SEALed with a Ring [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Margret Daughtridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2010

She's got it all...except the one thing she needs most

Smart, successful businesswoman JJ Caruthers has a year to land a husband or lose the empire she's worked so hard to build. With time running out, romance is not an option, and a military husband who is always on the road begins to look like the perfect solution...

He's a wounded hero with an agenda of his own

Even with the scars of battle, Navy SEAL medic Davy Graziano is gorgeous enough to land any woman he wants, and he's never wanted to be tied down. Now Davy has ulterior motives for accepting JJ's outrageous proposal of marriage, but he only has so long to figure out what JJ doesn't want him to know...

Praise for SEALed with a Promise:
"The author infuses humor, realistic characters, emotion-filled situations, and in some cases brutal honesty to create a storyline that's utterly captivating from beginning to end."
-Romance Junkies

"Daughtridge delivers the heat."
-Alpha Heroes

"Mary Margret Daughtridge's descriptions awaken the senses to a level that makes a reader gasp for breath and sigh with satisfaction."
-Long and Short of It

Praise for SEALed with a Kiss:
"A heart-touching story that will keep you smiling and cheering for the characters clear through to the happy ending."
-Romantic Times

"A completely fascinating, enchanting, poignant novel that touches the heartstrings."
-Romance Reviews Today

"Mary Margret Daughtridge has done a stellar job writing a realistic romance without trying to sugarcoat the difficulties inherent in any military relationship."
-Queue My Review

(20100104)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

JJ Caruthers is furious and hurt beyond belief by the legal maneuverings of her grandfather. If she does not marry in one year, he will sell the car dealership that has become her life. Since losing her parents at a young age, she has devoted herself to maintaining it as the premier car showroom in North Carolina. Devastated, she has a one-night stand with Davy, a gorgeous Navy SEAL she metat a wedding, after which he goes off to Afghanistan. Almost a year later, JJ and Davy meet again at another wedding. Recovering from injuries, Davy makes a play for her, not realizing that they’ve met before. This makes JJ think marriage to a SEAL might be perfect. She gets control of the dealership and he will be gone most of the time. Of course, things don’t work as planned. A great addition to Daughtridge’s romantic paean to SEALs and the women who love them. --Patty Engelmann

Review

An enjoyable and sensual romance that whets the reader's appetite for more tales of these brave SEALs. A Night Owl Romance Top Pick! (Night Owl Romance 20100215)

With a surprising amount of heart, Daughtridge makes a familiar story read like new... one for the keeper shelves. (Whitney Kate Sullivan The Romantic Times 20100226)

A page-turner that you just will not be able to put down. (Viki Ferrell Fresh Fiction 20100301)

Through skillful storytelling, insightful character development, and quirky little twists and turns, SEALed with a Ring kept me reading, sentence-after-sentence. (Lynda Coker Between the Pages 20100301)

A sweet romance with spicy hints. (The Long and Short of It Reviews 20100302)

Romance at its finest! (Amy Jacobs My Overstuffed Bookshelf 20100303)

If you are looking for a good contemporary romance then look no further. (Randi Noonan Randi Romance Reader 20100303)

Another fantastic SEAL story. It's got everything (Keira Gillet Love Romance Passion 20100305)

The love scenes were hot! (Terri Razlover's Blog 20100305)

I absolutely fell in love with this book! (Kristina Cajun Book Lady 20100308)

An enjoyable read with a happy ending. (Steph Steph the Bookworm 20100308)

Mary Margret Daughtridge brings readers an emotionally touching story about finding love when you least expect it (Andrea The Romance Dish 20100311)

Witty and emotional... Absolutely fantastic! (Brande Book Junkie 20100315)

A charming and fun romance. (Martha E Reviews by Martha 20100315)

Crisp writing, engaging characters, and sense of humor stand out. (Sandy M The Good, the Bad an the Unread 20100316)

