deal with from those who should have been supportive. I understand the protective instincts, but I thought some of the actions were excessive and some of the following scenes seemed to be a little rushed. The parental issues that the hero has to deal with are creepy and didn’t seem to flow well with the rest of the story, even though they explain elements of Gavin’s pattern of behavior. The paranormal aspect of the story imparted an interesting twist, but I wish it had been expounded upon more.


Nonetheless, this story had a great combination of humor, romance, and a couple of appealing animals, and I was quickly invested in the relationship between the main characters as well as entertained by several of the secondary ones. This tale is part of a series and can be read as a stand-alone story but I have to wonder whether some of my reservations about the pacing come from not having read the previous books and being unfamiliar with much of the backstory. I like the author’s characters and I will be looking for more of her stories.

A copy of this title was provided to me for review.

[Gmr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mavis and Gavin felt like a one-off situation, not likely to actually happen. I mean they were both incredible characters, so much stronger than either believed and with so much heart buried beneath the layers, but a relationship? It felt like a shot in the dark...but then things started to change. We were shown the "demons" in both of their closets and how they've struggled against them over the years. We were brought into their circle of friends, and chosen family...because let's face it, some of the blood relatives were SO not worth the space they took up (hello, Tiffany!)...and invited to feel the love that surrounded them, even in their darkest moments. We witnessed the power of love not to heal, but to aid in the process, and the how that love can help move mountains. But wait...if you think they had it easy once they recognized something they might want to pursue, think again. I personally wanted to throttle Kyle for the asinine things he said and did....I don't care if his thought process was protecting his sister; he took it WAY too far! Then we have Tiffany, who I simply wanted to hurl off a cliff...the nerve of that woman, and to even call herself a mother was absolutely ridiculous! Quite literally the whole of their little town was against these two from the word go, but go they did and the miles they covered were well, let's just say they were worth it in the end.

All in all, it was a great story with a man formerly in uniform that's more than a little rough around the edges, learning to take life one moment, one heartbeat at a time. It reminds us to appreciate the little things, never take people for granted, and to let love in! Oh and Prometheus was a TOTAL BONUS! A more loving and supportive dog you couldn't ask for...



**copy received for review

[Crystal-Rain Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing I love about Amber Leigh Williams is she never gives you cookie cutter characters, and when she gives you a flawed hero she ends up giving you perfection. Gavin is an ex-SEAL now that he is legally blind and can no longer serve so he comes back home to a place he never felt he belonged. Mavis, his best friend's kid sister, helps him to heal his wounds and find his place has always been right where he thought he couldn't stay.
Mavis is a great heroine. She's unique and full of fire. Gavin pushes everyone away but she pushes through his walls and helps him through his PTSD and the past that haunts him. Speaking of HAUNT, Mavis is a paranormal investigator which lends to some funny moments.
I have all these Fairhope books on my Kindle but jumped into this one first after reading a (hilarious) excerpt online so there are a lot of characters from previous ones in it and it takes a minute figuring out who is who but the book is still written well enough that you can read without having read those first. Each character brings an added dose of heart to the story. I love the families and friendships explored in this book. Zelda is a fun secondary character and Prometheus- You have to love a big dog. Highly recommend!

[Ashley Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really do enjoy this series. Ms. Williams has broughtto life a group of characters that I just love catching up with. Gavin has come back home. He didn't want to but he really couldn't put it off any longer. His military career is gone and so is his sight. What he didn't expect was Mavis.

Mavis is one of his best friend's little sisters, only now she is all grown up. Growing up, they had spent significant time together but she hadn't ever looked like she looks now. She is the only one who seems to get him and even if he doesn't completely understand her nuances, they click. I liked how she helped him, even when he pushed her away. I also like that he accepted her for herself without trying to change her.

It was a 4/5. I really do like this series!



Thank you to the publisher/author for the review copy of this book. I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

[Kate Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the Fairhope, Alabama series, in which we meet former SEAL Gavin Savitt, who comes home having lost most of his sight, but not his heart. A woman he knew before he left town was Mavis Bracken, but she's not just his best friend's little sister that she was then. Oh, she still has a woo-woo sense about her insofar as she seems to see things others don't.

Mavis thinks she understands him better than others. If only he would trust her. But the mother whose abuse he endured as a child can't seem to let him go. This time, however, when she comes after him, he decides to fight back because he now sees how she had controlled his life and others' in previous years. But that could mean that he may not stay in Fairhope. Mavis wants him, too. He wants to stay, but will her brother accept that Gavin isn't going to run again and break his sister's heart? Read for yourself to see.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty enjoyable contemporary read. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and getting the dual point of views what was going on their ends and what they thought. It was interesting seeing what Gavin was dealing with not only was he with PSTD but he was legally blind and had to learn to work around this new challenge. I loved the Mavis was around to help him and push him at times. I loved seeing that connection between the two. Its hard to talk more about what I enjoyed about this book without getting into it but trust me when I say that this book was enjoyable enough for me to pretty much devour it within 24 hours.

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: Fairhope, Alabama