Review: A Prior Engagement: Special Forces #4

A Prior Engagement: Special Forces #4 by Karina Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the surprise book for me. The series is about a group of four New Zealand SAS buddies who were all affected by an ambush in Afghanistan. The original premise was that Lee had been killed in action and the three surviving friends had to deal with variously: killing the fifth member of the team to prevent him from being tortured by the Taliban; being badly wounded and unable to return to the SAS; and feeling guilty for not being on the mission because of toothache.

Anyway, before he went on the fatal mission Lee had bought an engagement ring for the woman he had been dating for six weeks, Juliet (Jules) Browne. After his 'death' his friends gave Jules the ring, not knowing that she had rejected his proposal. In the 19 months since Lee's death Jules has become part of the group of friends, so much so that the goys persuaded her to go on a date with one of the local guys!

Lee can't believe that the guys consider Jules to be one of the family, how could she possibly have accepted that ring after rejecting him so brutally? Then he finds out that she has also cozied up to his late father and siblings, even holidaying in far flung destinations with his father and he is incensed to find that Jules has inherited money from his father. Clearly this woman is a scheming gold-digger who has lied to Lee's friends and family. So he pretends amnesia to see whether Jules will come clean when they meet face-to-face.

Jules has spent the last 19 months wishing she had told the truth when Lee's friends gave her the ridiculous engagement ring but they seemed to need it as much as she did. Now she wants to tell him the truth but she doesn't want to upset him when he is clearly suffering PTSD and has lots of other issues, including amnesia. Even worse, she invested the money she inherited in a partnership in the legal practice where she works, in order to pay Lee back all his money she will need to sell her house or the share in the partnership.

I really enjoyed this, despite having wished that strait-laced Jules would tame the rockstar that Nate has been bodyguarding in Hollywood. I love a pretend amnesia plot and this didn't disappoint, although I did think it floundered a little bit in the middle. I'm sorry to have reached the end of this series as I enjoyed the trials and tribulations that these guys have endured.



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