Review: Pretty Good
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2013
While Book 1 is still my favorite so far in this new series, I must say I found Sworn to Love pretty good. This is the story of Ethan's brother Nathan. Nathan from book 1 was clearly spiraling out of control since the death of his wife Ana.He was drinking heavily, kicked out of the SEALS and going nowhere fast.Ok, so there was a lot here that I liked. A lot. But there was much more that the author didnt touch on or glossed over in a way that kept this from being a 4 star read for me. Nathan has been clean and sober for a year. Reuniting with his brother and helping take care of his neice has brought him a lot of peace and eased his mind since he became a widow 5 years ago.  Everything is starting to look good in his life until evidence comes out that his wife Ana may still be alive. At this point, Nathan is obsessed with finding her especially since it never sat well with him that they didnt find Ana's body.Not to give to many spoilers but Nathan does find Ana and she has amnesia. Obviously or why else would she be missing all this time. Nathan is hesitant initially to explain who he is but cant help approaching her in a store to see if she really doesnt know him.  This is where I am little disappointed. Ana feels an instant connection to the stranger that stumbles into her, she goes home and starts wondering about her life with her husband who has taken care of her since she awakened from the accident that caused her amnesia. My problem with this is that its been 5 years and Ana NEVER made any attempt to figure out who she is. Her husband is in a top secret branch of military and leaves her for long periods of time but she doesnt use the internet to find out more information about him or herself. She doesnt think it strange that she has no pictures of her "husband" in the entire house.  The author also glosses over the fact that Ana has been living with her supposed husband and having "relations". Relations that Ana herself hints at being borderline assault. When Nathan realizes that someone is playing a cruel game with he and Ana, this possessive man doesnt even address that his wife has had married relations with another.  There are also  several scenes where Nathan's family friends and even Ana gloss over his very apparent alcoholism. When he falls off the wagon one night and drinks to the point he almost kills a 12 year old kid, Ana and his brother both tell him its okay he just needs to calm down.There was a lot of tiptoe-ing around with some of the things that made Nathan's character and added to the plot. I think if the author had gone whole hog it would have been better. Nathan's an alcoholic..say it. He's always going to be one and every day will be a struggle. Ana was abused by her husband.It wasnt hunky dory and its ok if Nathan zaps out over it. 5 years is a long time and to pretend it didnt bother him just didnt play into his character.I did love seeing Bethany and Ethan again. I had a lot of LOL moments with her driving skills which were clearly over the top in this edition and yet you had to shake your head and laugh. This is a new author for me and I will admit that this was the 3rd book from her that I have read recently. She is on my list of new authors to keep my eyes on