~ About the Book ~
The last thing they expect is a jailbreak and when the prisoners disappear into the forest with one of their own, they’ll have to fight not only the fire, but for the freedom of their friends…during the Summer of the Burning Sky.
Book 2: The Heat is On
FBI Agent Rio Parker is tired of playing the bad guy, even if it is for a good reason. Undercover with a group of prisoners to babysit a federal informant, he can’t believe he’s been enlisted to fight a forest fire…or sucked into a prison break. Worse—a female smokejumper has been kidnapped. Now, he’ll have to protect her from a rapist, keep his informant from escaping, and stay out of the gunsights of the US Marshal hot on his trail.
Smokejumper Skye Doyle knew trouble was brewing when the group of prisoners joined the firefight. She never expected, however, to be kidnapped during their breakout. But can she trust a hardened felon to keep her safe? Except, Rio is not who he seems, and when his identity is uncovered, she must decide if she can trust a man who has been lying to her…
But staying alive on the run isn’t their only problem, they’ll have to learn to trust each other if they hope to survive in book 2 of the Summer of the Burning Sky.
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: #2 Summer of the Burning Sky
Release date: 17 July 2018
Pages: 162
Publisher: Independent
Amazon US // Amazon AU // Goodreads
~ Excerpt ~
Skye wanted to believe there was good in everyone, no matter how deep she had to search.
But a person had to look pretty deep to find it in the form of the prisoner named Rio. He sat with his back to a tree in a copse of forest, eating dinner from his MRE.
From the outside, she could admit he possessed looks that could stun a girl—short, wavy black hair, the scrub of whiskers on his chin, deep amber brown eyes. He stood over six feet, with broad shoulders, a lean body, as if he hadn’t spent a lifetime behind bars but working out in some gym, maybe playing a little football on the side. And he dug line like he might have a dog in this fight instead of being forced to work like a member of a chain gang.
Yes, she’d watched, mesmerized for a dangerous moment by the ripple of muscles in his arms, the lean length of his legs, the way his lats tensed every time he tossed dirt.
The heat was clearly going to her head because any resemblance to a clean-nosed college jock ended with the scar across his jaw, as if he’d been nicked by a knife in a street fight. And the bad boy aura just thickened with the tattoo on the back of his neck—some kind of tribal tattoo that started on his forearms and wound all the way up, under his shirt sleeves to circle his neck and dip back down under his collar. He wore a now-grimy white T-shirt under his orange prison shirt, which he’d stripped off, and all she saw were deft hands that scraped out a can of tuna. She couldn’t stop wondering if he knew how to turn a plastic spoon into a weapon.
Oh, brother. She’d seen too many movies.
He said nothing as he ate, but those amber brown eyes seemed to be watching them all, the expression on his face a little raw, a little broken, very wary.
And call her a sucker for the lost, but it was the expression that convinced her that maybe, just maybe, there was more to Rio’s story.
~ Review ~
Well, the heat is most certainly on in the second instalment of the Summer of the Burning Sky series! Whew! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Light My Fire, then I suggest you start there because, while there is a lot of overlap in the stories, this story takes the reader a level deeper and reveals things we don’t know in the first book. In fact, I’d say don’t even read the synopsis for this story, but that’s probably shutting the gate after the horse has bolted!
This is the kind of series you pick up if you want a high amount of action and adrenaline packed into a shorter reading space. You get a little bit of breathing space right at the beginning as the scene is set for the story, but once it gets going, hold on to your hat, because it’s a pulse-pounding ride. And that goes for action and romance!
This is the point at which I confess I may have developed a *teensy*—ahem—crush on Rio. There is something about the diamond-in-the-rough hero that I find irresistible, and Susan May Warren certainly knows how to write ‘em. Knowing the time frame for the novel, I had worried about instalove prior to picking up the story—with a guy who’s believed to be a criminal, no less—but if Skye is guilty of instalove, then so am I! In actual fact, I thought it was handled fairly realistically for their circumstances, which—let’s face it—are pretty intense. They’re both aware of how quickly everything is happening, but they can’t deny the connection they feel either—and the fact that it is an emotional connection that I felt as a reader, rather than simply physical attraction, certainly helped with that.
It’s truly amazing how much Susan May Warren can cram into a novella. If you love fast-paced, high-intensity romantic suspense, you won’t be disappointed with this series!
I received a copy of this novel from the author. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
~ Previous Books in the Series ~
Read my review for Light My Fire
Watch out for the conclusion to the series, coming soon: Some Like It Hot.
~ About the Author ~
Growing up in Minneapolis and attending the U of MN, I learned to love city life, although I’m a woodsy girl at heart. Or maybe I’m an adventurer — having lived and traveled all over the world, including Siberia Russia as a missionary for eight years. Probably that’s why my characters can’t sit still, and seem to get into one scrape after another — they’re too much like me! I love God, my family, my country, my church, and feel privileged every day to be able to write stories.
Here’s my “Official” Bio.
With over 1 million books sold, critically acclaimed novelist Susan May Warren is the Christy, RITA and Carol award-winning author of over forty-five novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill, and Summerside Press. Known for her compelling plots and unforgettable characters, Susan has written contemporary and historical romances, romantic-suspense, thrillers, rom-com and Christmas novellas.
With books translated into eight languages, many of her novels have been ECPA and CBA bestsellers, were chosen as Top Picks by Romantic Times, and have won the RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice contest and the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award. She’s a three time RITA finalist and an eight time Christy Finalist.
Of her books, Publisher’s Weekly has written, “Warren lays bare her characters’ human frailties, including fear, grief, and resentment, as openly as she details their virtues of love, devotion, and resiliency. She has crafted an engaging tale of romance, rivalry, and the power of forgiveness.”
And Library Journal adds, “Warren’s characters are well-developed and she knows how to create a first rate contemporary romance…”
Susan is also a nationally acclaimed writing coach, teaching at conferences around the nation and winner of the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Mentor of the Year award. She loves to help people launch their writing careers and is the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com and www.LearnHowtoWriteaNovel.com, a writing website that helps authors get published and stay published. She’s also the author of the popular writing method, The Story Equation.
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