~ About the Book ~
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.
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: #6 Montana Rescue
Release date: 6 November 2018
Pages: 336
Publisher: Revell
Amazon US // Amazon AU // iTunes // Goodreads // Koorong
~ Excerpt ~
Jess hadn’t come 2,500 miles to die.
She’d outrun a grizzly, lived through a forest fire and a chopper crash, and even managed to climb the Eiffel Tower in high heels.
She wasn’t going to die in the back of some seedy pickup.
And she certainly wasn’t going to let anything happen to Shae. Not when the woman had finally found a way to come home.
But first Jess had to get free. She lay with her hands secured behind her, with what she assumed was duct tape strapping her wrists and ankles together. More tape pasted her mouth shut. She guessed they were in the bed of a pickup, given the hard stripes of metal pressing into her back and hips. With the wan moonlight pressing in through grimy side windows, she added a topper to her assessment.
Bodies edged up next to her, and she prayed with everything inside her they were Ned and Shae.
They weren’t moving fast, and the road was bumpy and rough, jostling her hard, digging the planes of the truck bed into her hips.
Get free. The thought pulsed inside her, focusing her, and she stretched out her arms, pulling her shoulders down to get her bonded wrists past her backside. Contorting her body, she moved her arms down her legs, sitting up to bring them around her feet.
Her fingers found the edges of the tape over her mouth, and she worked it free, finally ripping hard. Her skin burned, raw where the tape dragged off a skin layer on her lips. But she gulped in a full breath, then moved her hands toward the bodies next to her.
Please be alive.
Her hands found a leg, then a torso and Ned’s heartbeat, alive and thundering under her hand. She felt her way to the tape over his mouth and ripped it off.
He grunted. Then, “Where’s Shae?” Ned kept his voice low.
She matched it. “Over here. Get your hands in front of you.”
While he writhed, she found Shae, then her mouth, and worked the tape free. Not a hint of movement, and Jess felt her way down to her carotid artery. A steady thrum under her fingers.
“She’s alive but unconscious.”
Next to her, Ned had wrestled his arms in front of his body. “We need something to cut off this tape.”
“Raise your arms above your head, then bring them down hard—the tape should break.” She lay back, found room, and obeyed her own instructions. Please . . .
The tape broke free of her wrists.
Beside her, Ned had one the same. “How did you know that trick?”
“Self-defense training. Long story.” She scrambled over to Shae, rolled her to her side, and began to work on her bonds, unwinding them from her wrists. Freeing her, she set her back and ran her hands down her arms, across her body, then down her legs. “Her ankle is really swollen, and I felt some sponginess in her ribs, maybe even blood. I can’t tell in the dark.”
They were still bumping through the forest, and a dip in the road jarred her hard into Ned. He caught her but grunted.
“You’re hurt?”
“I’m fine. We need to get out of here.”Excerpt from “Wait For Me” by Susan May Warren
Published by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2018
Used by permission
~ Review ~
What a roller-coaster ride! The emotions, the tension, the action—it was up, down, around, and loop-the-loop all the way through this story. And Pete and Jess—ahhh! Heart in a tangle!
I’ve been anticipating this story so much that there was a very real possibility I had built it up beyond all realistic expectations. Given the author is Susan May Warren, I should have known better than to doubt. This was absolutely riveting from the first page to the last. It had the harrowing man vs nature suspense that I have loved so much about this series, with the added thrill of knowing that someone was out there after them. And remember those loop-the-loops I mentioned? Yeah, there were a few times I really did get thrown for a loop and had everything I thought I knew turned on its head.
As with all the other books in this series, there are two couples featured in this story, but as much as I loved seeing the resolution to Esme/Shae’s story, I can’t deny that Pete and Jess took centre stage for me. They’ve been through so much throughout the series, and I wasn’t sure how much more angst I could handle. There were miscommunications and refusals to communicate, wounded pride leading to stubbornness, and let’s not forget an ex-or-maybe-not fiancé! In almost any other case, that would be too much drama for me to handle, but the way it plays out here alongside the search and rescue was dynamite, especially with both Pete and Felipe (the aforementioned fiancé) part of the search—both honourable and determined, but emotional powder-kegs just waiting for a spark to set them off. And concern for Jess is a pretty big spark!
Underpinning it all is a message about reckless, undeserved love: “True love—unconditional love—declares you worthy just because it chooses you. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” It’s “the kind of love that forgave and showed up and chased and forgave again and kept showing up, loving her when she didn’t have the courage to love back.”
It’s an intense read, but oh-so-good on so many different levels.
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.
~ Previous Books in the Series ~
Read my reviews: Wild Montana Skies // Rescue Me // A Matter of Trust // Troubled Waters // Storm Front
~ 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
Leave a Reply