A Prior Engagement

Special Forces #4

by Karina Bliss

He's back from the dead, on a new mission...because two can play her game! After two years as a POW presumed dead, SAS soldier Lee Davis is finally going home. Back to his family, friends and...fiancée? He doesn't have a fiancée...the night before his last deployment, Juliet Browne rejected his proposal. That makes the sight of her playing the grieving almost-wife beyond infuriating. Feigning amnesia, Lee decides to put Juliet's "commitment" to the test. 

Yet tormenting her conscience isn't as easy as Lee thought it would be. Juliet's still the woman whose memory got him through the worst of his captivity and her actions now prove she cares-a lot. And despite her betrayal, he needs her more than ever. Because Lee is beginning to realize that for him, Juliet is home.

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Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Military Fiction, Harlequin, Category Romance, Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

New Zealander Karina Bliss has written a biography for a rock star, swapped identities with her twin, raised three orphaned children with her ex husband, worn a cow costume to a Bachelor and Spinster ball, considered marriage for the sake of a baby, and been mayor of a small town.

Oh wait, that’s her characters.

Outside her imagination, she’s always been a professional writer, first as a travel journalist and then as a romance author. Her deeply held convictions include: love conquers all; yoga pants are daywear; and what a woman really wants is a man who cleans. Unfortunately, she does not live with one, (nor indeed has raised one). Please buy her books so she can pay for one.

She has also swum with sharks. They were very small. Babies, really. But still count.

Career highlights have included being the first Australasian to win a Golden Heart from the Romance Writers of America. Her debut, Mr Imperfect, won a Romantic Book of the Year Award in Australia, and her first self-published title, RISE, a rock star romance also finaled.
Other books in the Rock Solid series are FALL, PLAY and (coming soon), RESURRECTION.

Find out more and sign up to her newsletter at www.karinabliss.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarinaBlissA...
Twitter @BlissKarina
Email: karina@karinabliss.com

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Davis is considered the modern-day Lazarus. He was thought killed in action but has spent a over a year as a tortured POW. Returning home, he discovers that his ex-girlfriend is playing his grieving almost wife. He never told his friends that his girl friend rejected his proposal right before he was taken. Now she has infiltrated his life, family and core group of friends. Faking amnesia, Lee decides he is going to pay Juliet back for her deceit.

With a difficult past it is hard for Juliet to trust love so when Lee asks her to marry him only after 6 weeks of dating she asks for more time...angered by her request, Lee storms out of Juliet’s life and to his “death”. Heart broken by the loss of Lee, Juliet didn’t know what to do when his army buddies gave her the engagement ring she wasn’t ready to accept.

Unsure how to deal with Lee’s PTSD Juliet devotes herself to Lee’s recovery. Lee quickly realizes that he needs Juliet in his life but once the deception is uncovered can their tenuous trust survive?

A Prior Engagement is an emotionally moving story of two people torn apart by tragedy fighting their way back to each other through severe emotional damage. My heart hurt for their struggles! Gripping, psychologically captivating and so real, I couldn’t help but be pulled into the lives of Karina Bliss’s characters.

This ARC copy of A Prior Engagement was given to me by Harlequin Superromance in exchange for an honest review.

[Lyuda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful story that nicely concluded the military romance series. The book evoked such a rollercoaster of emotions, I just couldn't put it down. The characters, their emotions, behavior felt so real. The cynic in me wants to dismiss the story as fiction. The dreamer wants to believe that such a brotherhood, selfishness and love still exists in the world as torn apart as ours.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Lee is back home after being presumed dead and is confronted by a lot of changes, not the least of which is Juliet's presence in his friends' lives as his fiancée. She turned down his proposal the night before he left so how dare she be playing the part? Lee decides to fake amnesia and see if he can guilt her into a confession.

