The SEAL’s Baby Arrangement

The SEAL’s Baby Arrangement was a good read by Katie Knight. Maria Blanchard asked Navy Seal Trevor Daniels to have a child with her, no strings attached. They never expected the explosive chemistry they have. They vowed to not have contact with each other until Trevor needs help proving his innocence in his captain’s death. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more by the author.

3.75 stars–Saving The SEAL Baby Daddy by Katie Knight is a contemporary, adult, stand alone, erotic romance story line in the author’s SEAL series presented by Leslie North. This is Navy SEAL Trevor Daniels, and former police officer/PI/single mother Maria Blanchard’s story line. Saving the SEAL Baby Daddy can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Trevor and Maria) Saving the SEAL Baby Daddy follows US Navy SEAL Trevor Daniels in the wake of his latest overseas deployment that went all to h*ll, Charged with the murder of his SEAL team leader Captain Andrew McArthur, Trevor is hoping to jump start his own investigation back home. Enter former police office turned private investigator, and the mother of his only child, Maria Blanchard. What ensues is the rekindling friendship and building relationship between Trevor and Maria, and the potential fall-out as the threats against Trevor’s life increase as the investigation begins to reveal the dangerous truth.

One year earlier, Maria Blanchard approached family friend and SEAL Trevor Daniels to help father a child, a child he would never see and with whom he would never have any contact. Fast forward to present day wherein Trevor, desperate to prove his innocence, hires the mother of the child he never met, a child he will immediately love and protect but Maria struggles with Trevor’s return, and the possibility that our hero will demand time with his daughter.

The relationship between Maria and Trevor begins as a business arrangement wherein Maria wants Trevor to get her pregnant but will not be allowed any future involvement with the child he may never know. Back from deployment, Trevor struggles to prove he is not a murderer, a struggle that now involves the woman with whom he will fall in love. The $ex scenes are passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Trevor and Maria’s daughter Camille; Trevor’s siblings Tamsyn, and JAG Tim Daniels, and their parents, Penelope and Mr. Daniels, FBI Agent Thompson, as well as several tech geniuses who work with our story line heroine.

Saving the SEAL Baby Daddy is a story of betrayal, vengeance, power and lies; a story of family, friendship, and love. The premise is intriguing and engaging; the characters are energetic and strong; the romance seductive but I struggle to feel the palpable sexual attraction between our leading couple.

This was my first Katie Knight’s book. The Seal’s Baby Arrangement is a good second chance at love. Maria and Trevor are great characters, and they share a strong chemistry. The storyline has intrigue and suspense. Ryan Francona is a new narrator to me. He did a great job with the narration. He has a great voice, and a surprisingly great female voice.

Way to much sex

Typical romance. Good for an afternoon read. Predictable

Cute and sweet, the story flow is, at times, a little slow.

Saving the SEAL Baby Daddy is is the first novel I’ve read by Katie Knight and Leslie North, and it was, for the most part, an entertaining and interesting read, although I’m not a fan of the terms, “baby daddy” and “baby mama” in real life or in print, and especially in a book title, as I find both terms demeaning, as though that sums up all that one person is to another person. I nearly stopped reading when the baby in question, Camille, “needed changed.” I have no clue why the words “to be” fell out of favor, or why baby Camille didn’t “need changing”, but “needed changed” was something this former English teacher simply couldn’t accept. I did, however, like the characters in this novel, as well as the plot, and it gets 3.5 stars from this reader.

Single, self-employed, private investigator Maria Blanchard, who was raised to be the perfect southern belle, disappointed her family by wanting to be more than that, joined the police force, then left the police force after years of service, eventually opening her own business. She is now working for herself as a private investigator, and has been successful at it, balancing her work and motherhood as well as she possibly can.

One year earlier, Maria felt her biological clock ticking away and wanted to have a child of her own. Having met no one who interested her more than her childhood crush on Trevor Daniels, who is now a Navy SEAL, and, while he was home on leave, she offered him a proposition and a contract–sleep with her long enough to impregnate her, and once Maria conceived, have no further contact with her or his child, and no future obligations to them whatsoever. It was a proposition he eventually considered and accepted. He did, in fact, get her pregnant, and one year later, when baby Camille, who was truly a delight in this novel, is now three months old, Maria is shocked to answer the knock on her door one evening and find Trevor on her doorstep, in violation of their contract.

Trevor is in serious trouble, about to be booted from the SEALs, and possibly end up in Leavenworth Penitentiary–he’s been accused of murdering his superior officer. He knows he’s innocent, and has come to hire Maria to investigate the incident, find out who really killed Trevor’s captain and why, and to help clear Trevor of any wrongdoing. Maria, who never expected to see Trevor again is stunned, but there’s been no man in her life since Trevor, and she knows him well enough to know that he’d never have committed such a crime. Since Trevor has family in town, which includes his father, who’d served time in prison for tax fraud, and with whom he’s had a rocky relationship ever since. Trevor doesn’t want them to know what he’s facing yet, and asks to sleep on Maria’s sofa as she tries to get to the bottom of who’s framing him for murder and why. Reluctantly, Maria agrees, having been assured that Trevor will go back to the SEALs as soon as he’s been cleared of the crime, and stay out of their lives forever.

