LJ Evan's Forged By Sacrifice is DEFINITELY one of my top 10 of 2020! If I could give this book 10 stars I absolutely would!! It has everything I like, military men, a little political side show, the BEST slow burn I've read this year, and the best cast of side characters I've read in YEARS!!

Georgia is the female main character who is headed back to college after several years away because of family commitments. She is funny, hot, snarky, but she comes with some serious baggage. That baggage being her family -- her mother is Russian, remarried to a Russian Oligarch known for running guns and her father is in prison for stealing millions from investors in a Ponzi-like scheme.

Mac-Macauley is former Navy, just recently. He wasn't a SEAL, but he did help run their highly classified missions and made decisions as to which missions were accepted. He's now moving into politics, his real passion, and what he's been planning for his whole life -- to the detriment of every other relationship. He's never in any pictures that might hurt his future political career, no women that he hasn't investigated prior, no tasks within the military that might have been seen unfavorably later on, just straight laced all the way across.

When Mac and Georgie meet for the 3rd time through mutual friends they're both immediately attracted. but for whatever reason both know this is probably a bad plan so the steer clear, until that fateful day Mac asks Georgie to take a trip out on his boat, and it is wonderful, serene even -- until they finally kiss, and then Mac commits the ultimate sin of shutting down entirely. Georgie doesn't know why, she just knows he's gone cold.

When Mac leaves to head back for Washington, Georgie has no real reason to stay and heads to her new apartment in Georgetown to get a head start on her case studies before law school picks up. When her new roommates brother (who her roommate has called "Robbie") shows up several days later, it's Mac and the world is turned upside down again for both of them!

The sacrifices both of them are intent on making to keep each other safe, and try to keep each other in their lives on some level are so emotional, I could just feel my heart breaking with each page. The strength Georgie exhibits, while also sometimes being a bit hard headed, is off the charts, I just absolutely love her! A super special, incredibly HOT slow burn, if you love slow burn then LJ Evans is THE author for you!! The twists and turns, and heart breaking sorrow toward the end are just gut wrenching, and I cannot WAIT to see what is in store in Damaged Desires!! A gorgeous 5 stars for Forged By Sacrifice, I can't wait to start digging through Evan's back stock!