My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it
Synopsis
A tornado has destroyed a
small Minnesota community and among the missing are not only a group of
students but PEAK Rescue team leader Chet King. Ty Remington will stop
at nothing to rescue his mentor, not even when the girl he loved--and
lost--walks back into his life. But Brette needs his help more than he
knows, despite her stubborn determination to push him away. And when he
gets a second chance, loving her just might cost him more than he can
imagine.
A blogger for Vortex Storm Chasers, Brette Arnold didn't
expect her adventures to land her in the same place as Ty, the guy who
she walked--no, ran--from over a year ago. She had her reasons--good
ones. The kind that tell her that falling for him again would only lead
to heartache. But Ty isn't the kind of man to give up--not on the
missing students, or on her.
Life and love hang in the balance in Susan May Warren's breathless story of holding on to hope during a deadly summer of storms.
My Review
I love this series, but Storm Front began a little slow for me. It picked up the brief relationship between Ty and Brette from two books ago (A Matter of Trust), and there wasn't a strong foundation there to begin with. The first part of the book is definitely plot-centered, but it also begins to show the inner struggles of Ty and Brette that they have faced during their time apart, and are still struggling with. A secondary story line is the faltering relationship of Ben and Kacey from the first book, Wild Montana Skies, and their angst over Ben's career keeping them apart. As much as I enjoyed the mountain setting of the first three books, the storm-filled plains of Minnesota was a nice change of pace while still maintaining that small-town feeling of community.
The pace of the book picked up as the emergencies hit, bringing Ty and the rescue team to intersect with Brette and her tornado-chasing team, and they work together to search for missing townspeople. It was fascinating to see the mystery unravel as the team pulled together resources and information to solve where the missing were when the tornado hit, and follow Ty's "hunches" to where they would take cover and end up. Emotions ran high at times and as Brette and Ty open up to each other, their friendship is reestablished and they are able to provide reassurance, encouragement, and support. By the end of the book I was fully invested in the story and was happy to see how everything worked out.
(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)
Don't miss the other books in the Montana Rescue series . . .
Book One
Synopsis
Search and rescue pilot
Kacey Fairing is home on leave in Mercy Falls, Montana, twelve years
after she joined the military to escape the mistakes of her past. With a
job waiting for her as the new lead pilot of Peak Rescue in Glacier
National Park, Kacey hopes to reconnect with the now-teenage daughter
she sees only between deployments. What she doesn't realize is that
someone else is also back in town.
Ben King has been building his
country music career since the day Kacey shut him out of her life. Now
all of that's on hold when his injured father calls him home to help run
Peak Rescue until he's fully recovered. It doesn't take long, though,
to discover his father's ulterior motives as Kacey Fairing walks into
the house and back into his heart.
With Mercy Falls in a state of
emergency due to flash floods, Kacey and Ben are forced to work together
to save lives. But when floodwaters turn personal, can they put aside
the past to save their future?
Book Two
Synopsis
When Deputy Sam Brooks
commits to something, nothing can sway him--not just on the job as
liaison between the Mercy Falls sheriff's department and PEAK Rescue,
but in his private life. He's the one who stuck around to take care of
his mother after his father's accidental death. And he's the
one--perhaps the only one--who believes Sierra Rose is the perfect girl
for him. Safe, practical, and organized, she's nothing like her hippie,
impulsive, bleeding heart sister, Willow.
Willow, however, has
been in love with Sam Brooks for as long as she can remember. But she
wants her sister to have a happy ending. Besides, Willow has other
things to focus on--namely, nabbing the job as youth pastor for her
small-town church. Best thing for her to do is to purge Sam from her
heart.
Neither can predict the events that will bring them
together in a fight for their lives in the forbidding wilderness of
Glacier National Park. Stranded, injured, and with the winter weather
closing in, Sam and Willow will have to work together to save a crew of
terrified teenagers. As they fight to survive, they might just discover a
new hope for love.
Book Three
Synopsis
Champion backcountry
snowboarder Gage Watson has left the limelight behind after the death of
one of his fans. After being sued for negligence and stripped of his
sponsorships, he's remade his life as a ski patrol in Montana's rugged
mountains, as well as serving on the PEAK Rescue team. But he can't seem
to find his footing--or forget the woman he loved, who betrayed him.
Senator
and former attorney Ella Blair spends much of her time in the limelight
as the second-youngest senator in the country. But she has a
secret--one that cost Gage his career. More than anything, she wants to
atone for her betrayal of him in the courtroom and find a way to help
him put his career back on track.
When Ella's brother goes
missing on one of Glacier National Park's most dangerous peaks, Gage and
his team are called in for the rescue. But Gage isn't so sure he wants
to help the woman who destroyed his life. More, when she insists on
joining the search, he'll have to keep her safe while finding her
reckless brother, a recipe for disaster when a snowstorm hits the
mountain.
But old sparks relight as they search for the missing
snowboarder--and suddenly, they are faced with emotions neither can
deny. But when Ella's secret is revealed, can they learn to trust each
other--even when disaster happens again?
Synopsis
Billionaire Ian Shaw can
have everything he wants--except a happy ending. Or at least that's
what it feels like with his fortune recently liquidated, his niece,
Esme, still missing, and the woman he loves refusing to speak to him. In
fact, he doubts she would date him even if they were stranded on a
deserted island.
Despite her love for Ian, Sierra Rose knows he
has no room in his life for her as long as the mystery of his missing
niece goes unsolved. The only problem is, Sierra has solved it, but a promise to Esme to keep her whereabouts secret has made it impossible to be around Ian.
When
the PEAK chopper is damaged and Sierra lacks the funds to repair it,
Ian offers a fundraising junket for large donors on his yacht in the
Caribbean. But the three-day excursion turns into a nightmare when a
rogue wave cripples the yacht and sends the passengers overboard. Shaken
up and soaked to the bone, Ian finally has a chance to test his theory
when he and Sierra do indeed find themselves washed up on a strange,
empty shore.
It will take guts and gumption for the PEAK team to
rescue the duo. But it will take a miracle to rescue Ian and Sierra's
relationship.
Book Six
Releases November 6, 2018
Synopsis
Pete Brooks can't
believe he's waited an entire year for Jess Tagg to return to Montana,
only to have her break his heart by getting engaged to her ex-fiancé.
Worse, a series of mistakes on the job have cost lives, and Pete isn't
sure he wants to continue to work in Search and Rescue. Maybe if he can
just get over Jess, he can figure out how to move forward.
EMT
Jess Tagg has returned to Montana to finally give her heart to Pete, but
it seems he's no longer interested. When a terrible fight between them
sparks an impulsive decision, she finds herself crashed on the side of a
highway along with Esme Shaw. And just when she thinks things couldn't
get any worse, she and Esme are taken captive and into the untamed
Montana wilderness—with murderous intent.
Now Pete and the other
PEAK Rescue Team members are in a race against time, the elements, and
the actions of a vengeful man. Pete will have to use everything he's
learned to find Jess and Esme—and pray that his past mistakes don't cost
him the life of the woman he can't stop loving.
