Forged in Smoke (A Red-Hot SEALs Novel Book 3)

Another great read by McCallan. Spoiler alert.

This one starts with Seth Rawls dying. Rawls is 6'4" and is currently looking at his body below him. Rawls has been a SEAL for fourteen years and he's also very dead and is watching Cos, Zane and Mac his commander trying to revive him. Rawls is also trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. How in hell can he be floating over his own body.

William Crosby Seth Rawlings is his real name. None of his teammates know he's the son of one of South Carolinas oldest families. Hell they only know him as Seth Rawls and if he has anything to say about it they will never find out his real name or his real history. A history that includes the death of his sister Sarah.

Rawls is having a hard time trying to figure out how he can be floating above his own body and be watching the others trying to revive him. Cos and Kait his fiancé take over. Kaits hands are above his wounds and Cos's hands are holding hers. There is a glow over them all and then a light hits him. He's suddenly back in his body and he's okay. Only problem is the ghost of Pachico came back with him and only Rawls can see and hear him.

Of course Rawls knows everyone will think he's crazy if he tells them about Pachico so he decides to deal with it himself. In fact Rawls is trying to figure out if he is indeed going crazy who in hell see's ghosts?? His teammates have heard him talking to himself and are very concerned. Zane, his best friend wants to help but Rawls just can't tell anyone about the ghost. Who in hell would believe him?? They will all think he's nuts.

Faith Ansell is the Doctor the team rescued and she's been working up the courage to ask Rawls, the Team corpsman, for help getting the meds she needs. She's the recipient of a heart and needs her medications to make sure her heart keeps working.

Rawls is from Louisiana and only lacked taking one more year of internship to be a doctor. He, his sister and two friends were kidnapped. His sister and her girlfriend were repeatedly raped by all twenty four of their captors and ultimately died. Rawls and his friend were rescued but the death of his sister is something he thinks he could have prevented. Nothing would have saved her and he and his friend were lucky to get out of the it with their lives. Rawls is eaten with remorse and her death is the main reason he became a SEAL.

Eric Manheim is a billionaire and a man who, along with a few other very rich men, is on the road to removing most humans from earth. His group, The New World Order, will try to remove man from the earth. Man is destroying the planet and Manheim and his group are well on the way to fulfilling their wish's.

So begins one pretty damned fine read.

This one has, Rawls, Zane, Cos, Mac, Kait, Faith, Beth, Amy her two sons Benji and Brandon, Wolf, Jude, an attack on the cabin where Mac and his men are, Manheim and his people doing their best to kill the SEAL's, Pachico, the Arapaho in the huge cavern inside Mt. Whitney who show Rawls how to question him and then get rid of him, an Amy who wants to get her sons, her son's who are tagged, her son's who once she retrieves them will lead Manheim directly to where they are hiding, Purcell who meets Amy with the boys, a Purcell who thinks he can arrest Cos, a Cos who quickly lets him know that that will never happen, the chopper that gets them back, an attack on Wolf's cabins, underground tunnels, an escape to Mt. Whitney in Alaska, a Rawls who is wondering just who is funding Wolf and the people he works for, a raid on the building where Faiths co workers are held, a raid that finds them all dead, a bomb that almost kills the team, a Faith and Rawls finding love, a Manheim who has an idea where his enemies are and Seth Rawls doing his best to figure it all out, protect his friends and stay alive.

Five Stars.

The first book in the series, Forged in Fire, was actually pretty good. Interesting characters and some depth in the development of their relationships. However I was not happy that the book and the two sequels are not stand alone books. The second book was still interesting though not as well written as the first. This third in the series is a definite disappointment. The author spends too much of the book about what Faith is thinking, and most of her thoughts are pretty inane. Constantly doubting Kait's ability to heal even after she herself has been healed, talking back to Mac when they are involved in an insertion, babbling about why things look green through night vision when she has been told silence is imperative. Often she sounded as much of a child as Benji in her comments and rambling thoughts, certainly not a brilliant scientist. And the action storyline is still not finished. This book ended abruptly without any resolution of the storyline. More to come in book 4 and maybe 5 or more? Personally I am done with this series. I read these with Kindle Unlimited so they were free as part of that program. If I had paid even 99 cents for them I would have felt seriously cheated.
IMHO the author could have greatly improved her writing by cutting out a lot of the redundant and repetitive chatter in her characters' heads that is so predominant in the books, had the men "scrub" their hands down their faces a few less times, tightened up the action and written one book containing the entire story arc. That could have been a great book. I am done with this series and with this author.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, although it was quite a bit ago. When I saw that this was available, I grabbed it. Luckily, it was borrowed because I could not finish the book! The following are my reasons for the one star rating:
• While I understand this is the third book in the series, it was extremely difficult to understand what was happening from the get go. Even with my limited foundation from the first book, I could not understand who was doing what and why things were happening. This book just had too many ingredients: it starts off with a paranormal event, then vears off into military suspense/action followed by some Native American mysticism then rolls up some contemporary romance. My mind was continuously asking, "whaaa??!!!"
• The story is quite choppy. Told in third person, it switches perspectives abruptly from chapter to chapter. I personally hate alternate POVs with a passion and the style of writing for this story was quite irritating.
• I really hated the main H. A good portion of the story was told from his perspective and I thought his actions were way out of line for his character. Military personnel and especially SEALS rely on each other as a team to be effective but the main H goes against this doctrine with practically every action in this story! It was so frustrating!
• The love interest for the H was no better! She is supposed to be a smart scientist but continually says and does stupid things!
• Finally, there is a story within this story focused on other characters that just got confusing, and frankly, without the romance or something interesting about it other thsn trying to safeguard kids (while noble) really didn't hold my interest. Toward the middle, I finally gave up and started skimmimg through those sections.
All in all, read first 41% then skimmed a great deal to the end. I would not recommend this book to those just looking to get started on this series. However, if you're okay with multiple POVs, stories about military SEALS and paranormal abilities, very complicated storylines, then this book will likely appeal to you.

