Judith’s review of Sealed Forever
He’s got a living, breathing dilemma…
In the midst of running an undercover CIA mission, Navy SEAL Lt. Garth Vale finds an abandoned baby, and his superiors sure don’t want to know about it. The only person who can help him is the beautiful new doctor in town, but she’s got another surprise for him…
She’s got a solution…at a price…
Dr. Bronwyn Whitescarver has left the frantic pace of big city ER medicine for a small town medical practice. Her bags aren’t even unpacked yet when gorgeous, intense Garth Vale shows up on her doorstep in the middle of the night with a sick baby… But his story somehow doesn’t add up, and Bronwyn isn’t quite sure who she’s saving-the baby, or the man…
There’s the U. S. Navy, and then there are the Navy SEALs. While they are all a part of the greater whole, no one will ever disagree with the perception that a SEAL is a very different animal in the military spectrum. Their training is unique and their duty assignments are very special–most often the kinds of assignments which would, if you knew about them, result in your death. Such is the hero of this story: a man who has been pulled back from his own death by his concern for a fallen comrade who was also near death; a man who is paying dearly for an intelligence screw-up by someone lots higher in the military chain of command; a man who is not afraid to fall in love at first sight–it is almost a family tradition–and that’s exactly what he does. He is also a man who finds a baby and with a gentleness and sensitivity many would find surprising, seeks to find a safe place for her and the care she so obviously needs.
Dr. Bronwyn Whitescarver has come to this little town to set up her medical practice having become tired and deeply disillusioned with the practice of medicine in the big city hospitals where she was an ER physician. She is not even unpacked, has certainly not set up her office nor is she ready to see patients by the slightest stretch of the imagination, and Garth is at her door, clutching a baby who is lethargic, non-responsive, and appears to be dehydrated among other things. Now is when they each realize they have met before when they were official witnesses at a recent wedding. Garth’s awareness of Bronwyn is new; her attraction to him is a remembered thing from when she was first introduced to him, and it still frightens her now as much as it did initially. It takes Garth very little time to become certain that she is his One–the mate he has been seeking and like everything he has ever wanted, he begins the process of going after her. It takes very little time for her to respond to him and they become sexually involved. That, however, doesn’t solve some of the deeper issues.
This is a very delightful love story between two people who know how to communicate and who use language so well. But there is also the matter of the baby found on a private plane that has landed in the small private airport where Garth is working undercover, without any information, a name, documentation, etc. Who is her mother and to whom was she being sent? Because of Garth’s status as an undercover agent, he can tell Bronwyn very little, and she is smart enough to resent being kept out of the loop. This hidden part of Garth’s life will ultimately lie at the heart of the problems between the two of them.
This story has so much in it that it is difficult to mention specifics in this review. Suffice it to say that the narrative not only tells Garth and Bronwyn’s story, but also lets the reader gain insight into the struggles they are enduring as they must face themselves, their sense of disappointment over who they have become, and wondering if their future will be as disappointing as has been their past. They are bound together over the baby — named Julia for Garth’s mother — but even that connection is tentative as they must decide what to do with her and how to keep her safe. Perhaps the question that drives this novel is: “How do two sad and searching people find their way to one another?” Garth is aware that whenever he is around Bronwyn he feels alive with a sense of completion. Bronwyn, on the other hand, comes to believe that Garth has accepted her without reserve, without qualifiers, accepting and respecting and honoring the unique qualities she brings to her medical practice as a true healer. Even when they are having their difficulties, there is a sense that they are celebrating each other’s strengths.
This is the first work by this author I have read but I know I will go back and read the other three novels in this series. Having met a number of Garth’s pals in this story, it will be fun to go back and read more about each of them indepth. This is an instructive and entertaining novel. Incidentally, a bit of information gleaned from the author’s blurb indicates that the medical resource for this novel was another author, Elizabeth Vaughan who is a medical doctor in addition to her career as an author. Small world. This is a great book and well worth the time and effort to read it.
I give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.
The Series:
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This book is available from Sourcebooks Casablanca. You can buy it here
