Disarmed by Love (Changing Tides #3) – Gail Chianese (Review)

Expected publication date: February 20, 2018

Cover blurb:

A Navy man with a damaged past. A beautiful woman enlisted to help him. Falling in love is the healing they both need. But it comes with a risk neither expected . . .

When Fiona Sinclair’s reckless ex-husband piles on the anxiety, the resilient single mom has the perfect outlet: her days spent whipping Navy men into shape through yoga, meditation, and—as one of her new students puts it—“all that New Age crap.” [MB1]

For seventeen years, Lieutenant Dante Torres disarmed explosives. Stress level: over the top. Then one wrong move scrambled his brain. But nothing compares to dealing with a no-nonsense pint-sized fireball like Fiona. He has to admit, she’s working wonders. In more ways than one. As things warm between them, Dante even discovers he can be of help to her: by becoming best buddy to her troubled young son.

But when the boy’s father pushes for custody, everything Fiona’s worked so hard for is thrown into jeopardy, including her relationship with Dante. Now it’s going to take all her resolve to fight back—for herself, her son, and the man she loves.

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I adore this series by Gail because the characters are so well-written and you can’t help but empathize with them, all the while falling a little in love with the heroes!

Dante Torres was an EOD (explosives ordnance disposal) tech in the Navy and suffered a TBI after an IED that he was attempting to disarm exploded.  The experience left him with the side effects of the brain injury (headaches, blackouts and shaking) but also PTSD that has threatened his ability to return to the duty he loved.  He is assigned for what he hopes is TAD as an instructor at the Officer Training Command until he recovers and can return to EOD duty.  His doctor recommends yoga and meditation in an effort to help his symptoms, so he reluctantly agrees to an appointment with the trainer at the base gym, otherwise known as the Mistress of Pain.

Fiona is a single mom who is employed as a trainer and yogini on base.  Her ex-husband Sal has returned to stir up trouble for her and is threatening to try and get custody of their son Dylan.  In addition to that stress, Dylan has been having issues with a bully at daycare because he has never learned how to swim, partially because Fee was held under water by Sal at one point during their marriage.  In return for her help, Dante offers to teach Dylan how to swim and they start to spend more time together which allows their mutual attraction to grow into a relationship.

For me, I think Dante is probably the most sympathetic hero in a book I’ve read recently.  His fear of not being able to return to the job he loved and the overwhelming physical and mental symptoms would be so difficult for anyone to deal with, but especially a highly trained SPEC OPS warrior.  There are a couple of points in the story where as a reader I couldn’t help but tear up because his anguish is so palpable.  He may have just overtaken Jax (‘A Hero to Love’) in my book boyfriend status, just because I totally love angst and there’s a LOT more for Dante!

Part of what draws me to this particular series by Gail is the amount of military details included, and the fact that they ring true.  I read a lot of military or romantic suspense novels, and while I’m in no way an expert I can tell when authors don’t have a lot of knowledge and are writing how they think the military runs.  Gail’s husband is a Naval officer so she has the background and access so everything about the story rings true and it adds depth to the storyline.

However I’m obviously not the only reader out there so for those that aren’t interested in the military aspect, you will definitely have strong characters and a great romance to look forward to, so I definitely recommend this book (and series!) for all romance fans!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Lyrical Shine for the chance to read this early!