Review & Giveaway: A Matter of Trust by Susan May Warren

A MATTER OF TRUST

Montana Rescue Series, Book 3

by

SUSAN MAY WARREN

  Genre: Contemporary Romance / Action / Christian

Publisher: Revell

Date of Publication: July 4, 2017

Number of Pages: 336

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Champion backcountry snowboarder Gage Watson was at the top of his game when one of his fans crashed and died—a death blamed on Gage. After being sued for negligence and stripped of his sponsorships, Gage had no choice but to leave the limelight behind and search for a new life.

Although Gage is now working as a ski patrol in Montana’s rugged mountains, as well as serving on the PEAK Rescue team, he still can’t find peace—or forget the woman who betrayed him.

As a former attorney and one of the youngest senators in the country, Ella Blair is used to being in the public eye. But she does have one secret that has remained hidden—a secret that could have saved Gage his career. Wracked with regret, she’ll do almost anything to atone for her betrayal of him.

When Ella’s brother goes missing on one of Glacier National Park’s most dangerous peaks, the last thing Gage wants is to let Ella join the search. Not only will he have to find her reckless brother, but he’ll have to keep her safe as well. But Ella is undeterred, and suddenly Gage finds himself in a high-stakes adventure on a mountain with a woman who could cost him everything—again. In a world of dangerous heights, devastating injuries, and blinding snowstorms, Gage and Ella must put aside the past and learn to trust each other if they hope to survive.

Praise for the Montana Rescue Series

“Exciting rescues and an old mystery offer a thrilling, roller-coaster plotline and plenty of drama to keep the pages turning.” 

—Bookpage on Wild Montana Skies

“A fast-moving, high-stakes romantic adventure set against the backdrop of Glacier National Park, which will leave longtime fans and new readers alike anticipating the next book in the series.” 

—Publishers Weekly on Rescue Me

PURCHASE LINKS:

Baker Book House | Amazon | Christianbook.com | B&N

iBooks  | Kobo | Lifeway 

From the moment some kid in a T-rex costume snowboarded on the mountain, I knew I was in for an interesting read. Gage Watson is a guy who takes safety seriously and has to catch the kid and kick him out. What makes this situation even more interesting is that Gage used to be the world’s most celebrated freerider. When he sees people attempt dumb stunts, it is likely because they watched videos of him doing them back in the day. It was three years ago that he tried to talk a young man out of doing a dangerous carve down the mountain and failed. When the guy died, Gage was blamed and his whole life caved in.

After finding some peace as a ski patrolman for the PEAK rescue team, coming face to face with the young woman who stole his heart and later ruined his career, was the last thing anyone saw coming. But it turns out that she’s on a rescue mission of her own. Ella Blair follows her brother, Ollie, to the mountain when she learns of his plan to copy Gage’s most famous and extremely dangerous route. She knows it’s a long shot but pleads with Gage to rescue her brother and to let her go with him.

With emotions running high and the journey so perilous, old secrets soon start pouring out. The question of whether one person can really, truly forgive another for so much pain and suffering is presented among multiple plot lines. One person’s faith in God sparks belief in another. People are able to let go of the past in exchange for a brighter and happier future.

This book is really three stories in one. The main storyline is how Ella and Gage meet again, and the truth about what really happened three years ago. Another storyline follows two young women involved in a sort of love square. And the third storyline that leads into the next book in the series is about an unsolved murder of a young woman. It might sounds like a lot, but the sub-storylines break up what could have just been another gooey love story.

This was a great, suspenseful read. I plan to read the prior books in the series and look forward to reading the upcoming ones.

Susan May Warren is the USA Today, ECPA, and CBA bestselling author of over fifty novels, including Wild Montana Skies with more than one million books sold. Winner of a RITA Award and multiple Christy and Carol Awards, as well as the HOLT and numerous Readers’ Choice Awards, Susan has written contemporary and historical romances, romantic suspense, thrillers, romantic comedy, and novellas. 

WEBSITE  YOUTUBE  

FACEBOOK  TWITTER

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GRAND PRIZE: Huckleberry Coffee, Pair of Bookish Mugs, and Full Montana Rescue Series.

PRIZE TWO: A Matter of Trust + $25 Barnes & Noble GC.

PRIZE THREE: A Matter of Trust & $10 Starbucks GC

June 6-July 16, 2017

(U.S. Only)

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Excerpt & Giveaway: Badlands by Melissa Lenhardt

BADLANDS

Sawbones, Book 3

by

MELISSA LENHARDT

!!NEW RELEASE!!

  Genre: Historical / Western / Action-Adventure / Romance

Publisher: Redhook

Date of Publication: June 27, 2017

Number of Pages: 416

Outlander meets post-Civil War unrest in the conclusion to Melissa Lenhardt’s fast-paced historical series.

