4.5 stars

This book and author took me by surprise, and I will be telling ALL my friends about it! Great military suspense with twists and turns, and a fantastic story. Told in flashbacks we learn of a father and his daughter, their past of them together, and current what she has done in the last eight years.

Millie has a unique relationship with her father, a Navy SEAL who is doing his best to raise her. He is still on active duty, so his mother is doing the bulk of the raising. But he spends as much time as possible with her. The current story had me hooked, and we need the past to understand where we are going. I am excited to go read more of the trilogy and what else this author has written.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, for the advanced copy; this is my voluntary review.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

A strong female character makes a huge difference to a book...and Millie is that. Surrounded by alpha males, she more than holds her own! Mason has a surprising soft side, as did Mack, where Millie is concerned. Will read the other 2 books in this trilogy!

This book grabs me from the moment I began reading it. At times it was very emotional and at other times it could be funny. The story opens with Mack and how he finds his daughter Millie, what he does to protect her, and since he is still an active Navy Seal how he trains her in shooting, self-defense, and being aware of your surroundings. Just a few things that I could relate to growing up with a military father and have also passed on to my daughter nothing wrong with any of those especially when you know how to handle anything. Anyway, the story goes from the past to the present day which now has her working for the CIA. Her father was killed on a mission but she really has not dealt with it yet. The author is taking you on a journey and you are slowly revealed why she is doing what she is doing. You do find out her reason but that is much further in the book.
You see her hustle a Seal Team on a game of pool which surprises them all especially when the next day she walks in the brief them on a mission. Masson the Master Chief is taken by her and she by him but nothing can come of it for they are working together. You wonder will they ever get together? Will you find the real reason she has been searching for years for a certain man? These and many more questions are answered along with many others you did not know about. A very intense and suspenseful story at times, but had moments of tenderness when going back in time between her and her father. Overall, an excellent book with a strong female character and other strong characters as well, very much worth the read.

Great story - the reader is pulled into the mystery of how Millie learns of her mom's history and how she was stolen / rescued by her dad from a mercy killing from her uncle / his goons.

Mack had been assigned as a SEAL to do missions no other branch of the Military could do, One of his contacts in the Middle East was a young woman, Neera, who he had a one night stand with. Millie was a result of the one night of sexual gratification. When Mack learned of Millie's birth and the mercy killing of Neere he rushes back to save his daughter.

Mack has always kept the truth about Millie's birth story a secret to protect her and his mother. He can not leave his SEAL team (the men and their extended family consider themselves all one big family). Mack asks his mother to help raise Millie (he has be bribe his mom with 1/2 his monthly paycheck) to keep her safe (the military base is more than 1.5 hours away from his mom's house).

When Millie is 17 she learns that her father was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Her father's team mate and his family welcome Millie into their home to raise her like their own. Millie overhears one night the truth about her heritage and vows to one day get answers.

Eight year latter she is an operative with the CIA. The CIA has been looking for the leader of a terrorist cell for over twenty years. Millie has kept the secret that she believe the man may well be her uncle, and she is hell bent on finding his to get answers about her mom.

Mack made sure to fully train Millie in combat (hand to hand, swimming, and guns) to make sure she could protect herself from the band of outlaws her uncle may send to capture her.

Mason is the leader of the SEAL team Millie is assigned to - when they find proof that the leader of the terrorist cell is indeed alive. Mason remembers meeting Millie when she came to the base 8 years ago looking for her dad. Mack chased Mason off - he did not want his daughter hooking up with a SEAL.. Millie has forgotten that once part of a SEAL team mission you become family to them.

I don't want to give the story away -

This is the first book I've read by Donna Schwartez. I loved it! I was surprised when I went to look her up and found out this was her first book. I will definitely read more of her books in the future. It was well written with a great storyline and wonderful characters. I loved the relationships in this book. I was so invested in them. I didn't put this book down. Looking forward to reading the next book!!

Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this ARC. This is my voluntary and honest review.

I used to devour alpha male/SEAL stories, but took a break once I had a rough patch of less than ho-hum books. I picked this up thinking I'd give this a try. It started of being a challenge to get into because the opening chapters featured time jumps and were lenses from various characters. I couldn't keep them all straight and whenever a new name came in, I was confused. Example: When an urgent text from Chase comes in, I'm like "Who dat? Was that the boyfriend's name and I simply forgot?"

But sticking with it, things evened out and I finally figured where it was heading. Overall, it was an ok read and kept me glued once I got into the flow of the book. I'm surprised Book 2 essentially picks up where this ends and willing to check it out if I ever stumble across it.

Millie loved her dad with everything she had. He was the sweetest person who tried to do everything right for her since she was a baby. When he was killed on a mission while with his SEAL team everything changed. She overheard her dad’s best friend Chase tell his wife about who Millie’s mom was and why Millie has to be protected. Millie was always told by her dad her mom was from New York. Hearing that her mom as Bosnian and was killed is a complete shock to her. She was determined to learn more about her mom so she set her sights on becoming a CIA agent. She is amazing at what she does and when she is finally getting signs that someone is alive who can help her get information about her mother she is determined to talk to him. The only way she can is by traveling with a SEAL team. When she arrives and meets everyone she immediately has a spark for Mason, Mason has devoted his love to his Navy career. It destroyed his first marriage and he has since then been sleeping with whoever. When he meets Millie his entire life changes. He see what a strong and smart so mean she is and he is determined to help her cope with loosing her dad and help her with finding the person she has been after. Little did he know that he would come to care a lot about. Millie is will break rules for her. Will Millie be able to find out about who her mom is and also be able to have a relationship with Mason? I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book and was so shocked that I’ve never heard of it before! This book goes from past and present POV where we get to see Millie as a child and her relationship with her Navy SEAL dad to her adulthood as a CIA agent. The more you learn about her childhood, the more questions start to arise that we get to see Millie search out as an adult. .