Synopsis:
Name: Claudia Jean Casperson
Rank: Captain, SOAR – 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)
Motto: Night Stalkers Don’t Quit
Name: Michael Gibson
Rank: Colonel, Delta Force – Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta (“The Unit”)
Motto: Without Equal
Mission: To go together where no one else can, and to get out alive with no one the wiser
Five nations surround the Caspian Sea, five nations desperate for the vast resources there, and willing to go to war. It will take all of Claudia and Michael’s ingenuity to avert disaster. As they discover how right they are for each other, it will take even more to breach the walls they’ve so carefully built around their hearts…
Guest Post:
The Warrior Most Likely… by M.L. Buchman
I’m currently celebrating the release of the sixth book in my Night Stalkers military romantic suspense series Bring On The Dusk. In the story, long-time team member Colonel Michael Gibson of Delta Force finally finds true love with pilot Captain Claudia Casperson.
Each book in the series has followed the battles and loves of members of the real-world’s U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. These are the best helicopter pilots and crew on the planet, far in advance of even our closest allies.
The fictitious 5th Battalion D Company was founded by Major Mark Henderson and it is he who has overseen the building of the unit. But in many ways it is the wife he met in Book #1 The Night is Mine who has overseen the lives and loves of those who fly for the 5D. In six books, there has been a wide variety of personalities and skills.
One of the unexpected joys of having the opportunity to build a cast over the course of six books (and yes, there is already a 7th in planning) is learning more about them as each book progresses. Even though Emily and Mark were book #1, Kee and Archie book #2 I Own the Dawn, or Trisha and Bill book #5 Light Up the Night, both the writer and the reader learn more about them as we go. It’s part of the joy of the journey.
So fans look back and ask: Who Is The Warrior Most Likely To …
· … use the ejection seat from their helicopter after a dangerous run in with enemies?
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, there is only 1 helicopter (excluding James Bond) that has an ejection seat, the Russian Kamov Ka-50 assault helicopter. The problem is that if you eject upward, you hit the rotors. (The Kamov carries heavy explosives to sever the blades and a heavier rocket seat to eject the pilot.) If you eject downwards, well helos tend to fly very low so you’re going to be propelled straight into the ground.
All that aside, who is the warrior most likely to get his butt shot out of the sky…but survive? Major Mark Henderson takes the cake on that one. He’s shot down over Uzbekistan in I Own the Dawn(where it is noted that it is far from his first time). He also trashes a perfectly good stealth Black Hawk inTake Over at Midnight. I often think the only reason he didn’t crash more of them was because left the military to fly in the Firehawks firefighting series. In that, he flies his command plane with his kid aboard and Emily would kill him if he crashed with her aboard!
· …not wait for backup?
Lola LaRue Maloney and her husband Tim are always pushing the limits. Are they that stupid, nope, they’re that good. Just check them out in Take Over at Midnight or Light Up the Night.
· …decorate their military living quarters with pictures of their significant other?
Curiously I think this is the notoriously unsentimental Sergeant Kee Stevenson…and it would surprise her no end when you pointed it out. Her best friend Connie from Wait Until Dark would have mechanical diagrams on her walls. Michael and Claudia from Bring On the Dusk would each carry a small picture of the other next to their hearts.
But Kee had no past and keeps being surprised at having Archie and Dilya in her life and is fascinated each time the moment is captured. She remains herself, but it is a part of her that she doesn’t recognize, the big heart that she wears right on her sleeve.
And now for a fun one!
· Who is the most likely to have a little too much fun celebrating a successful mission and end up karaoke-ing the night away?
I think this would fall to “The Girls of the Night Stalkers.” I can just see them in a band like Donna and The Dynamos in “Mamma Mia.” Trisha and Lola completely leading the way. Connie checking their sound balance. Kee beat boxing in the background, but only after she’s had at least a half a beer. Claudia dragged reluctantly onstage for the sweet ballads, and slipping away at the first opportunity. And Emily, sitting back with Mark, a kid on a her lap, and a clear expression that informs her friends that she wishes them all the best and says “Don’t even think about it.”
My review:
Bring On The Dusk is the sixth book in author M.L. Buchman’s Night Stalker Series, a series I have loved since stumbling upon a few years earlier. With each book I grow to love the series more and more and with Bring On The Duck, I have found my favorite in the series thus far. Claudia and Michael’s story was beautiful and thrilling. I loved everything about it.
Captain Claudia Jean Casperson is the newest pilot and member of SOAR, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. This is something she has dreamed of her entire life and now she had finally made it. She had been bitten by the flight bug when she was just a little girl and the need to fly had never left her. Since then, she had worked hard though Annapolis and the Marine Corps to make it to where she is right now. She took pride in her skill and pride in always being prepared. Pride in her ability to assess situations and remain level-headed and in control. Most of that had earned her the nickname “The Ice Queen”, but she hadn’t really minded much. It kept the men at bay and when it came to military men, that was fine by her. That all changed when Colonel Michael Gibson got into her helicopter and into her life…
Colonel Michael Gibson excelled at what he did. He didn’t get to be his rank in Delta Force without excelling. He loved the solo aspect of his missions. He had always been a solo kind of guy and enjoyed things that way. No attachments. It kept his life light and simple. Like his childhood had been in the Redwood tress of Oregon. He liked blending in and no one taking notice of him. One, because he didn’t crave the spotlight and two, because he could take more of his surroundings and the people in his presence when he was quietly observing from the shadows. People had always been interesting to him but no one had ever captured his attention more than the SOAR pilot that had picked him up the night before. Claudia Jean Casperson was a woman and pilot like no one he had ever known. There was a quiet grace about her that matched his own. Captain Casperson just may be the only woman who had the ability to make him want more…
The immediate attraction and pull between Claudia and Michael is something neither one can ignore. It’s strong and powerful and something neither one has ever experienced before. But when a black in black mission comes their way, their budding relationship will be put to the test when one of them may not make it back alive…
There is just something about the way author Buchman wrote these characters that made my heart sing. Michael has a quiet and intense way about him that drew me in from the very start. It’s quite opposite of the way one would think a Delta Colonel would be. He isn’t one to brag or stand in the spotlight. He isn’t one to act the macho part. I loved that about him. Claudia is equally amazing. She is strong, determined, and goes after what she wants at every turn. Especially when it came to Michael. I loved that she was willing to take charge and risk her heart when it came to him. Together they are quite dynamic. They balance each other out beautifully and there is a light humor and banter between them that comes out every now and then that had me chuckling. They truly just got one another on a different level. One of my favorite parts that I must mention is when Michael takes Claudia to the redwood tress he grew up in…that bit of this story will stay with me for a long time. That was the point I really fell in love with these two characters. There was laughter, frustration, emotion, and plenty of heat.
While the writing in this book is heavier on the technical military aspect than other books in this genre, it’s always balanced out well with well-developed characters and plenty of emotion. Thank you, Mr. Buchman, for another amazing addition to the Night Stalker series!
Four-and-a-Half Loves
Book links:
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About the author:
M. L. Buchman has over a dozen romances and more than 30 books in print (he also writes science fiction and fantasy). His full name, Matthew Lieber Buchman, translates as Matthew Beloved Book Man, no wonder he’s a writer. It didn’t jump him until he’d tried a “few” other careers. He has worked decades (yes, really) as a corporate project manager in 7 different industries. In among that, he has: rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living full-time as a writer, scribbling away with his wife on the Oregon Coast. You may keep up with his writing at www.mlbuchman.com.
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Favorite? Hmm, I don’t know that I have a ‘favorite’
They’re all sooooo amazing, but there was just something about Michael and his personality that just shined