Customer Reviews

Forget Me Not (Navy SEALs, Book 1)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wanting a light read to help pass the time on 5 hour airplane flight, I picked up Melton's FORGET ME NOT because a reviewer here compared it to Suzanne Brockman's navy SEALs books. Melton's plot is interesting: A navy SEAL escapes captivity and returns home with PTSD-induced amnesia after a year-long bout of brutal torture, but the SEAL's amnesia renders him vulnerable to the treasonous military who sold him out in the first place. Meanwhile, the SEAL's relationship with a wife he doesn't remember is turned upside-down when this once macho and emotionally distant man returns home emotionally vulnerable and in touch with what really matters in life. The problem with FORGET ME NOT, unfortunatley, is shoddy writing and unforgiveably poor research. Melton spends the entire book telling the reader how her characters feel, rather than showing us with action and dialogue. Also, Melton's phobic-like avoidance of the word "said" became annoying quite quickly. For example, in the span of
2 pages, her characters
"drawled," "muttered," "inquired," "interrupted," "encouraged," "asked, "prompted," "gasped," "agreed" - rather than "said." And her lack of research was way beyond lazy. For example, one character is introduced as a psychologist, then for a few chapters he's referred to as a psychiatrist, then he's referred to as a psychologist again. Does the author really not know the two professions are entirely different?

Where was Melton's editor???

Which brings me to another point: Why is it so difficult to find a well-written romance novel? It's books like this, published in draft form (by major publishing houses!), that give the romance genre a bad name. This is entirely the fault of the publishers. Rather than churning out a glut of unpolished, unedited novels, I wish they'd get themselves back into the business of publishing quality fiction.

That said, if it's a well-written romance with a military backdrop you're after, stick with Suzanne Brockman. (She probably edits her own work!)

I love military romances. I think it's because they truly capture the nuances of what truly a hero is to many. Ms. Melton has done a fine...no brilliant job creating a hero that many would not even want to bother with but can't help loving in the end.

Gabe Renault is a SEAL and he is married to his job. Oh, and married to a real life flesh and blood woman named Helen. Problem though is Gabe gives a 100% to work but less than that at home. Than he is sent on a mission from which he doesn't return. Helen is told at first that he is MIA and than a year later that he is dead. No sooner does she receive that word than her husband comes back from the dead. He's alive but he can't remember the last three years. Trouble with that...those were the years that he was married to Helen. Now Helen wants nothing more to do with her wounded husband. He has hurt her bad and her heart won't stand the pain anymore. But she just can't turn her back on this "new" Gabe. He's attentive, loving, and supportive. Will he change once he get his memory back?

Gabe has lived through a nightmare and it's not over yet. He can't remember his last mission, the last three years of his life. Now his memories are returning and they are dis-jointed and fragmented. But one thing remains. He can't remember what happened but someone thinks he can. This results in him fearing not only for his life but his families as well. Is he paranoid or are his fears real? Just how far up the chain of command is involved in what took place one year earlier?

This was a very fast-paced read that will take the reader on a roller coaster of emotions. You will alternate between upset and joy with Helen and truly feel the frustration of Gabe. The repair of their romance is...romantic and one of the better examples of why we read romance. This is one read I have no trouble recommending. I look forward to the next book in this series.

After one year of being announced "missing in action" Gabe Renault, a navy Seal, returns alive from the jaws of hell, after having been double crossed on enemy territory, in which one of his own team betrayed him. Gabe has endured a terrible year of torture. He has lost his memory, and does not remember the mission, or his wife and step daughter of 3 years. Upon his return Gabe begins to discover the kind of husband and father he was before his disappearance. He had always ignored Helen his wife, refusing to give her his love, or open up to her. He was always distant. He had even refused to legally adopt Helen's daughter Mallory, and been absent from Mallory's life for most of the time.

Helen Troy, is ready to rebuild her life. After one year of being MIA, her husband Gabe Renault was announced dead, just the week before. So it was with no small amount of shock that Helen learned that Gabe had just returned from the dead. She is wary of him, and she is bitter because of his mistreatment of her. While she had given him her love, he had ignored her and abandoned her, hence breaking her heart and shattering all the beautiful feelings she had harbored for him. Now she just wants to help him get better, and regain his memories, then they would get a divorce. He'll return to his life and work as a Seal, and she'll return to bask in her new gained independence. Helen is honest with Gabe, informing him that once he is better they will get a divorce.

