Review: The Angel and the SEAL by Petie McCarty

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☆☆➹⁀☆ 4 stars ☆➹⁀☆☆

What It’s About:

The Angel and the SEAL . . . a cozy mystery with romantic suspense from the Mystery Angel Romances series. An angel hidden in every book waiting for you to figure out who . . .

Navy SEAL Sean MacKay’s teammate is murdered after stealing a deadly nerve-gas formula from Syrian terrorists. Naval Intelligence believes MacKay’s teammate was a traitor and

shipped the stolen formula to his sister in the states for safekeeping. MacKay is given orders to find the sister before the terrorists do and to retrieve the stolen formula at all costs.

Foreclosure looms for Cory Rigatero as she fights to keep her rustic resort near Mt. St. Helens afloat after her brother deserted her to join the SEAL teams. Cory’s whole world dives into a tailspin when Sean MacKay shows up at her resort with the news of her brother’s death and the wild suspicion her brother may have sent her traitorous classified documents for safekeeping. No way will Cory trust MacKay — the man who once seduced her and then vanished into the night without a trace.

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My Thoughts:

I have had the pleasure of reading all of Petie McCarty’s Angel Mystery series, and her latest, The Angel and the SEAL is my favorite to date. It is fast pace and action packed from start to finish.

Ms. McCarty has built a good suspense where a run- down lake resort is falling prey to local saboteur as well as a threat of international terrorism. The scenarios are realistically presented, and the author lays out the various threats such that plot tension is high and the question of “who dunnit” is ambiguous throughout most of the story.

Sean (Mac) MacKay is a likable, honest character whose history in town is not forgotten by most of the long-time townies. His return after six years as a Navy SEAL is not by chance, and it has attracted the wrong attention from the local sheriff.

Cory is the younger sister of Mac’s best friend and SEAL team mate, Brian. Cory remains at home desperately trying to keep the family lakefront cottage resort from failing. I felt deeply for Cory’s losses and struggles, however, her naiveté that the local men were just friends was a little off-putting. The idea that she held tight to a grudge and mistrust of Mac even after learning the truth about their past parting, made it hard for me to care about this character and her unrelenting angst.

The secondary characters are great caricatures of small town inhabitants, and they bring a sense of family and neighborliness to the story.

Given the series and book title, it is no surprise that a guardian angel is somehow involved in this story. However, the angel reveal brought a surprising and heartwarming twist to the ending! A very enjoyable read.