This is the third installment of Trish McCallan's Red Hot SEALs novels, and this book delves ever deeper into the paranormal oddities and subversive machinations that have redefined life for these talented covert operators and the women they love. To date, the first book, Forged in Fire, has been my favorite. And while the story of Seth Rawlings and Dr. Faith Ansell was fine, this book has definitely whet my appetite for the fourth (and final?) book, Forged in Ember, which will feature Amy Chastain and Commander "Mac" Mackenzie. That is a book I intend to consume the second it is available!

Each book in the series highlights a different SEAL on the team and a love story that surrounds him. In the background is a continuously running suspense tale adhering to a surprisingly tight chronology. The SEALS and their women have adventures filled with fights, explosions, injuries, betrayals, and a mastermind megalomaniac. The SEALS are a tightly knit unit, and happily the reader is able to catch up with favorite couples from previous books; they are major characters in this third installment. Unfortunately, that also means this book is definitely not a standalone. Since the publication of the other two books was so long ago, I recommend skimming them before embarking on Seth's story. Your enjoyment of Forged in Smoke will be much, much better if you do so. Prepare to be lost if you can't remember or are unfamiliar with the plot from books one and two.

Trish McCallan has a knack for describing emotion, especially for the battle-hardened SEALS. She manages to reveal their softness and respect for their women without weakening their position as world-class warriors. This holds true for Rawls as he gradually becomes aware of Dr. Ansell, especially her freckles and her self-containment. During the course of this book, both are severely injured and it serves to heighten their awareness and dependence on one another.

"Except...there wasn't an ounce of levity on his face. Instead it looked frozen, almost fragile. Which was crazy when describing a six-foot-four hunk of muscle and strength. But yeah, he looked vulnerable, as though the wrong reaction from her could shatter him into a billion pieces and nothing would ever be right between them ever again."

At the 75% mark in the book, it seemed a little like the novel jumped the shark. What I thought had previously been a strength of this series- potentially explainable blips of supernatural occurrences woven subtly into military action-adventure - suddenly overwhelmed the story. It was actually more interesting when Rawls thought his ghost was a mental breakdown, but then the phantom begins to physically manifest by pointing guns, and I did a mental, "Oh, come on!" Unfortunately, at the same time the romance of Rawls and Faith headed straight to cliche-ville. Suddenly the awkward researcher with the skinny body and hesitant demeanor is a sultry siren and their bedroom talked sounded like two totally different people.

Although Rawls and Faith weren't my favorite couple, I was happy to see more of Cosky and Kait and Zane and Beth. In fact, McCallan does a great job with all of the side characters, good and bad alike. You get a good sense of personalities and motivations in a detailed yet succinct way. Plus, I really liked Rawls' southern drawl. The action is equally as well paced. The peaks are quick page turners and very creative (I thought the raid on the lab was especially well done), but then there is time to take a breath and develop the romance, too. Like I said at the beginning of this review, McCallan has me very much anticipating a more mature romance that has the potential to smolder beyond control for Amy and Mac in the next book.

Forged in Smoke by Trish McCallan
5 stars

This book is a wild ride of adventure, suspense, discredited SEALs, world wide conspiracy and the women who fall for them as well as Native Americans with special abiities.This book can easily be read as a stand alone but I think most readers are going to be like me and will want to read the first two books. This book begins as the battle ground clears from the end of the second book. The connection between Faith, the scientist, and Rawls, the SEAL, is intense. So strong that you don't realize that they haven't even managed a kiss for over a third of the book. Readers looking for a lot of hot sex aren't going to find it here but they will find a hero and heroine who have secrets that they needto share so everyone lives as well as secrets they need to share with eahother.
I fully enjoyed this book and enough backstory is provided to make it easy to follow. At the same time this is a fast paced action story with tunnels, escape hatches, bombings, and everyone coming out the other side alive. I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down.I would recommend this to anyone looking for a wellwritten, intense adventure romance. I received this book free from the publisher on netgalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Faith Ansell could never be mistaken for an action hero. The scientist is content in her lab, working with her team on life-changing discoveries. But when a mysterious organization captures her colleagues, she’s forced to flee for her life with SEAL Team 7.

Lieutenant Seth “Rawls” Rawlings, ST7’s corpsman, hasn’t been himself since a near-death experience in the Sierra Nevadas. He’s tense and distracted, and the team caught him arguing with himself—loudly. Despite his erratic behavior, Rawls is the only one Faith feels comfortable confiding her life-threatening secret in.

But Rawls has a secret of his own: his wasn’t the only spirit to return to the physical plane when he was resuscitated. At first, Rawls assumed the “ghost” he saw and heard meant he was having a complete mental breakdown. But the apparition soon becomes convincingly real, and what’s more, he may be the key to the conspiracy looming over them. Rawls had better act quickly because ST7’s race to save their reputations—and Faith’s life—is on.

I found this series through Kindle Unlimited! I'm so glad I found this series! I am so caught up in it and I can't wait for book 4! This book has so many twist and turns, love and action! I highly recommend this series! Trish please hurry with book 4 I need to know what's going to happen!