Laura’s worst fears have been realized: Kindle has been taken into custody and she is once again on the run. The noose awaits her in New York, but Laura is realizing that there are some things worse than death. Finally running out of places to hide, it may be time for Dr. Catherine Bennett to face her past.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Indiebound | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | B&N

Excerpt from Badlands by Melissa Lenhardt

Chapter One, Part 3

Continued from the Lone Star Book Blog Tours July 5, 2017 stop of the Badlands tour.
A tall man with a hat pulled low walked behind the woman, jostling her and breaking our gaze. A small strip of his white collar showed between his longish dark hair and the navy-blue coat he wore. Buff colored pants were tucked into the top of his cavalry boots, well worn and dusty from the trail. He held a Remington rifle loosely in his right hand and favored his left leg. A stream of smoke trailed behind his head and I knew he held a thin cigar between his teeth.

I dropped the notebook. It was Kindle, come to find me. Rosemond hadn’t been lying about helping me on Kindle’s behalf. I grasped the open window and yelled, “Kindle!”

My voice was barely a whisper, and the man continued on without stopping, down the steps of the platform and into town. I stumbled across the compartment and opened the door on the third try. Ricocheting down the hall on legs I could scarcely feel, I tripped down the stairs and fell onto the platform on my hands and knees. The redheaded woman was next to me, helping me up with strong thin hands. I stripped my arm from her grasp and tried to run in the direction the man went, but stumbled again. Why wouldn’t my legs work?

“Let me help you.” The woman lifted me up, put an arm around my waist and walked me in Kindle’s direction while I craned my neck searching for him. The steel gray sky was thick with the earthy smell of impending rain.

“There.” I pointed at a saloon down the street and the woman dutifully carried me along. We navigated through horses, wagons and pedestrians, drawing our own peculiar interest; an ugly woman holding a carpet bag in one hand and her other arm around a pale, ill woman. I reached for the porch column and pulled myself up the step. I rested my cheek against the coarse wood, hoping for a well-spring of strength to propel me inside the saloon, and into Kindle’s arms.

“You can’t go into a saloon,” the woman said.

I stumbled through the open door and stood for a moment, letting my eyes adjust to the dark. A card game at a table to the right of the door. A bartender polishing a glass behind planks of wood resting on two cracker barrels. A cracked mirror behind him. The jagged reflection of a thin women with disheveled hair and bruises beneath her eyes. My mouth watered as the oaky scent of whisky drifted around me. I followed the sound of a woman’s laughter coming from the back.

“Hey!”

Finding my legs, I made it to the hallway in the back and stripped open the canvas curtain door of the first room. Empty. I moved to the room across the hall, startling two women in various states of undress. I went to the next room and ripped open the curtain. Kindle had his back to me, facing the naked woman on the bed, her hand between her splayed legs. My stomach lurched with nausea. “Kindle?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“She your wife?” the whore said.

The man turned and appraised me. A thin mustache hung limply from his upper lip, framing a cruel mouth and taking no attention away from his pockmarked olive complexion.

“That dope fiend? Hell no.” The man grabbed my arm and threw me out the door and straight into the bartender who lifted me up, and tossed me over his shoulder like I was a bag of leaves. He stalked through the saloon and dropped me on the ground outside in the middle of the only puddle in the street. With shaking arms, I pushed myself into a sitting position, horse piss dripping from my jaw, and looked up into the ugly woman’s face. The sun was behind her head, masking her expression.

“I told you not to go in there.” I took her offered hand. She pulled me up and released me quickly. She flicked the excess urine from her hand, bent down and wiped it on the bottom of her skirt. “Was it him?”

I shook my head.
She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
The train whistle screamed and the train labored forward toward California. “You’ve missed your train.”

Though my brain was fuzzy with laudanum and I wanted nothing more than to lie down in the middle of the street and sleep, I understood the import of the train leaving without me. I was free of Rosemond and could return to Kindle. I managed to smile. “So I have.”

My happiness was short lived.


“Laura!”


Rosemond in her ridiculous blue dress stalked toward us holding a flour sack, her powdered, pox-scarred face a mask of fury. The ugly woman turned around and stood shoulder to shoulder with me. “Who’s that?”

“My kidnapper.”

Melissa Lenhardt is the author the Jack McBride mystery series, as well as the Laura Elliston historical fiction series. Her debut mystery, STILLWATER, was a finalist for the 2014 Whidbey Writers’ MFA Alumni Emerging Writers Contest, and SAWBONES, her historical fiction debut, was hailed as a “thoroughly original, smart and satisfying hybrid, perhaps a new subgenre: the feminist Western” by Lone Star Literary Life. A lifelong Texan, she lives in the Dallas area with her husband and two sons.

WEBSITE  GOODREADS  

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 Three Winners 

1^st – Badlands paperback;       2^nd – Badlands eBook; 

3^rd – Badlands audio download via Downpour

June 27-July 6, 2017

(U.S. Only)

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