And so the story starts, as Gabe struggles to come to terms with who he had been, and why. While this new "real" Gabe is not distant from his wife or daughter. He shows love, care and compassion towards them. Helen retains her wariness of him, as Gabe sets out to regain his family and prove to Helen that he really loves her. He just wants a second chance to prove to her how wrong he was. He had always assumed that allowing himself to feel and care would weaken him, but it was only his love for Helen that had sustained him through the terrible torture and imprisonment in the past year. Gabe loves his wife and his step daughter, they are the most important in his life, and nothing comes before them.

And we the readers get to see how Gabe and Helen get together, as they heal each other and have a chance at a new start. While Helen may seem a bit cold and distant through a good portion of the book, it was understandable due to her past experience with Gabe. And her fear that once Gabe regains his memories he would return to that distant man who had so callously broken her heart.

Gabe also has no memory of his last mission, leaving him vulnerable to the attacks of those who do not want him to remember. For someone is still out there waiting for the right moment to silence Gabe forever, before he can remember the truth and reveal it. This is the story of a hero and a man, who upon return from the jaws of hell, after one year, starts to rebuild his life on a journey of self discovery and love, while trying to stay alive and protect his family from a danger and an enemy he does not know. For only Gabe's memories can save him... if they do not kill him first...

A great romantic suspense read.

I like Melton, but she sure went wrong with her main character. Gabe is a likable hero, who is just back from being held prisoner and tortured for a year. Helen is his wife, who behaves like a self-centered, self-serving teenager. From the first moment she sees him in the hospital, she miss-treats him because her feelings are hurt that he was more of a soldier than a husband before he was taken prisoner. I finally gave up on the book when Helen's shallowness led to her stupidly endangered Gabe's life. This is only the third book I've ever given up on. Don't bother with this one!

Gabe Renault has just returned from the dead. A Navy SEAL, he was on a mission to retrieve stolen missiles and betrayed by one of his team members and left for dead, rotting in a North Korea prison. Helen Renault has just managed to get on with her life. She knew that she and her daughter came in second to Gabe's first family, the SEALs, and now that he's dead, she's able to put that behind her. Until she gets a call that he is no longer MIA, and has no recollection of the last three years of his life (including their marriage). She begrudgingly takes Gabe in, promising to nurse him back to health to regain his memory, but then set him loose.

The problem is, this version of Gabe is more sincere and giving, and even has time for her daughter, Mallory, who he virtually ignored before. She is finding her old feelings coming back to with a vengeance. Will this be a second chance for both of them? While Gabe is trying to recall his past, someone sinister in the background is taking steps to insure that he doesn't remember, and is even prepared to kill if necessary.

Melton's SEAL debut is an action-packed romance that'll keep you on the edge of your seat until the exciting conclusion. The plot is reminiscent of an old Linda Howard novel, "White Lies" about an amnesiac thought to be dead coming home to an estranged wife. Where Howard's story fails, Melton's exceeds, creating plenty of romantic tension between the lead couple. Melton follows the story up with several sequels including "In the Dark" and "Time to Run" both of which are excellent romantic suspense novels featuring a SEAL team.

This gritty novel seizes you from the first page and doesn't let you go until the last page is turned. With no holds barred author Marliss Melton sucks you into a world of intrigue, passion and suspense. Meet Gabe Renault. Gabe Renault, Navy Seal, returns to his life with no memory of what has happened to him. He knows he's been tortured, and shadowy figures haunt his dreams but he is unable to piece his memory together. In fact, he can remember nothing from the point before he meets his wife. His escape from a prison camp in North Korea is a shock to his wife and stepdaughter, who had been told he was dead. Helen Ranault, his wife, has pulled her life together, found a job, and finds a sense of peace with the death of Gabe, her neglectful husband. His return is a surprise, and not an entirely welcome one.

In the course of this story, Gabe, the former "perfect Navy Seal" has returned to who he truly is. A man who is capable of great love and no longer fears that love. With all his self-imposed restrictions lifted he is finally able to discover what he had been pushing away and missing all along - his one true love. As his memory begins to fill in, he realizes he is involved in a plot that involves those he thought he could trust. Glimpses of his time in North Korea, his torture, who his captors are, and how he got there all begin to fill in.

