The Soldier's Surprise Family (Love Inspired) by Jolene Navarro

The Soldier's Surprise Family (Love Inspired) Reviews

• 
  Mark

  I'm a guy, so I don't read many romance novels, unless they are suspense... but I picked up a few of the Love Inspired non-suspense novels recently at a used store, and have loved what I read. Every time I think I have read the best one, I read another that competes for being the best... and this one is the most recent. This will sound totally non-masculine, but this book ripped my heart out of my chest, squeezed it to death, and put it back in. Yeah, it is fiction, but man what a story. This is the first book I have read by this author, but I am already wanting to read more
• 
  Michelle

  This book was so endearing.
  
  Garrett Kincaid came home from his shift as a local state trooper to be informed that he was a father. This news was met with a mix of emotions that sent him on a journey of a lifetime. By his side was sweet widow, Anjelica Ortega-Garza who had experience her own heartache. She volunteered to watch Garrett's son and his sister as Garrett tried to adjust to instant fatherhood.
  
  Rio had big issues to overcome, making Garrett feel even more guilty. This book was packed with sweet dialogue and romance from the first page to the last! It's a must read, for sure!
• 
  Alisha

  4.25
• 
  Julie Riley

  This is a beautiful story that is wonderfully told. Such art and finesse used throughout. Smoothly weaving in the true Easter story. Very thoughtfully explaining pain and healing.
• 
  Anna Marie

  Title of my review: Navarro's Suprisingly Enjoyable Book
  
  This is something like my FIFTH Navarro book. I've DNF-ed others, given pitiful reviews, hated on the writing and stories and characters and more... but there's always a chance someone might grow in their craft, so I don't let previous stinkers keep me from trying other books. I'm *hoping* this is a later book, and/or she got a different editor. Because it'd be great if all her stories from here on out were this good.
  
  There are a few issues. First, the cover is ALL wrong. I don't think Navarro has a choice in that, so I can't hold it against her. But Garrett is a big, buff cop who cut his curls off in middle school and his hair grew back straight, ever since. Guy on the front is a curly mop-head with no buff goin' on, and five-day beard scruff NO state trooper would be sporting. They're also missing a child on the cover, but what's a baby here or there, amIright?
  
  Second, this is the FOURTH in a 'Clear Water, Texas' series, except neither the book *OR* Goodreads bothers to tell us that. Instead we're inundated with Ortegas who are referenced as if they've had stories before this one... because they have. It reads *mostly* as a stand-alone, except for the gargantuan Mexican family full of happy couples already paired up in previous books. The series is found here:
  https://www.goodreads.com/series/2641...
  
  As for the story, Garrett is ex-Marine cop boy with PTSD and daddy abandonment issues. He had a girl from high school he painted in his mind to be something she wasn't while he was overseas, and married her right away when he got home to 'live normal and happy', and she wasn't what he'd created in his mind. After dealing with her cheating, threatening, and proposing blackmail, he got out and severed all ties... not knowing there was a baby on the way. Five years later, she's dead and the boy (and his infant sister and a dog) are on his doorstep, needing a loving parent/guardian.
  
  Meanwhile his landlady is the love interest. Anjelica's dead husband is ex-Marine and she lost her baby, but she's apparently okay with renting out the garage apartment to more of the same, even while telling herself she didn't want a guy with the macho hero complex thing. Enter the children, and she becomes mush. They need a mom, she wants to be a mom. They need a house, she has a mostly empty one. They need parents... okay, so nevermind, she's okay with the macho hero thing, after all. It was tidy, convenient, and pretty pat.
  
  It's done well, this time... and I'm not one to give out empty praise. The story covers familial forgiveness, finding solid emotional ground, working thru anger, and other hard-hitting topics.
  
  As for the 'inspirational' bit, Navarro does great at skirting around 'God' concepts, as per her usual. She mostly avoids spirituality of any depth. A few 'dear god' prayers and a reference to a church is about what she calls spiritual. In this one, we get the added bonus of a bacon addiction (unclean foods) and lots of Easter references (candy, eggs via fertility symbols, etc). The story of the Crucifixion set to guitar music, because Mariachi band.
  
  For Navarro, this was stellar. And I think I might even have a few other Clear Water books, so... might have to see how they are, in the near future. Definitely worth spending an hour with this one. It was a pleasant surprise.
• 
  Pam

  Harlequin romance.
• 
  Jenna Francisco

  Good book, just kind of boring at times
• 
  Jenna Scribbles

  Quite repetitive and lots of sad topics. Needed levity to balance it out.
• 
  Pam Graber

  Jolene Navarro has penned the beautiful story of a man who doesn't believe his love is enough for anyone else who suddenly learns he is a father to a son he never knew he had. To add to his shock, his son has a baby sister who also needs a home. Can Garrett open his heart to two needy children and help them through the trauma they've already lived through? When his landlady, Angelica Ortega-Garza, steps in and offers to help he jumps at the chance to have someone teach him how to be a parent. He's a loner, more comfortable by himself than in crowds. She's from a HUGE loving family, used to having everyone in her business all the time. Can he learn to let others help him gain his son's trust?
  This was a very quick read and I definitely recommend!
• 
  Dodi Traylor

  Fantastic Read
  
  This book was amazing. Both the hero and the heroine were broken, but with God's plan, they were made whole as one.