Expected publication date: July 11, 2017
Cover blurb:
Navy men don’t come tougher than Lieutenant Peter Greene. Every day he whips hotshot SEAL wannabes into elite fighters. So why can’t he handle one fifteen-year-old girl? His ex’s death left him a single dad overnight, and very unprepared. Though he can’t relate to an angsty teen, he can at least keep Maddie safe—until the day she disappears. Though Pete’s lacking in fatherly intuition, his instinct for detecting danger is razor sharp. Maddie’s in trouble. Now he needs the Troubleshooters team at his back, along with an unconventional ally.
Romance writer Shayla Whitman never expected to be drawn into a real-world thriller—or to meet a hero who makes her pulse pound. Action on the page is one thing. Actually living it is another story. Shay’s not as bold as her heroines, but she’s a mother. She sees the panic in her new neighbor’s usually fearless blue eyes—and knows there’s no greater terror for a parent than having a child at risk. It’s an ordeal Shay won’t let Pete face alone. She’s no highly trained operative, but she’s smart, resourceful, and knows what makes teenagers tick.
Still, working alongside Pete has its own perils—like letting the heat between them rise out of control. Intimate emotions could mean dangerous, even deadly, consequences for their mission. No matter what, they must be on top of their game, and playing for keeps . . . or else Pete’s daughter may be gone for good.
Now for the good stuff:
O.M.G. My first ARC as an ‘official’ blogger, and Ballantine approved me via Netgalley for one of my favorite authors and her long-awaited return to the Troubleshooters world!! I have been reading the books in the series dating back to 2001 and ‘Over the Edge’ (Stan and Teri!) remains one of my all-time favorite books. There has not been a full-length TS novel since 2011 so I was stoked to hear a new one was going to be published this year…and then to be approved to read it in advance…I can’t even!
We were first introduced to Lt. Peter ‘Grunge’ Greene in the ‘Ready to Roll’ novella, and he is an instructor for BUD/S on Coronado who becomes a single dad when his ex dies in an accident. His daughter Maddie is a teenager and a handful even before she disappears one day, and Pete knows she’s in trouble. Fortunately, he has a solid team behind him including Izzy Zanella and the men of Boat Crew John and the unlikely addition of his neighbor, romance writer Shayla Whitman.
Shayla writes romantic suspense novels (the best kind!) and the absolutely hysterical voice in her head is one of her characters, Harry Parker. As a single mother herself, she decides to help Pete track down his daughter and this is how the story begins. As typical in a Suz book, there is a deft combination of humor, action, emotion and even some ‘garage’ time…you just have to read it to find out for yourself!
The one tiny ‘issue’ I had involves the mention of Manzanar in the story. For those not familiar, Manzanar was an internment camp for Japanese-Americans in CA during WWII, and Maddie’s family on her mother’s side had been incarcerated there. As a long-time reader of Suz’s, a familiar storyline in the early TS books was a secondary story set in history that had impact on some of the characters. While Maddie’s great-aunt Hiroko is featured, she never really gets a chance to ‘tell’ her story and I missed that aspect as I would have liked to hear more from her.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed getting back to the characters and universe I have loved for many years, and cannot wait for the next chance to read all about them! While SKoH could be read on it’s own, I would recommend starting at the beginning with ‘The Unsung Hero’ to get the full TS experience!
http://www.suzannebrockmann.com/books/troubleshooters/some-kind-of-hero/
http://www.suzannebrockmann.com/books/troubleshooters/
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