Jules had a lot of emotional baggage. She had grown up watching her mother jump into emotional relationships after knowing men for a very short time. She swore she would not do that herself. When Lee proposed after only six weeks she asked for more time for them to get to know each other but he stormed away in anger, not contacting her again. When his friends gave her the engagement ring after Lee's "death" she couldn't bear to disappoint them by telling them the truth. She spent the next year and a half getting involved with Lee's friends and family, suffering from terrible guilt but unable to figure a way out of it. Lee's return only made it worse because he apparently didn't remember the proposal. She wanted to tell him the truth but was afraid of what it might do to his recovery and kept up the deception. When she finally told him the truth about what happened and her feelings it was obvious that she was still trying to protect him. She offered to get out of his life and was surprised when he didn't take her up on it. Her actions showed how much she still loved him and wanted to help him. There is an incredibly intense scene toward the end that shows just how much she loves and trust him and really opens Lee's eyes to how much he has to work through.

Lee had spent almost two years as a captive not knowing that everyone thought he was dead. In spite of Jules's refusal he spent those months thinking about her and what he could do to win her back. My impression of the pre-captivity Lee is that he was the kind of guy that things came easy to. He loved Jules and didn't understand her refusal even though she explained that she just needed more time for them to know each other. I thought he behaved like a jerk when he walked away from her. When he returned and heard about her being his fiancée he was angry and decided to work on some revenge. His actions weren't very nice. I liked the fact that as angry as he was he realized that he actually still cared for her. When his amnesia story started to fall apart he finally confronted her and was stunned by some of the things she told him. I liked the way that he began to realize that he had changed and was never going to be like his old self. I liked the new Lee once he stopped the revenge thing. He and Jules began to develop a real relationship that actually had a chance of surviving.

This is an incredibly emotional book as Lee deals with the after effects of his captivity. He has a hard time talking about what happened and mostly tries to ignore it. He also has to deal with his friends and the way that their lives have changed and the decisions they have made. I loved the realism in all four books and how the issues and problems they had to work through were dealt with. Nothing has been minimized or given an easy solution. There is a really emotional scene when they all sit down together to talk about the explosion and its effects on all their lives. Even at the end of the book Lee isn't magically healed but he is on the right track with Jules's love and support.

[ShoSho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woohooooo another ARC from Netgalley !!!!!!!!!!
************

I finished this last night but I can't stop thinking about it. I love the series because it's not just fluff , I can't just read them as another Harlequin romance I get involved with the story.The characters are believable and real . They are not all perfect people , they make mistakes , they judge each other and they hurt each other but at the end they make everything work and It doesn't mean they become perfect people , they start making amends and building or rebuilding their lives.

What I loved most about this book was Lee's struggles and mistakes .After nineteen months of captivity he was broken but didn't heal over night and by the end of the book he wasn't healed but was on the right track which made the whole thing more believable .

What I didn't like was that some details during the book was vague , by the end of the book I wasn't thinking about the romance or the happy ending I was thinking about what happened to Lee during his captivity. I got my answer at the the end but it would have been better if it was a bit more clear and we knew he was captive for 19 months but was tortured only for the last 3 months. I loved how it was revealed at the end but I had to reread some parts to understand.



Overall a really great book .

[Kate Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tale captured me almost from the first page. Imagine a military guy proposing before he's deployed and the woman in his life turning him down? That's what spins this tale quickly into conflict that becomes more complicated as we learn more of Lee's and Jule's back story and her intertwining relationships what his friends. This soldier comes back to life--literally and figuratively, thereby forcing Jules to consider selling her house OR her partnership and her job (!) to pay him back for what she thinks she owes him.

While all ends well, getting there is no walk in the park.

[Lea's Audiobooks Hensley · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Bliss' What the Librarian Did, I was hoping for another enjoyable read. More than that, I was hoping new narrator Tess Masters would prove to be a narrator to watch. Neither happened. I'll admit that I gave up on this one before I was finished.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Elle (Ligia) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems as if Harlequin novels are taking a lot of my reading list this year, huh? Can’t say I regret it ;)

I realize that maybe I should have read the previous three books in the series first, but I wouldn’t be me if I started a series the way it was meant to be started, right? So yes, I know I might have missed (and it seems I did from some reviews I’ve been reading) important parts of these character’s backstories, but this one caught my eye and I was not about to wait to finish three books before reading it, like hell I would!

In A Prior Engagement soldier Lee Davis comes back from the dead. Almost two years after being presumed dead everyone in his life is slowly trying to move on, and so is Juliet Browne… his fiancée?

