Loving a Warrior is the first book in this series by Melanie Hansen, and it was the first time I read something from this author. It didn't disappoint.

Everything in this book works. The male protagonists Matt and Shane are just super cute together, and it was very nice to see their friendship grow into something more. It's a slow burn romance and when they finally get together, it's explosive. They push each other through training and their trust in each other develops because of it.

The other details I loved in this story are all on the Navy SEAL training. For someone who doesn't know what the training involves, this was pretty interesting for me. It's brutal, both physically and mentally. The level of endurance and mental strength needed to go through it it's incredible.

It was my first book by Hansen, but definitely not my last!

Their love wasn't something easy, it was fought for and I was here for the ride. Even though their individual strengths worked well together, it was their foibles that got called out by both word and deed that really gave them a believable resolution. It wasn't an easy one, for sure, but they worked it out together and even though they made me want to pull my hair out at times, I enjoyed these characters because they felt real. They made human mistakes, reacted immaturely and frustratingly, and loved fiercely. It was worth the read.

Matt Knytych has worked his whole life to be a Navy SEAL and now it’s time to start BUD/S training. Matt is in peak shape, mentally focused, and determined to succeed where so many others fail. He doesn’t need any distractions, and certainly not from a sexy fellow candidate. But after meeting Shane Hovland, Matt can’t get him out of his mind. Determined to keep his focus, Matt pushes Shane away and concentrates on his training and making it through the grueling process.

Despite his attempts to keep Shane at a distance however, Matt can’t help but be drawn to him. Shane offers Matt the friendship, support, and understanding he doesn’t find many places. Soon the men begin to grow close, and the interest is there on both their parts. But with SEAL candidates dropping out right and left, the men don’t have the time or energy to pursue a relationship. What’s worse is that even once they make it as SEALs, the opportunities to be together will still be slim. Now the men have to decide if the chance to be together, even in a limited way, is worth taking the leap into love, or if they are better off staying apart and focusing on their jobs.

I have heard great things about Melanie Hansen’s military stories and so I was excited to give this one a try. I found this story really engaging and, despite it being a longer book, I read through it quickly. What is most prominent here is the rich detail into the SEAL training process. Hansen really immerses the reader into all aspects of training and I found myself wincing and shivering along with these guys as they face one challenge after another. If you ever want to feel lazy, read a few pages of what these soldiers do on a daily basis. I really enjoyed delving so deeply into the military side of things, as I found the process kind of fascinating. But if you are not into military stuff, I do think this portion may feel a little too drawn out. Even as interested as I was, I found so much focus on the training process to be somewhat overwhelming, especially with such a slow burn romance.

On the romance side, I really liked Matt and Shane together. Each of them are interesting, complicated men and their backstories really help develop them as characters. We can see how strong, determined, and dedicated these guys are, and it shows in not only their training, but the way they interact with one another. I liked how well these two fit each other, how they were able to be just what the other needed during the more difficult times. It was a lovely partnership and I really enjoyed their relationship, particularly when things really get moving in the last portion of the book. That said, again this is a slow burn romance and most of the book is focused on their training and not their relationship. While it is clear the guys are hot for one another, and Hansen gives us some great chemistry and sexual tension, the relationship really takes a back seat to the military side of things for most of the book. Part of me really appreciated the realism here; the fact is that two men with this type of schedule aren’t going to have a lot of time to be together, and when they do, they are likely to be too exhausted to move. But from a romance end, I felt like things keep getting pushed back and I missed seeing some of that development. Part of the theme of this book is what is like “loving a warrior” and the sacrifices that come on both their parts. Yet, we barely see these guys officially together to watch that play out. While we get an epilogue, I would have loved some time where we see how these guys make it work on page.

So I definitely enjoyed my first foray into Hansen’s work and I found the military aspect of this just fascinating. I really liked Matt and Shane and enjoyed watching them grow and develop throughout the story. If I hadn’t found the training end of things so engaging, I may have not enjoyed this quite as much, but despite wishing for more time with the guys together, this one kept my attention and I just flew through it. It looks like this will be the first in a series, so I am really looking forward to following along with more in this world.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I really liked this MM book with excellent characters and spicy hawt scenes between the characters.

