Book Review: Hawken's Heart by Suzanne Brockmann

Hawken's Heart
Author: Suzanne Brockmann
Series: Tall, Dark and Dangerous (Book 6)
Publication: Mira (April 2005)

Description: Something Worth Fighting For

As Christmastime settled quietly over the countryside, Navy SEAL William "Crash" Hawken was faced with a deadly conspiracy. And he had only one person to turn to-- the caring passionate Nell Burns. For though Crash had long ago accepted the fact that there was no place in his dangerous world for the simple pleasures of home and family, Nell had been the only woman who had ever tempted him to dream of another kind of life...

Now, as he needed Nell more than ever before, he was beginning to see all that they could have together. What the future might be. If only he could be assured that they had one...

My Thoughts: Navy SEAL William "Crash" Hawken first gets to spend time with Nell Burns when they are dealing with a horrible situation. Artist Daisy Owen has been like his mother since he was ten years old and Admiral Jake Robinson was her lover and almost like a father to him since then too. Nell is Daisy's personal assistant.

When Daisy is diagnosed with a brain tumor and given less than two months to live, both Crash and Nell are determined to make her last days wonderful despite the grief and loss they are feeling. And despite their unresolved feelings for each other. Billy doesn't do relationships. His job is both incredibly secret and incredibly dangerous. There is no way he wants to give his heart to someone he has to walk away from. Nell isn't afraid to love him though she prefers a more risk-free life.

After Daisy dies, just days after marrying Jake, Billy heads out of the country on special missions for Jake. And Nell begins a new job in Washington DC as the personal assistant for an actress who is trying to start up a theater. All of her letters to Billy go unanswered, but she hasn't moved on to another man. 

One year after Daisy's death, Billy gets an assignment to take care of Jake and finds that he has been suckered into a mission that will wind up with Jake dead and Billy carrying all the blame. But Billy is determined to find out who set him up and who had Jake murdered. And even when it looks like all his military colleagues have turned against him, Nell refuses to believe that Billy could ever have killed Jake. 

A couple of attempts on Nell's life send Nell and Billy off to try to find out who set him up and who killed Jake.

This was excellent romantic suspense. I loved the romance between Billy and Nell. It was also action-packed suspense with Billy and Nell on the run from a wide assortment of formidable enemies. 

This story, written in 1998, is one of the reasons I became a fan of romantic suspense. It has held up quite well in the twenty-five years since it was first released. 

Favorite Quote:

He'd protected himself from the pain, but he'd cut himself off from the joy as well.

And that was another desperate tragedy. Daisy, so full of life, was dying while Crash willingly chose to go through life emotionally half-dead. 

I bought this one sometime before 2008. You can buy your copy here.