Lee comes back home to find that the woman he loved has been lying to his family and friends for nineteen months, wearing his engagement ring and pretending their last conversation didn’t happen, a conversation in which he asked her to marry him and she refused.

It was strange how this book made me feel because at the beginning I felt bad for Jules because well, she felt terrible, because losing him in the first place had really hurt her, she loved him. But I couldn’t help but cheer for Lee a little, I couldn’t help but feel he had a right however wrong it might sound, because he was presumably dead and she still accepted the ring that when he asked her she had refused. It irked me.

But then…

Then when everything he did kind of backfired on him I couldn’t really feel bad… much. He had it coming. As a matter of fact the longer he kept going with his ‘making her pay’ scheme the more I started disliking him. Seriously, what an asshole!

“Revenge wasn't sweet, it was corrosive, and he needed to rebuild his life. The games had to end.”

I have warring feelings towards this book. The first half I was all with Lee, because I felt his betrayal just as much as he did, but there’s a point that you say: ‘that’s enough’, and the longer he kept going the worse I started to feel, my apprehension for Jules grew as I read on, it was breaking my heart.

The second half, however, did change for the better, but not much better, I still felt like I was being pulled from one side to the other… which is good, I assume, it is how they felt after all.

“All you have to do is take a breath and then another one.” Because life was that simple. And that complicated.

All in all, A Prior Engagement is an amazing story. It will have you pinning for these characters badly. It will have you fighting the urge to scream when you find out everything Lee went through when in captivity. It will have you crying, for him, for her. But it will also make you swoon and laugh out loud, and that’s what makes it worth it, in the end you learn to deal with the bad and appreciate the good.

"Dying in the dark you hear a voice say that giving up isn't an option (...) It was your voice, Jules," he whispered.

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming back from the dead can be brutal process, having to deal with the changes that happened when you left, dealing with the reality of what being a captive of the Taliban did to you and for SAS soldier Lee Davis, this is his new reality.

A Prior Engagement is the fourth installment in Karina Bliss's Special Forces series and this is the book I had been waiting for. My expectations were high because my experience with the previous books had been phenomenal. So, maybe the burden of why the book fell short falls on me.

Lee, was presumed dead in an ambush eighteen months ago. His friends grieved, dealt with their messy emotions and managed to find happiness. Juliet Browne was the woman Lee was seeing and in love with after six weeks of whirlwind dating and all his friends knew he planned to propose, so when he died, they gave the ring to Juliet, not knowing that Lee had already proposed and had been rejected.

Juliet is a lawyer, a career woman but she is also a cynical woman, having grown up seeing her mother's pursuit of men, so despite the fact she felt strongly for Lee, their short time together, led to her rejection, a rejection Lee didn't take really well. She doesn't regret her actions but when Lee's friends give her the ring, she accepts more for their sake and somehow she ends up becoming close with them, her deception a burden. A burden that grows, when she is in bed with another man, her attempt to move on and she gets a call that changes everything.

Now, when Lee wakes up in the hospital and learns of his so called fiancee and how close she was with his father, her relationship with his friends, he feels angry and furious and this emotion makes him pretend that he doesn't remember her having rejected him and Juliet plays along for his mental health, all the while knowing that she would have to confess.

Lee's actions after his captivity could be justified and I liked how Juliet was so principled, she went about trying to re-pay the money Lee's dad had left her immediately. My problem with the book was a lack of connection. Do I feel Lee's struggles were depicted really well? Yes, but I couldn't make myself fall in love with the characters.

The level of angst in the book was high, Juliet is hurt when she learns what Lee did and isn't willing to give them a shot, but Lee wants another chance. For me, the romance just didn't pull me in. But I would fully recommend Karina Bliss as an author.



ARC provided by publisher through Netgalley.

[Janga · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Here Comes the Groom (January 2011), Bliss uses a friends-to-lovers plot and pushes it to the limit to give Dan Jansen and Jocelyn Swann their HEA. In Stand-in Wife (August 2011), she takes the overused twin switch and gives it a fresh twist, uniting Dan’s free-spirited sister Vivienne and Ross Coltrane, the coolest, most controlled of the SF team. There’s nothing new about a widow’s second time to fall in love or a hero with survivor’s guilt, but Bliss gives new dimensions to both in Bring Him Home (June 2012), the story of Claire Langford and Nathan Wyatt.