Here is to hoping we get a second for this couple. Melanie Hansen just has a way of writing M/M and Military.

Another great addition by Melanie Hansen! The tension between the two MCs was great and the sex scenes are smoldering. If you're a fan of Hansen's work, you'll love this book as well.

Loving a Warrior, A Navy Seal Gay Romance, by Melanie Hansen had very little romance and very much SEAL. I’d have preferred less details on the training. That said, the storyline was really good. I’m optimistic that the next in series will omit training so I’ll recommend this as 4 stars.

For whatever reason I've been in the mood for military themed romances lately, listening to the audiobooks of Annabeth Albert's Out of Uniform series and now reading this. Whereas the former focuses on SEALs who have already finished training, "Loving a warrior" tells the story of Matt and Shane, who still have to go through BUD/S and earn their trident (and yeah, I think that just about was all the military jargon I picked up thanks to these books).

Matt and Shane each have their own reasons for wanting to become SEALs and they each face their own challenges, but from the beginning there is a pull between them that leads to them becoming friends. They try their best pushing aside their mutual attraction, trying to focus on surviving hell week and the other tasks the Navy throws at them, but at the end that turns out to be impossible.

I really liked the way Matt and Shane's relationship develops, as well as the places they end up carving out for each other in their lives. Together with the descriptions of training, this felt realistic. And despite not being pro-military, I enjoyed this book. This is the kind of topic I need to be in the mood for, and I suspect it may be similar for others, but if you're looking for a good military romance, this is a great choice.

Loving a Warrior that sealed the deal. I fell crazy in love with Shane and Matt both together, and through their battle to become Navy SEALs.

Truthfully, I was sold just reading about BUD/S training. If someone were to tell me everything Melanie Hansen wrote was incorrect I’d be stunned. I believed what Matt and Shane went through in order to receive their Tridents. Her descriptions felt authentic. The entire book happens during Matt and Shane’s training, and I loved every single brutal second of it.

It was the perfect backdrop for two driven men to find each other. The slow slide from reluctant training partners, to friends, to romance, was perfectly executed. This was one of those stories I was sneaking to read, looking out the side of my eye for just one more word, then one more, then another, until I’d ingested just one more entire sentence, then paragraph, then chapter. I admit it. I’m shameless for a good book, and Loving a Warrior was a damn good book!

I'm so torn between a 3 and a 3.5 on this one. While I did enjoy the story, I think too much of it focused on the actual events of being a SEAL instead of the relationship between Matt and Shane. There was some relationship building but not as much as talking regarding becoming a SEAL. Yep, I understand life goals and wanting to achieve them, in that aspect the author made great points. On the chemistry of the relationship ie: falling in love, knowing this person has your heart in their hands, that I did not feel between the two guys.
To me, it's a good story about the two men trying to make it through the day to day military life and finding a way to be together while trying to decide if they need to pick one over the other or if they can both have it all.

Review: LOVING A WARRIOR ‪by Melanie Hansen https://wp.me/p3d0RZ-aY0
Publication Date: November 26, 2018
Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance
Reviewed by: Reading in Pajamas/ Donna
Rated 5 Stars

I was swept into the world surrounding this romance by page two. I’ve never been in the military, so was surprised to flow right along with the struggle of the BUD/S, Navy SEAL training while the romance grew. I just loved Matt and Shane. They were strong warriors, driven to succeed, hot, yet they each had a vulnerability and gentleness of spirit that captured me. Each secure enough in their masculinity to lean on the other when needed. This is one story that has stuck with me long after the last page was read.

*Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Kindle $3.99 https://amzn.to/2GYWqVR‬

3.5 stars

This author is one of my favorites in this genre and I was really excited to start reading this. I was completely wrapped up in this for the first half. It was really more about the SEAL training and their friendship than anything else but it was fascinating. Plus, I've been to Coronado many, many times and I love a book that's set somewhere I'm familiar with.....when the author gets it right, which Hansen did. (And, on a side note, if you ever get the chance to go to Coronado beach go. You still on the beach and watch the SEALS run back and forth all day in their little black swim trunks. It's fantastic)

By about the 70% mark though some of the magic was wearing off. I was getting tired of waiting on these two to get their shit together and get together. I also started getting bored with the details of the SEAL training. It wasn't enough to make me dislike the book but definitely dulled my overall enthusiasm.

This book is different because of the way the training is such a big part if it. I think this will either be a hit or a miss for most readers. I did really like these two guys together though and I was happy for them when they FINALLY got together.

**ARC provided through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

4.5 Stars

After reading Point of Contact by Melanie Hansen, and being touched so much by it, I couldn’t really ignore her newest work which also takes place in the military world. The similarities between the two books, though, end somewhere around here.

Loving a Warrior isn’t as emotional or as hard to read. It didn’t make me cry, and I’m thankful for that, but it captured my attention all the same. This time we get a friends-to-lovers theme in a setting where it’s forbidden for them to make the transition. I’m not sure if it was against official rules, but it definitely went against their personal ones. No, there’s no denial or internal struggle with sexuality. Both characters are at peace with who they are. The problem is the time and place where they meet, and I think that the need to keep things quiet came mainly from their desire to focus on training. I liked the progression of them getting close to each other, of them realising that the other one felt the same, of them taking the first tentative steps to something more.

Now, I’ll let you in on something I had no idea about until I read the last page. It’s not a spoiler so don’t worry. It’s just that apparently this is just the first part of a bigger story. I don’t know how many more books there are going to be, but I know I’ll read them all! I really liked both of the characters and I’m excited to see how they’ll navigate their relationship while being in different continents for most of their time.

If you like military romances and the friends-to-lovers trope, you don’t want to miss this!

This is the second book that I've read by Melanie Hansen. Loving a Warrior didn't quite measure up to Point of Contact, but to be honest, very few of my 2018 reads did. And to be fair, Loving a Warrior was a totally different book, even though both centered around the military. As a matter of fact, the fact that these books were so different made me want to keep an eye out for more of this author's work - especially, the next book in this series.

Okay, so enough with the comparisons... Loving a Warrior was a slow burn kind of romance between two very determined young men. What they went through in training was as much a part of this story as their relationship. I read books for a lot of reasons and one of them is to learn about situations and experiences that I wouldn't otherwise know a lot about. I found that aspect of the story fascinating and it added a lot to the story, especially about what these two were up against. It also gave a lot of insight into both Shane and Matt's personalities.

I loved how both Shane and Matt supported each other while staying true to themselves and their individual goals. Nothing about what they went through was easy and there were just as many failures as triumphs. Knowing they had each others' backs made it just a little bit easier to reach their final goals.

The next book in the Loving a Warrior series is Keeping a Warrior, which isn't another M/M book. I'm interested to read another Melanie Hansen book from a M/F perspective.

Loving a Warrior is about two young men in BUD/S training, which is where they will either become a Navy SEAL or not. Matt has wanted to be a SEAL most of his life, but he’s had some things happen in his past that could derailed him. Now that he’s in training, he doesn’t want any distractions. Of course, the most unwanted distraction comes in the form of Shane, who used to be a marine, and has his own past story.

I really liked both Matt and Shane, though I found Matt to be a bit too stubborn and single-minded for awhile. It definitely made it easier to like Shane a bit more, but all in all, I did want both of them to make it work. And making it work would hopefully include both of them becoming SEALS as well as being able to be together in a relationship.

Loving a Warrior was a book that I really enjoyed, but I could see some having issues with it. It focuses a lot on the actual training so it’s not a straight forward romance. Also, while the two are going back and forth about being together, they tend to become physically aggressive when frustrated with each other. As two friends, and two friends who are in the military, it didn’t really bother me, but I could see how it might stray too close to abuse for some if they see the two in a romantic relationship.