While there is a strong current of suspense that really pushes this story forward, it is the relationship between Gabe and Helen as well as Gabe and his stepdaughter that really grabs you.

I look forward to more stories from this new author on the scene!

I never knew reading about the Navy could be so exhilirating.

This book had it all: suspense, romance, action, drama, and very interesting secondary characters. Though I would have preferred more from Sebastian and Leila. They had as much chemistry as the main characters, Gabe and Helen Renault.

In this book, Marliss Melton-- first book I've read by this author and certainly not the last--, had me engrossed for 3 days. I couldn't put this book down. With the hero and heroine she induced believable, heartfelt emotions, intuned with the circumstances these two faced after a year apart and two years of a strained marriage.

Gabe, of the Navy Seals, disappeared for a year after a mission gone wrong. Held captive by North Korean natives, the only thing that kept him alive and fighting and enduring horrendous bouts of torture was the memory that could never leave him: that of his beautiful wife.

While alone in a miserable dungeon away from civility, he had plenty of time to reflect on a rough childhood upbringing, which was responsible for his always putting his job first and ignoring and keeping feelings at bay when it came to his wife and stepdaughter.

Escaping from his torturers, Gabe returns home only to not remember the past three years of his life, including that of his wife, Helen, and stepdaughter, Mallory.

Being not happy that her husband was assumed dead, but certainly enjoying her freedom to be more independent and not rely on a man who never paid her attention anyways, Helen must relinquish her newfound freedom and be there for Gabe.

What transpires is a newfound love, though rocky at first. Gabe is not the man he used to be and Helen finds it hard to resist this mysterious man who's supposed to be her distant, work-obessed husband. Now disband from the Navy on a disability release, Gabe is much more attentive and loving than ever.

But will this part of Gabe last?? Or be lost to her once again when his memories return? On top of that, should Helen trust her heart to him once again? Only to lose him with the threat of his life hanging in the balance?

Someone wants him to forget the mission that had him captive for a year, and Helen wishes he would, too, if only to keep this part of the man she can not let go, in spite of knowing she should.

With suspense, beautiful dialogue between Helen, Gabe, and Mallory, this story is a 5-star read and worth a second read, too.

You'll also be enthralled by the sexy, latino Master Chief Sebastian Leon and Helen's best friend Leila, hoping for a story of their own. I felt cheated that I didn't get to see how they wound up.

But that's my only omplaint about this book.

Insecurities from Gabe-- was he too scarred physically and emotionally for Helen to love; was he man enough to be a good father to a teenage girl with her own insecurities; did he betray his country and not remember the mission for fear of losing his job; and was a second chance at living enough to warrant a second chance with the family that gave him the strength to want to live? Could Helen be woman enough to see Gabe through his nightmares and inability to recollect his memory?

Read and find out!

This book has it all. I suggest you go buy this one and enjoy it as thoroughly as I!

Miss Melton, you and Karen Rose are treasures to the reading world :)

I wish I had read this book before Time To Run, because although that was a good book, it was nothing compared to Forget Me Not. This is a beautiful love story of a SEAL coming back home after a year of captivity and who has no memory of the past 3 years from the time he met his wife. Gabe is a wonderful hero and made me cheer for him when he sets out to win his wife again who I felt wasn't cold, but was just treading carefully after rejections in the past. This book has romance, suspense, and even some action and I couldn't have asked for more. Please read this book and experience the talent of Marliss Melton!

I had high hopes for this book, I like military romances and the idea seemed interesting.
I must admit that the actual execution of this book falls short in Many areas. The story is about a navy SEAL who lost the memory of the past 3 years, forgetting his wife and step daughter after spending a year in captivity.

First of all, I believe that it could be one third shorter, with proper editing. I have encountered pages upon pages of repetitive paragraphs, telling us the exact same thing, with slightly different adjectives.