The Lazarus soldier is not new in romance either, but there is nothing trite in A Prior Engagement. Bliss shows us the process and the pain of Lee’s resurrection. The reader sees the scars left by the manacles Lee’s captors used to chain him. She winces at the missing digit on one finger and the uneven nails growing back, sickened by the suffering to which they testify. Each detail--from Lee’s embracing the rain on his trip home to the obsessive shopping trip with the ill-fitting clothes that remind him of how he has changed--reveals the price this soldier paid. Sympathy for Jules is strong too as she struggles with her guilt and with doing what’s best for Lee, all while trying to protect her own heart. My heart cracked a bit at her reaction when she first sees Lee after his return:

A minute ago if she’d been asked to describe him in one word she would have used dazzling. His smile, his looks, his charming personality. He reminded her of summer. Except there was nothing of summer about him now. If she’d seen him on the street she wouldn’t have recognized him.

Some fans of contemporary romance avoid category romances. Trust me, some of the best writing in the subgenre is being written by Superromance authors, and Karina Bliss is among the most gifted. I highly recommend the Special Forces series, but if you only read one of the quartet, make it A Prior Engagement.

And next year Bliss will give us a book that features as hero rock star Zander Freedman from What the Librarian Did (and with small parts in Bring Him Home and ,i>A Prior Engagement). Talk about redeeming the irredeemable! How cool is that?

See full review at The Romance Dish:
http://www.theromancedish.com/2013/05...

[Nancy Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss: This is the fourth book in the series, and I must state I have not read the three previous books. The first three books are as follows:

Here Comes The Groom
Stand-In Wife
Bring Him Home

In A Prior Engagement: Lee Davis was serving in Afghanistan when his team was ambushed. For almost two years he has been a POW, 14 months of that time he was held by the Taliban. He has been beaten, tortured and suffered more than one person ever should. American Forces raided the camp where he was being held and freed him. He is about to return to everyone he loves including his fiancée. But hold the press, we are talking about the same woman who rejected his proposal. The same woman that he could not forget, and the same one that got him through the hell he lived through the last 19 months.

Juliet Browne " Jules " had rejected Lee's proposal just before he left for Afghanistan. As you read further into the story you learn her reasoning behind the rejection. It was never a question of love, more a case of caution and being sure. Believing Lee is suffering from Amnesia, she goes along with the lies. And when he proposes she accepts, what she is unaware of is, Lee remembers everything. And he is planning to make her pay dearly.

This book is so much more than surviving being a prisoner of war. And overcoming the beatings and torture. It is also about true friendship between military friends. And dealing with PTSD and yes finding the true love that was always there. The author does a great job of describing the hell that POW's must go through, without being to graphic. This is also a very rocky road back to love. But still a great story.


5/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jo-Ann Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th and last book in the series.

If you want to read what the book is about, please read the blurb above the reviews.

The plot is an interesting one and I never seen them covering the hero. I knew the author would probably do the heroine even though she was never officially part of the SEALs or the extended "family". However, as everyone believed she was the extended part, then they'd look after the heroine. We've met her in bits over the past books.

However, to find out the one person you thought was gone, wasn't it would take anyone back. Then to add the lies and deception to it - it makes for an interesting story.

You can only imagine what the hero went through when he found they had stopped looking for him because they thought he was dead. It would blow anyone's mind to find out they weren't dead. Then to have the hero to try and get back into life after something like that. It would be very, very hard and you can understand why there are so many vet's who go through things like this who don't make it very far. The author makes this very clear and its written very well.

The hero you now get to know more. In the earlier books mentions of him were done but that was about it. The heroine you've gotten to know in smaller snips but now you get to understand her a bit more. I thought in the earlier books she was a bit of a stuck up snob, but it wasn't until you get to learn about her, you start to understand.

The author does a great job with another difficult subject.

