Synopsis:
He was a haven in the midst of Hell…
Temporarily assigned to the Shadow Squadron in a troubled region of Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer and pilot Leah Mackenzie is no stranger to conflict—even if most of her physical and emotional scars are courtesy of her vicious ex. Still, she’s got a bad feeling about picking up a team of stranded SEALs. A feeling that’s all too justified once enemy fire hits their helicopter and all hell breaks loose…
SEAL Kell Ballard’s goal was to get the injured pilot out of harm’s way and find shelter deep in the labyrinth of caves. It’s a place of dark intimacy, where Leah finds unexpected safety in a man’s arms. Where prohibited attraction burns brightly. And where they’ll hide until the time comes to face the enemy outside…and the enemy within their ranks.
My Review:
Running Fire is the eight book in author Lindsay McKenna’s Shadow Warriors series and admittedly the first of her work I have read. Filled with suspense, emotion, and plenty of heat, this book has introduced me to an author I will surely be reading more of.
Chief Warrant Officer and pilot Leah Mackenzie finds herself in the capable and healing hands of Navy SEAL Kell Ballard when her helicopter is shot down while on an extraction mission and he rescues her from the wreckage. Now she and Kell have no choice but to hunker down and wait until the threat of the Taliban has moved on from their location and until it’s safe to get the injured Leah back to base. All of the close shared proximity leads to attraction and the surfacing of buried feelings when there isn’t too much else to do but talk.
But officers and the enlisted aren’t allowed to have any sort of relationship and with a past as damaged as Leah’s, it could never work between them….or could it?
I really enjoyed this story. Leah had a rough childhood, with most issues stemming from a military father she had looked for approval and love from but hadn’t received. A father who emotionally was just plain unavailable. Add those issues to a horrible marriage to an abusive jerk, and you could say that she didn’t have the best idea of what love was. Of course, that is polar opposite from Kell who was raised out on a farm in a big, loving family. It would turn out that Kell was exactly what Leah needed at exactly the right time. Kell is so wonderful, taking care of Leah not just physically but emotionally as well. He’s got a huge heart and a soft demeanor which is so at odds with what being a SEAL entails. I loved that about him. He was so amazing with Leah and didn’t just help her heal from her physical wounds but would help her heal from her abusive past. Leah is strong but is really struggling with trying to move on. I really felt for her when she divulges just how awful her marriage was and just how wretched the abuse she endured at the hands of her ex was. I would have reached through my e-reader and strangled him if I could have.
Luckily love wins out over hate and even with one hell of a nail-biting ending that had me a nervous wreck, I was so happy for how Kell and Leah’s story turned out.
Thank you, Lindsay, for a wonderful read and for giving me another author to look forward to reading more from!
Four Loves
Book links:
About the author:
I’ve lived six lives in one and it all shows up in the books I write, one way or another.
I was always a risk taker and broke mustangs at thirteen years old in Oregon. I learn to break them with love, not threat or pain.
At 17 years old, I picked night-crawlers (worms) out in our Oregon orchards from 9pm to midnight, every night. I earned enough money to buy my school clothes and book. I also plunked down $600 to a flight company at the Medford, Oregon airport and asked them to teach me…a girl…to fly. I soloed in 12 hours, which is average. From that time until I left for the US Navy at 18, I had accrued 39 hours of flight time in my Cessna 150 single engine airplane.
I was in the US military and was an AG3 (weather forecaster). There was no airplane club, so I couldn’t fly when I was in the Navy. But I could look at the clouds in the sky ;-).
Later, I flew in a B-52 bomber for a day and night mission (18 hours total), a T-38 Talon jet, USAF, where I was riding in a “chase plane” on a test flight in a Dragonfly jet.
I was one of the first AFLA (American Fencing League of America) women fencers to fence with epee and sabre. These weapons were closed to women because they were too ‘heavy’ for a female to handle. I said baloney and fought the males and won half my bouts. I was part of a surge of women fencers on the East Coast in the 1970’s to push for equality in the sport. Together, we changed the sport and changed the mind of the men. Today? In the Olympics? Women now fence in foil, epee and sabre, thanks to what we did as a vanguard showing the world it could be done.
I then became a volunteer firefighter when I was a civilian once more, the first woman in an all – male fire department in West Point, Ohio for three years. I became a local expert not only in firefighting, driving the engine and tanker trunks, but also had training in hazardous material (Reynoldsburg Fire Academy, Columbus, OH).
My books always reflect what I experienced. If you like edgy, gritty, deeply and emotionally intense love stories with sympathetic heroes and heroines, check out my newest series that will be available mid-Oct. 2015, and it incorporates much of what I have lived.
I love a great nail-biting ending, especially when it turns out for the best at the very end. I’m glad you enjoyed this one! Thanks for being a part of the tour!