I went into this book with high hopes. I had read one other book by this author and it destroyed me. It broke my heart, made me cry and then put me back together again. So I was looking forward to the feels! To a great story! A fabulous romance!

But it was...boring.

Literally 80 or 85% of the book is them going through BUD/S training to become SEALs. Besides some kissing and one quick jerk off scene, both buys are willing to wait so they are distracted. Just. Wait.

And they are together a lot. But they just abstain. Which is FINE. I have nothing against that. But then give me more story. Not more SEAL training. "Get wet and sandy!" It was so tedious.

The real story, the conflict, the drama all happened at the very end of the book. There were super vague hints to it, but it should have been explored more throughout the book.

If you want to learn about the brutal training you have to go through to become a SEAL, read this book. If you want a romance and hot sex between 2 SEALs, I can suggest way better books.

I really enjoyed this slow burn romance, but I would have liked a bit more romance and a bit less SEAL training. While the training regime was interesting and really showed what these guys had to endure to reach their goals, I'd have liked the slow burn to have burnt a little faster. I really liked both Matt and Shane and loved the chemistry and friendship between them. Their back stories were interesting and Shane's especially had a bit impact on him and the decisions he made.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin - Carina Press for a copy in return for an honest review.

Melanie Hansen's Loving A Warrior is a wonderful military romance.



Shane, an ex-marine, is new to the SEAL training camp, and he finds it won't be easy. He's treated to some tests, both mental and physical. When he meets Matt, a fellow SEAL in training, he discovers the stress of trying to be involved in a forbidden and complicated relationship.

The author does a great job of creating a low-angst, yet highly intense story. The training scenes are brutal, the treatment from the other men awful, and the struggle to balance love with one's duty towards the SEALs is ever present.

This story will also take you on an emotional ride, as these men have a lot to deal with, and some of it is heart-breaking. Shane's past was not easy to read about, as we learn bits and pieces as the story progresses.


One mention in the story is to focus on the small part of your world that you can control instead of worrying about the big picture. I really enjoyed this thought, as we all need to remember that.

If you like action, big tough men, and a well developed story, be sure to check out Melanie Hansen's Loving A Warrior. It's superb. It's gritty, it's ugly, and it's raw. As one would assume, it's not easy to love a warrior. And Shane and Matt are proof of this.

3.5 Stars so rounding up to 4.0

I always love a military (especially special ops) romance! The writing is typical of Ms. Hansen…if this is your first or if you’ve not read anything by her…her writing is really good. There is a lot of detail surrounding their SEAL training for at least half the book which may be off-putting to some people.

Both guys are in training because they have something to prove and we are with them through every detail of them proving it. I love their banter as they get to know each other and when we finally get to the lovers part of this enemies to lovers story I love that it is low angst and there is no bull between them, partially in thanks to Matt’s tell it like it is attutide.

There was one thing that did bother me pretty much right from the beginning and that’s the almost over the top, abrasive way Matt and Shane treated each other at the beginning of their relationship…even when it appeared they were friends. The macho, alpha BS just rubbed me the wrong way and honestly made it hard to believe they could fall in love with each other.

This felt more like an HFN than an HEA but I’ve seen conflicting information about the next book in the series. I’ve read from a couple different sources that it will be about these guys and another source that it will be a MF book with a character we didn’t meet so I guess we’ll have to wait and see. There were several side characters so I’m assuming there will be plenty of stories to tell.

I really enjoyed this book but I didn't love it as much as the other Melanie Hansen books I've read. It's incredibly well written and obviously researched and I loved both MC's. However, there is a lot of military scenes about SEAL training in this book. I love those scenes but they overwhelmed the book a bit and the romance got a little lost IMO. This was definitely a slow burn romance and I liked that about this book. The pacing was a little slow but there were some great emotional scenes throughout the book that kept me hooked. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.