[Gareth Ellzey · Rating 5 out of 5]

She saved the best for last

So I read the free book one, and couldn’t stop there. I bought the rest and have gulped them down like popcorn at a thriller movie. They just kept getting better. The quality of the writing is superb. The characters are amazing. Lee’s terrible experience was so real and so chilling, it gave me the shudders. Jules’ insecurity combined with a dauntless integrity was enthralling. Their on-again,off-again love story was hopelessly sentimental, but never maudlin. This author is such a keeper. The books can be read as standalone, but I recommend them in sequence, and preferably all at once. The Prior Engagement is the culmination of this series and brings all the characters together. Spoiler: Nate and Vic’s wedding is a real hoot.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this author. I’m mixed about this book, though. It was kind of anxiety-inducing for a long time and once they came clean with each other and had the next crisis, there was very little happiness. I’ve only read one other book in the series, so I’m wondering if I’ve missed some backstory between this hero and heroine that would’ve helped me understand why they’re so set on each other despite all the unhappiness and conflict in this story.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story of a on again off again engagement. A man coming back from the dead finds out the woman who rejected his proposal has been posing as his fiancée for 18 months. He plotting revenge. She’s trying to find a time to tell him without hurting him.

[Norma Reasor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five went to war, 2 came home

Thoroughly enjoyed this series! What a lot of fun, great romance, a little bit steamy, but not overboard. Loved all four of them.

[coriannmcgroary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Prior Engagement is a very heartfelt romance full of emotion. Lots of tears lots of laughs and a great love story

[HatGirl8]

3/1/2013 Reread 1/8/18 ; 10/9/19

[Brie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at Romance Around the Corner

Source: review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

I’ve said before that Karina Bliss is one of the best current Contemporary Romance authors, and this book is yet another proof of that. As is the case with all her novels, A Prior Engagement was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I’m happy to say that it lived up to all my expectations.

The book is the culmination in a series of not-so-loosely related book. It’s the fourth and final story, and although all the books stand alone well, you should perhaps read the previous one, Bring Him Home, first just to get a bit of background on the characters and their situation.


Juliet and Lee had a serious case of opposites attract: she was reserved, wary and somewhat uptight; he was impulsive and a bit careless. So it was only a surprise to Jules when, after a short courtship, he proposed. However, Jules was too afraid to make a mistake and rejected him. But soon after, Lee was killed in action, so when his friends and fellow team members, also dealing with their grief and the consequences of the attack, found the engagement ring and gave it to Jules, she took it without saying what happened. For months she dealt with her loss and developed a serious case of guilt when she became close friends with these men who welcomed her as part of the family.

Things get tricky when they discover that Lee wasn’t dead but had been kidnapped, and he’s finally free and coming home. He immediately realizes Jules’ deception, and in the confusion and anger decides to fake amnesia to teach her a lesson. At first he fools her, but once she realizes the truth, they must decide if they can give each other a second opportunity and if they are willing to rely on each other for help.

All the books in the series have been quite emotional in their portrayal of serious issues such as death, PTSD and cancer. The premise of this book takes it a bit further into far-fetched territory, but Ms. Bliss makes it work by showing the consequences of such a terrible ordeal, and for making the characters work at getting better. By doing that, she makes the story authentic and organic instead of manipulative, which is a fine line to walk, but she never crosses it. Also, no magical sexual healing, which, let’s face it, would happen in 99% of any other similar books out there.

Lee is a big part of the book, but it’s Jules’ story as much as his. Her journey is about emotional growth while grief and fear take over her life. Her issues with commitment, family and stability remain, but she’s forced to confront them under unique and incredibly stressful circumstances. I liked her very much, both as an individual and as part of a couple.

The first half of the book is very intense, because the focus is on Lee’s anger. And he is very angry. He remains that way throughout the book, but the recipients of that anger change, and so does the tone of the story. The second half is about Lee dealing with the physical and emotional consequences of his captivity. And throughout both halves we get a love story that’s about forgiveness and support.

The two clearly distinct parts of the book are mismatched. One is very angsty and filled with tension, whereas the other is milder in intensity, yet equally emotional, albeit for different reasons. And after such an emotional high, the final part, riveting in its own merits, ended up being anticlimactic. I would have liked to see the tension better distributed.

Previous characters have integral roles in the story and help move the plot forward. It makes perfect sense considering that Lee is the one character that brings closure to all of them. The one thing that I didn’t like is that at the end there was the reunion scene where all the characters had the opportunity to show just how happy they were, and I must say that I could have done without such a silly, unnecessary scene. It was completely out of place and way over the top; like a baby-less-logue; if that makes sense.