A great addition to Daughtridge's romantic paean to SEALs and the women who love them. (Patty Engleman Booklist 20100414)

Daughtridge spins a true love story... For contemporary romance fans, this one is sure to be a winner. (Kaye Pudgy Penguin Perusals 20100414)

An entertaining story. (Martina Bexte BookLoons.com )

This is a story that will leave you smiling. (Wendy Keel My Book Addiction and More )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; 1 edition (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402236980
• ISBN-13: 978-1402236983
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #709,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If you don't count a thirty-seven page novel this North Carolina native wrote when she was twelve, then SEALed with a Kiss was not merely Mary Margret Daughtridge's first published novel, it was the first novel she ever wrote. She wrote it for fun--just to prove to herself that she could.

Since she was writing only for herself, she had one guiding principle: she put everything she liked into the book and left out everything she didn't like. She likes dogs [check], children [check], heroines with a sense of humor [check], strong honorable men who are doing the right thing--by their lights. Check.

She actually likes description when it evokes the mood of a place so she added that. And she wants fallible heroines and vulnerable heroes--who can make her mad or break her heart. So she created a story about a Navy SEAL who was about to make a bad mistake with his son and a young woman who had yet to discover how strong and courageous she was.

And since she really likes a romance and a happy ending she made them fall in love, learn their lessons, make sacrifices, and be stronger and more whole in the end.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Mary Margret has a BA in Speech Communication, and an M.Ed in Speech Pathology and Audiology. All her professional life she has been a therapist of one kind or another, desiring more than anything to empower people to reach beyond whatever limits them. As her alter-ego, MM Holloman, she is a landscape artist whose paintings of North Carolina rivers, swamps, fields, forest, and coast hang in corporate and private collections across the state.

Staying true to her guiding principles she wrote SEALed with a Promise, and SEALed with a Ring. She's at work on a fourth SEALed book, SEALed Forever. She still thinks it's fun.

She's between dogs right now, so she's thrilled when Fergus, a West Highland terrier, can come for a sleepover, even if the resident cat, Crystal gets in a snit. Born in Ahoskie, Mary Margret still lives in North Carolina and visits places like Windsor, Elizabeth City, Scotland Neck and Topsail Island as often as she can.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting Better All The Time, March 4, 2010

By 

Jacqueline (Lone Jack, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SEALed with a Ring (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. It is the third in the series and is the best so far in my opinion. I loved the hero, David. He was a very real, very human character who made mistakes and grew and learned. The author did a good job making him a strong and sexy man who was also gentle while not being sickly sweet perfect. The heroine, JJ, was a strong woman who needed a strong man. Anyone less she would have just walked over. Still, she wasn't a ball breaker. She had fears and insecurities that her relationship with David helped her overcome. Their relationship grew over time and was not one of those "we met last Tuesday, saved the world from annihilation and fell in love by Saturday" kind of stories. You really believe that this is a relationship which will last.

The writing was very well done. The dialog was strong. The love scences were good, hot without being offensive and not overpowering the story line. Characters from the other 2 books showed up but didn't have their own scenes which I liked. I like to see old friends but their stories have been told. This is not one of those authors who can't seem to let go of old characters and has to continually write scences from their POV in later books.

I liked the SEAL details. She sprinkled them in without an info dump and didn't write as if the reader had never heard of a SEAL and had to be told everything about them. The only thing I wondered about was JJ being so rich and so prominent in high society from owning a car dealership. I will admit that I know nothing about either car dealerships or the junior league set so maybe that's all realistic too.

I really enjoyed it and if you like good love stories with SEALs in them, I think you will too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SEALed with a Ring, but failed to live up to it's potential, March 29, 2010

By 

booklover1335 for "Seductive Musings" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: SEALed with a Ring (Mass Market Paperback)

JJ and Davy first meet at a wedding where they let their inhibitions go and spend a wild night of sexual indulgence together... not so new to Davy, but very uncharacteristic for JJ. Then both go their separate ways...JJ to find a way to keep the car dealership that she feels is her family legacy, and has become the sole focus of her life, and Davy back to Afghanistan to serve his country as a SEAL.