The Characters are not very well developed. Gabe - The main hero, comes across as an uninteresting generic hero blob. He wants to be a WARRIOR again but thee doesn't seem to be any genuine feeling behind any of his words. In her haste to convey the aughts that he is supposed to be suffering the author forgot to include any endearing or interesting characteristics for her hero. Helen, the wife has remained for me as a flat as a pancake throughout the story. She is supposed to be regaining her independence from Gabe as well as her overbearing father, however, other than being told these things out front, we see no traces of this in her conduct through the book.
Mallory - 13year old daughter of Helen and an unnamed men, has been written into the story only to showcase the hero as a loving and doting parent. Even though Helen and Mallory supposedly only had each other for the first ten years of Mallory's life, there are no interactions between them in the book which could attest to such a bond. Mallory is supposedly thrilled to see her new dad, which had, according to the author, ignored her for the course of 2 years, and had been absent completely during the third.
Even given the fact that this book is ultimately a Romance novel, there was no need for this character if the author wasn't going to put the time into developing the intricate - teenager/mom relationships, even a little.
For example, after Mallory runs off, Gabe is the one very worried and concerned about her, while Helen apathetically tells him that Malory is probably hanging around somewhere. Gabe comes off as concerned, while Helen comes off as neglectful.

The characters are almost identical when it comes to patterns of speech and behaviour, other that the character of Master Chief Sebastian, who ads the occasional Spanish word or phrase, which is not nearly sufficient enough to make a charter different or interesting.

In addition, the bad guys a really bad, even comically so. They think evil and do evil, cowardly and treacherous to the bone. Supposedly being former SEALs themselves, there is nothing interesting or humane about them. The antiheroes need to be as interesting as the Hero, or at least make the reader intrigued in some way. Otherwise we don't care if they get beaten or not, and frankly, by the end of this book I cared for none of the characters, good or bad.

The only character I really felt for had been the dog Priscilla.

In conclusion, the plot of this book was hammered together between excruciatingly long narratives about the angst the hero and heroine are going through. The characters are one dimensional, spark no interest and not even remotely believable. The author spends too much time telling us what we should see or feel, instead of showing it through character interactions.

There are better romance novels out there, for your hard earned money: Linda Howard, Iris Johansen to name a few, and if you are particularly interested in SEALs: Suzanne Brockmann.

Melton's Navy SEAL Series:

Forget Me Not

In the Dark

Time to Run

Next to Die

Don't Let Go

Gone Too Far

Show No Fear


I put off reading this series for a very long time because I'm so hooked on Brockmann's series that I didn't even want to try another SEAL romance series. I have to say, "Forget Me Not" was actually quite good. The idea for the book was very good... A SEAL with amnesia leaves an opening for a terrific tale on many levels. It's emotional to watch him try to win his family back, it's exciting to watch his memories unfold, it's filled with tension as the enemies seek to silence him before his memories return. The problem for me was in feeling any kind of connection for the rest of the characters. They were all very typical and flat. I didn't care about the heroine at all. We readers also didn't get to bond with any of the other SEAL team members. One team member was given a beginning for a future romance, but he came across as a love-sick puppy who was drooling over a woman made of stone. I'm not at all looking forward to reading their story in the future.

Somehow, though, Melton kept the story moving until the last couple of chapters. What should have been the big exciting ending turned into a bad soap opera. WHY, WHY, WHY do authors insult our gender by writing their heroines to be complete idiots? Melton fell into the common error of thinking that a woman will seem strong and spunky if she throws herself and everyone around her into the line of fire. In this case, it was worse than usual. Not only did the heroine decide that her husband and his team of expert SEALs needed her to follow them into battle (after they clearly told her that she would be a distraction and danger to them all), she brought along her teenage daughter and her best friend! Is this a joke???!!! The men are a team of SEALs. She is the director of a gym, her best friend is a ballet instructor, and her daughter is thirteen years old! The three of them had one hand gun between them. Twice, the SEALs tried to leave them behind for their own safety and the safety of the team. But what do the men know? They are only trained experts. UGH! Real women are not this dumb. It's insulting. ~Taking a deep breath~

In the end, I'm not sure if I'll read any more of this series. Again, the idea for this book was excellent. I just think the wrong author wrote the story. Still, it is the first in the series. Brockmann's first in her SEAL series was my least favorite. Perhaps this series would prove to get better and better as well. Maybe I'll wait and give Melton's second in the series a try in the future.


Curious about Brockmann's series? Here is the link to the first book in her SEAL series (AKA "The Troubleshooters" series):
The Unsung Hero (Troubleshooters, Book 1)

Want to read the second book in Melton's series? Here is the link:
In the Dark (Navy SEALs, Book 2)

Love Romantic Suspense? Here are a few terrific titles:
Unlawful Contact (I-Team Series, Book 3)
Kill Me Twice (The Bullet Catchers, Book 1)
Cry No More