It’s not a perfect read, but I loved every angsty minute of it it. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially to those who like Romance high on the tension. Ms. Bliss can do gut-wrenching emotion like no one else out there, and if you haven’t read her books, you’re missing out.

[steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as amazing as the third book in the series, Nate and Claire, but not as soap opera-y as the second book in the series, Ross and Vic (I could not locate book #1 in the series so I haven't read it yet. Lee and Juliet are both flawed individuals, and they both have a hard time understanding the other when it comes to their actions (Lee is more of a jump first kind of guy, Jules is a more take it slow kind of girl). I enjoyed the beginning of the book, when Lee pretends to have amnesia because he is pissed that Juliet lied to everyone about their relationship and has played the poor fiancee for the last 19 months but the middle of the book, after Juliet finds out he was lying to her about the amnesia was kind of slow and a bit boring. It picked up a bit towards the end, especially once all the guys and their wives/other family members showed up but I still thought Lee and Juliet got together too soon after they decided to take a break (that could have been just me however, I thought it was a bit fast). However, Karina Bliss does a great job writing PTSD and friendly, catchy banter among highly emotional satisfying stories (I hesitate to call her writing similar to Sarah Mayberry's because I need to read more of Mrs. Bliss's to determine if that is true or not but she writes really, really well for being published by Harlequin).

Either way it was nice to catch up with all the guys and their wives from the previous novels and I saw on her website that she is writing Zander's story next which I am very, very, very much looking forward to. He intrigued me in book #3 and his small appearance in this one just added more intrigue to him and his psyche (famous rock star, yes!) and when I saw on her website he is getting his own story I wanted to do a happy dance. I will definitely be picking up more novels by this author in the future. Without a doubt.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

More, Karina, please let there be more in this series! My thoughts as I neared the closing pages of A Prior Engagement, the fourth in the Special Forces series.

One doesn’t need to read the other books in this series to understand this one, but it’s enjoyable revisiting the characters without feeling like the story has been retread. The series revolves around a group of special forces soldiers from New Zealand who served together in Afghanistan. Five friends went there together, but three returned after an IED blew up their condo. Everyone thought Lee was dead, including Juliet. His buddies find a diamond he’d meant to give her among his things and returns it shortly after his “death” announced.

Given the grief faced by all, Juliet can’t bear to tell Lee’s family or friends that she’d rejected his proposal before he left, which causes confusion and some feelings of betrayal when Lee returns. He’d not been killed, but had been held captive by the Taliban for almost two years, enduring significant physical and emotional strain.

The story traces his recovery from his time abroad and the consequences of his rash proposal and Juliet’s early misstatements. There’s plenty of action, but ultimately the story is about overcoming emotional obstacles and seeing beyond one’s hurt.

I really enjoyed the book, but felt it went on a bit too long. With that many characters, I know some readers want to read about the wedding in the back drop because it tied together characters from a previous romance, etc. but I thought the final chapter was unnecessary to resolution to the story in this book and a bit tedious. Otherwise I really enjoyed the book.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally started reading this last month, but Lee's story has so much of the stories of his friends/SAS buddies in it that once I realized that 1) they all had their own books and 2) I had over a month and a half until this one was released, I decided to read them all first. Given the condition of the hero (he's been presumed dead for a year and a half), readers who aren't familiar with his friends learn as Lee does what has happened to them in the interim--so this could easily be read as a stand-alone. However, so many aspects and events will make more sense and gain more significance if one does know the characters already...so I am very glad that I did.

Karina Bliss made the "back from the dead" storyline work here. What I've loved about this series--besides the camaraderie and friendship between the characters--is that the very real problems and trauma that they've all experienced thanks to the explosion of that IED in Afghanistan aren't ever glossed over. Every one of them has had major issues to work through, and they have worked on them. No magic fixes or just forgetting about the problem here, thank goodness. Lee and Jules went through a lot in this book, which on top of everything they went through before the book started almost seems too cruel, but it all worked in the end. It made their HEA, when it finally came all the more believable. Ms. Bliss was totally right in her author note: Lee was impossible to replace. I'm so glad she didn't try!