They meet again almost a year later at another wedding, but Davy doesn't remember JJ. He is drawn to her inexplicably, and feels moments of déjà vu that he just can't explain, while JJ desperately wishes to forget a night that she regrets. In a moment of brilliance JJ realizes that Davy, now David, is exactly the type of husband that she needs and has been searching for. A SEAL is perfect since he will almost never be around and she will be free to lead her life as she sees fit...on her own terms. However, David has terms of his own. One of which is a "real" marriage, not just in name only.

There was so much promise in JJ and David's love story. I loved the hero David, and his transformation into a man that is drastically different from his prior playboy personality, while trying to overcome traumatic brain injuries that could end his career as a SEAL. For me he was the heart and the most interesting part of the story. However, much to my disappointment I felt that this story was heroine centric and focused mostly on JJ and her struggles to control everything in her life.

I was slow to get invested into this story for this reason. I wish the story would have been more about David and how he changed after his injuries; his efforts to regain some of his memories, having to relearn things like reading and math while hiding his struggles from everyone including his new wife, and doctors because of his fear of no longer being a SEAL...the very reason why she wanted to marry him. He viewed his entire worth and identity with being a SEAL and this was such a significant point in the book that I wish it would have been explored in more depth.

His injuries were the reason why he didn't remember JJ. He just had inexplicable feelings that he already "knew" her and that she was important enough to him that he didn't want to let her go. It made JJ's struggle with controlling the world around her seem insignificant compared to what David was experiencing, yet it was JJ's story that was the focus of the book. I felt that JJ"s same problems were rehashed repeatedly, I just wish she would have learned her hard earned lessons much sooner so that we could experience more of David's story. I wanted to learn more about his relationship with his family. More about him, how he coped with his fears, and desired the love of a woman he felt unworthy of.

I felt that the emotions were stunted and just when I thought that the hero and the heroine would get to important discussions/discoveries the scene or chapter would end, and while some of this was finally addressed, it happened all within about the last 50 or so pages...too little to late for me. It was almost as if the story needed to conclude, and the parts of the story that for me were the most important, that were crucial to their love story, their growth and development individually as well as a couple, were sadly rushed. SEALed with a Ring held promise that I felt wasn't completely fulfilled despite it's potential.

Ratings: 3.25 stars

Sensuality level: the intimate scenes in this book were mostly just hinted at, however there were a few scenes that went into more detail...much like you would find in a Harlequin romance

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SEALed With a Ring, February 21, 2010

By 

Lynda Coker (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SEALed with a Ring (Mass Market Paperback)

A quote from the cover of Author Mary Margret Daughtridge's new book, SEALed with a Ring, says: "Sometimes you get a lot more than you bargained for..."

In this contemporary romance, those words do come true. Through skillful storytelling, insightful character development, and quirky little twists and turns, SEALed with a Ring kept me reading, sentence-after-sentence.
Navy SEAL medic Davy Graziano is my favorite kind of hero. He's alpha to the core, but oh so vulnerable when it comes to that one special woman in his life, the one that can wrap this bigger-than-life hero in knots and leave him squirming. JJ Caruthers is that a woman.

JJ is in a predicament. In order to inherit the business she's worked her whole life to obtain, the one that means more to her than her personal happiness or freedom, she's got to marry. And in a hurry! Why not choose Davy Graziano? Well, there are lots of reasons, notwithstanding the fact that, he doesn't remember her as the girl of his dreams. With little time left, she makes the choice and takes a chance on Davy.

Why doesn't Davy remember JJ? With separate schemes, can these two find a basis for a merger? Why is a Navy SEAL the perfect choice for JJ, who doesn't want a husband at all? You'll enjoy discovering the answers to these questions as you read SEALed with a Ring.