Hand to Hand

SEAL Daddy #1

by H.L. Holston

Navy medic Gavin Rathman has been attracted to his Lieutenant, Jackson Blackwater, ever since they were put on the same SEAL team. When Jack is shot on a mission in Afghanistan and put on medical leave, Gavin finally has the opportunity to act on those desires.

But when Jack recovers, and Gavin and he are paired up again, will their status as lovers change their working relationship? It could prove disastrous. Is it a gamble worth taking?





Originally published in the anthology, Uniform, but it has been re-edited and a new chapter added to story.

Genres: M M Romance, Military Fiction, Contemporary, BDSM, Romance, Gay, Novella

45 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2020

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Holly (H.L.) Holston is a dog walker by day and a sometimes author by night.

She admits she is a horrible blogger, even worse in keeping up on Facebook, and wishes she could retire to New Orleans and eat beignets every day at Café du Monde. Until then, she will write books about sexy men loving each other.

Previous pen name: Sue Holston.

Reviews

[Ali]

This was a nice short story I just kinda wished I would have seen Gavin and Jack together more after they got past their misunderstanding. Gavin has to learn how to navigate Jack’s reluctance at a relationship which ends up having a lot of push and pull but he can be just as stubborn. Jack seems like a nice guy but I didn’t get much of a chance to really get to know him. Hopefully their story will continue as the series progresses.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jamie Miller]

Short, HOT and sexy read! Really liked getting to know Gavin and Jack and looking forward to Book 2!

[H.L. Holston]

This book has been reformatted, rebranded and been turned from a short story to a novella with different tropes and elements under my other pen name. New name: Hand-to-Hand: An Age Gap/Daddy MM Romance (SEAL Daddy #1).

It was previously published as a short story in the now out-of-print anthology, Uniform.

We hope you enjoy the revised version and book two, A Firm Hand, is on pre-order for 02/09/2021. Thank you.

LINK: https://amzn.to/31iF263

[Latecia Jennings]

OMG...I really enjoyed this book. I have read this author's other books(paranormal) before and loved them and this one didn't disappoint. I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. I love these guys. They kept me either laughing or smiling. These wonderful guys are SEALS who are brave, dedicated, passionate and fun. I absolutely loved Gavin. He's a SEAL with sass. He is willing to risk it all to have a relationship with his HOT older boss Jack. Jack has been burned before and is somewhat hesitant but is willing to try with Gavin. Their chemistry is intense and HOT with the Daddy/boy kink thrown in. They go thru a series of ups and downs (two alpha type guys trying to work it out) and I was constantly cheering them on. The guys do work it out at the end but I wished we had an epilogue. I would have loved to see where they were after Gavin left the service, If we get a book two in series hopefully they will make cameos.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Alexis Woods]

Good

This short story fell right in the middle of like/dislike. There's a bit of disconnect in the story where I felt it jumped a little too fast. It's a friends to lovers kind of story so they do know each other, but as lovers it was a whole new ball game. I was surprised when halfway through it was revealed the Jack was gay, because at he beginning I thought he was straight or, at least, Gavin thought he was. A couple of errors and wonky wording pulled me from the story. Unfortunately, not a lot of SEAL action, as this takes place post-combat injury. Plenty of sexy action though.

KU, contemporary, book in series, military men, friends to lovers

[Alicia]

Hmm, it was just fine. Third person POV. No epilogue whatsoever. It was a shorter story so I wasn’t expecting something huge but still. The idea was good but it just didn’t get there for me. The whole running into Diego the ex-boyfriend while they were on a date was frustrating, especially how Jack started acting. I’m glad they worked through it but damn.. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the lack of communication, that’s for sure.

Also the whole “daddy” thing is very minimal. It’s basically just the use of the word and not much else.

2.5⭐️

[Rainbow Reads and Reviews]

💜

I love Daddy kink and really enjoyed this take on the genre. I love that Gavin chooses to submit to Jack in just the bedroom and takes the necessary steps to strengthen their bound when Jack goes astray. So many times we get a perfect Daddy and Jack isn’t. He stumbles and his boy is there to help. I do wish it were longer, but happy to know that we’ll see them more in Hudson and Sully’s book!

[Ezza]

Ok

This story was ok. I really liked the concept but I didn’t really feel the connection between them

Also the 2 main characters from the next book were in this story quite a bit and quite a bit was given away so I don’t even know if it’s worth reading that now. Maybe at another time

[D.]

2.5 stars

For a story with less than 100 pages, this book has a lot of dramas.

Their romance just so so, nothing special and Jackson was an ass to Gavin. Gavin was the only one who worked the hardship in their relationship. I just can't feel the love from Jack, maybe because this book was from Gavin's pov.

The ending is not the end of the story, it is actually the start of their relationship. The ending is HFN, kinda dissapointed though.

[Michele]

Short and sweet

Mostly drama free. A quick read if you are looking for an upbeat book and have 45 minutes to spare.

[Norma Banzi]

Genau mein Beuteschema, ansprechend umgesetzt.

[Amy]

I really enjoyed Gavin and Jack’s story, but I really want more, I want to see them happy years down the road. So I’m hoping we will see more of them. On the other hand, I’m totally looking forward to reading Noah’s story.

[William Bollbach]

Waste of time

The plot was juvenile, uninteresting and boring. The characters were one dimensional the sex scenes were very boring. Take a
Pass.

[Pamela Raglin]

SEALS!

Tough men dealing with emotions - does it get any Hotter? Yes. Throw in rank differences, Daddy/boy dynamics and a nosy teammate.

[Em]

Not for me, it felt like a synopsis with really unlikable characters.

[August June 💘]

did not like Gavin for some reason. could have been better

[Sharing The Book Love (Kelli Maree PA)]

I'm really quite confused over this read, is it a novella, a HFN or just a random really abrupt ending and we never saw I felt any of Jack's thoughts, feelings or POV so this was a very 1 sided read.

No plans to read any further books in this series.

[Hiddenthoughts]

Jack was very whiny and very irritating.

The novella started off as promising and even after the first debacle but....

If it was any longer than what it was it would of been a DNF

[Emma]

Very short

This book only took me a couple hours to read. It was ok but had no real plot and none of the issues between the characters were really resolved

[Maureen]

DNF. Sorry, just not my thing, I found it slow gave up at 29%, no disrespect to the author intended.

[Gerald Sessions]

How to date the boss and not have either of you lose your job a very good don't ask. Don't tell a story.

[Simone]

3.5 stars

[Manuela]

***2016 has been a very unstable year. Not only have I lost favourite role models in droves, I have been into dark places more times than I could count. Yes, I experienced highlights as well but the darkness has had a big impact this year and the only way to keep it at bay was reading, mass reading, back to back books with no stopping and no reviewing. I do apologize to all the writers that I won’t be able to review their books yet but I will get to it. Promise!***

[Lea Blottiaux]

Very Good Book

I liked Hand to Hand. It was about the relationship between two Navy Seals. It was a very good book.

[Antisocial Recluse]

Not bad writing, if it was actually a complete story. Abrupt ending with no conclusion.