This was a fantastic ending to a really good series. I can't wait to see where she goes next.

[Hsiau Wei · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tell the story of Juliet, who get to know that her deceased fiancé is actually still alive and is currently in the hospital eighteen month after they were being told of his death. Eighteen months before, when his close friends passed her a ring that Lee has intended to propose to her, she accepted it. But the friend does not know that Jules have rejected his proposal earlier. She grieved for his death throughout these months and has taken care of his father till he passed on. Now, Lee is alive and back. Jules knows she have to tell Lee the truth about their supposedly engagement. Lee on the other hand, knew about her deception to his friends but he decided to rein amnesia to punish Jules and at the same time, finding out the motive of her intention in pretending to be the grieving fiancée.

This is the final book of the Special Force series by the author, and unlike the other three books (which i have not read), this book is about returned from death hero and his struggle to be back to the civilian society after being tortured by the Taliban. It is a hard route of recovery for Lee as he also needs to deal with the deception of Jules during his absence. Despite all her fault, she has her reason in deceiving her friends and family and she meant well. Lee is back and it is up to her to help him to recover. Overall, this book was a rather heavy read for me but i do enjoyed the story plot very much

[Jac (For Love and Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I picked this one up (from Netgalley) I had no idea it was a book about New Zealand special forces, or that it was the end of a series. I was in a mood for military reads (having just attended one of my family members' Navy Induction) and this one sounded fantastic! (And I was right!)

So we have Jules, who has spent the last two years mourning the death of her almost-fiance, Lee. After he'd been killed his buddies gave her the ring. What they didn't know, is that she'd already rejected it. But that didn't make his loss hurt any less. And now? He's back from the dead! He was found, by U.S. Special Forces in a Taliban Camp.

As they adjust to life back together, a big part of the story is Jules' prior rejection and Lee's hurt over that. (Two years as a POW haven't dulled that pain.) And let's just be honest - Lee is a jerk for most of the story. But it's forgivable, because none of us can really understand (nor do we want to) what he's been through.

This is story is everything you expect from a good HQN book, it's short and sweet. Karina Bliss tells a fantastic story in such a short space, and you find yourself cheering for Jules and Lee and the rest of their friends! Despite knowing the dramatic ending to this story, I know I'll be picking up the rest of the saga in the near future!

[Brianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the way Ms. Bliss takes us through the relationship between Lee and Jules. There are tons of issues they need to deal with - dating back to before his deployment, as a result of his months of captivity, and from decisions they make after he is found. And the issues come from both of them. They both need to own up to a lot of stuff and work through it. And we see that it is not easy for them. There are many emotions they are dealing with and they do not always deal well, with each other and with their friends and family. I don't think this story would have read as well if the steps back were easy. They both struggle, on a lot of fronts and that struggle makes the payoff so worth it.

I loved the epilogue which serves to tie up the end of the series quite nicely.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great romance novel! Such complexity in the flawed hero and heroine and yet, the reader loves them so, really wants them to be happy. Lee's lie is understandable; Jules' responses to it, so sensitive and caring. Bliss plays a perfect balance of pathos and humour in this romance novel. As these now decades-old wars have taught us, the damage that war at times exacts of soldiers affect everyone's lives: families and friends. Bliss's is one of the best. If you'd like to read a detailed review of what I thought of A PRIOR ENGAGEMENT, please follow the link:

http://missbatesreadsromance.com/2015...

[Anne Dirty Girls' Good Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong characters who each have a motivation to act the way they do. The dishonesty between them ended right when I was getting tired of it, so that worked well for me.

While I'd read the first book in the series, I missed the last two and I still did just fine, so this one stands alone well. I does make me want to read the others, though. The secondary characters (primary characters from previous books) were really nice. There was a great rapport between the guys that I appreciated.

Really enjoyable good story!

[shms · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was something compelling about how the story rolled out and yet unsatisfying about the whole thing. I can't put my finger on exactly why but when you've got the h rolling out of another mans' bed right at the beginning of the book, the h then has to work real hard to get in the right space in my mind. I didn't take to her at all, she was a miss as an h, and the H had my symphathy all along.

Kinda dissatisfying, a little like this review, when I can't seem to make my point. This book was good enough to make me want to read the others in the series.