Title: The Way of the Brave
Author: Susan May Warren
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: #1 Global Search and Rescue
Publisher: Revell
Release date: 7 January 2020
Pages: 352
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About the Book
Former pararescue jumper Orion Starr is haunted by the memory of a rescue gone wrong. He may be living alone in Alaska now, but the pain of his failure–and his injuries–has followed him there from Afghanistan. He has no desire to join Hamilton Jones’s elite rescue team, but he also can’t shirk his duty when the call comes in to rescue three lost climbers on Denali.
Former CIA profiler and psychiatrist Jenny Calhoun’s yearly extreme challenge with her best friends is her only escape from the guilt that has sunk its claws into her. As a consultant during a top-secret mission to root out the Taliban, she green-lighted an operation that ended in ambush and lives lost. When her cathartic climb on Denali turns deadly, she’ll be forced to trust her life and the lives of her friends to the most dangerous of heroes–the man she nearly killed.
Her skills and his experience are exactly what’s needed to prevent another tragedy–but in order to truly set Orion free from his painful past, Jenny will have to reveal hers. They’ll have to put their wounds behind them to survive, but at what cost?
Leap into action with this high-octane, breakneck new series from bestselling author Susan May Warren.
Excerpt
The secret to not dying was simple.
Don’t look down.
Shouts from sixty feet below bounced against the domed ceiling of the GoSports indoor ice climbing complex. Jenny Calhoun blocked them out and released a long, slow breath.
Relax. Assess.
Tensing up on a climb only led to mistakes. Which led to crashes.
On a mountain, that could mean landing in a crevasse or at the base of an icefall—or worse, buried under an avalanche of snow.
She hung ten feet from the top, with two more quick clips ahead of her, but the hardest move still loomed above her—the overhang.
This didn’t have to be hard. She could almost hear North, her instructor, in her head as she tightened her grip on her ice axes. “It’s called a figure four. Swing your right leg over your right arm. Use that to leverage yourself up and land a new left-hand hold.“
She ticked off the move in her head, seeing her next move, the one that would position her under the overhang. “Wind your right leg over your left arm. Release your right hand. Now you can move your axe under the overhang, wedging it against the face of the wall.”
She could then use the handle of the axe like a lever to help her push herself over the hanging ledge.
Sweat dripped down her back despite the twenty-eight-degree air. The climbing wall was essentially a vertical skating rink with multiple grades and a plywood-grafted overhang, along with a few man-made holds.
The route setter had created a grade-six climb for tonight’s amateur competition.
She released her left hand and shook out the lactic acid pooling in her forearm. Her entire body shook, and her grip had nearly slipped on the last set, despite the golf gloves she wore. But Aria and Sasha stood below, next to her belayer, and she’d let her mouth make promises she prayed her body could keep.
If she expected them to trust her to lead them up Denali in a little over two months, then she needed to nail tonight’s ice-climbing event.
Review
Wowsers! I’ve been a fan of Susan May Warren’s books for several years now—particularly her most recent romantic suspense series such as the Montana Rescue, Montana Fire, and Montana Marshalls series—so when I say this might just be her best book yet, I don’t say it lightly. First of all, it was a riveting read from beginning to end. One of the things I loved about both the Montana Rescue and the Montana Fire series was the element of “Man vs Nature,” an element that I feel is underused in romantic suspense in general. Well, this story was “Man vs Nature” at its most gruelling. Saying these characters were lost on Denali is like saying the Titanic sprung a leak. This was an epic story of survival, and Susan May Warren brought it to life in vivid, adrenaline-pumping detail.
But beyond that, I sensed a subtle shift in Susan May Warren’s writing in this novel—I want to say a deepening or a maturing, but neither totally captures the sense I’m trying to convey, and I don’t want to imply that there has been something lacking previously, because that isn’t the case at all. It’s a deepening or maturing of the kind that intensifies flavour. Both the writing and the characterisation were crisper, tighter, more nuanced. And the characters’ spiritual journeys had my eyes filling with tears at one stage. Warren isn’t afraid to have her characters struggle through the tough questions, and not only do they get meaningful answers, but the whole story built towards the spiritual “ah-ha!” moment so that I felt the truth of what these characters needed to learn all the way to my soul.
This really was the best kind of reading experience. Intense, visceral, and totally immersive. I am on tenterhooks waiting for the next book in this series!
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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.
Connect with Susan: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Excellent review, Katie! I’m exited to read this series!
Thanks, Caryl. It’s going to be such a great series!