What neither Trevor nor Maria counted on was Trevor falling deeply and immediately in love with his baby daughter, nor did either of them consider just how explosive their sexual chemistry was, and it doesn’t take long for them to act on it, although they both realize that once Trevor is no longer under suspicion, he’ll return to the SEALs. Although Maria doesn’t want a man in her life who’s gone to parts unknown on what could be deadly missions, for months if not years at a time, she’s finding it hard to resist how sweetly and lovingly he interacts with baby Camille, and how kind, considerate and helpful he is to her. The fact that he’s a gorgeous, sexy hunk of a man doesn’t hurt either.

Will Maria be able to clear Trevor of the murder he didn’t commit? Will their sexual attraction blossom into something more? If and when Maria helps discover who did murder Trevor’s superior officer, will she and baby Camille be in any danger? Will Trevor regret his decision to involve Maria in this case, which may post serious risks to both her and their baby? There are plenty of questions to be answered, but not by this reviewer.

This is, after all, a novel of romantic suspense, so you already know there will be an HEA ending, but I found that ending far too abrupt and far too amorphous to be emotionally satisfying after what was otherwise quite a gripping read. Aside from my issues with the title and some phraseology, this was a very good, very enjoyable, well-written novel, and had there been a fully-fleshed out HEA ending, it would have earned a higher rating from this reader.

Should you decide to order this novel, please be advised that it appears that the title has been changed to The SEAL’s Baby Arrangement, which is how it is listed on Amazon.com, a change I was happy to note.

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/saving-the-seal-baby-daddy-katie-knight/

Book covers in the romance genre are usually meant as a bait. I do not mind that at all, it’s just part of the game. I’m much more against weird titles that do not make any justice to the book. Saving the SEAL Baby Daddy screams all the worst things for the genre that I can imagine; but, actually, the book is much better than the nightmare going on on my head before starting the story.

In this book we meet Trevor, a young SEAL soldier who is being wrongly accused of his captain’s death. Luckily for him, he knows a great private investigator, Maria, and asks for her help so they can clear up his name. So far, nothing special. The twist is, Maria’s daughter is also Trevor’s daughter. The daughter he swore to stay away from…

Let’s begin with the part that has suprised me: the investigation to prove Trevor’s innocence. With that title, I was expecting that part to be almost like an afterthought. Something to mention now and then between bouts of sex. Thankfully, it has much more weight than that, which makes the book a lot more enjoyable. Is there romance? Of course. Are there sex scenes? You bet! Is all well balanced with good timing? YES! And that, sadly, is a rara avis in the “fast processed” kind of book.

Even though I liked the story, it didn’t satiate my hunger for it. The ending is nice (the good guys win, in case you were wondering…); but, during the investigation, several clues are dropped that suggerst the issue was much bigger than expected. That it must go pretty high in the food chain. They caught the small fish, solved Trevor’s problem and they moved on… I have the feeling the real bad guys are still at large. And that saddens me a little.

My biggest issue with this book are the characters. I will start with Maria. I only have this one book to judge her, but I can’t picture her in good light. She is a fraud. We are told she is the ultimate private investigator, but the only thing she does is calling friends to do the real work… Thankfully she doesn’t take all the credit, but I wouldn’t be surprised otherwise. I didn’t like her as a PI, but as a mom she is even worse. A single parent is like a superhero. No way around that. Most of them are single parents not by choice, so when Maria took the step to become one she did something really brave. But then, her stupidity took the best of her. Rising a daughter by your own means is a nice life goal, but you have to always think about the kid first. Writing a contract to ban the father and his family for ever seeing your daughter (when you have a good relationship with them) is one of the most selfish things I have ever read. Why do you do that to youself and, more importantly, to your own kid? Under any circuntansces you should have a kid on your own just to make a point no one really cares about…

And the fact that Trevor goes along with that doesn’t help to make me like him. We are told he is the sweetest, most honorable, most loyal, the most of the most guy on our planet. But somehow he doesn’t think twice about signning a contract to renounce of his daughter. That doesn’t scream honorable, precisely. The author tries to save the day telling us that Trevor stalked his daughter through social media, but that only makes things worse. Do you care or not? Make up your mind!!

All that situation is a plot mess and, if that part were the main focus, the book would have been very forgettable and with a much lower mark. That’s why we have always been told that we should not judge a book by its cover or, in this case, by its title.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Booksprout and I am voluntarily reviewing it.

This was a good read. There was plenty of action. The characters were realistic as well (baby Camille was adorable.) The plot flowed smoothly. Trevor and Maria had a contract. She was independent and had a good career as a P.I. but she desired a baby. She knew Trevor a Navy SEAL lived for his career and wasn’t ready to settle down. What better than to ask him to father her baby. The stipulation was that Trevor and his family have nothing to do with her or the baby.

A year later, Trevor is desperate to save his name and career following the murder of his captain after a mission. The only person to save him is Maria. As a former copy, and now a P.I., she is the only one he could trust. Trevor and Maria work together to clear him and discover who really kill the captain. Would things work out? Time was running short, the evidence is rocky and it’s beginning to go against him to is raise the question, did Trevor really commit murder or not?

This was an enjoyable read. I loved having the book in the dual POV format. It helps me to understand why the character says and does things. Without that, for me, at least, I wouldn’t be able to comprehend the and like the character.

I highly recommend.

This story features Trevor and Maria. Their arrangement is unconventional, especially with how intimately personal it began. Their romance flowed beautifully and had some great steam to it.

The mystery and suspense had a few holes in it. It lacked the expected action. Don’t get me wrong, it was still entertaining and made for a great read but I felt for such a fantastic plot, it could’ve been more complete, more detailed.