A DESPERATE MAN (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Appalachian STAR 1) by Deanndra Hall-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 14, 2023

Come Hell or high water, he’ll protect them all.

PATCH
Reinvention.
That’s what I’m doing. After losing so much, it’s time to rebuild and not look back to the life that tried to destroy me. Moving to Kentucky and building a home for rehabilitating prisoners after incarceration keeps me motivated and gives me purpose. But when I meet a courageous and strong woman on the run, I know that she needs more than just my help. And believe me, I’m going to give her the world.

PENNY
Reinvention.
I can’t live in fear and pain any longer. With an abusive ex-husband on my trail, I have to get away and start over. Rebuilding my life hundreds of miles away in Kentucky seems like the only answer to my prayers. I certainly didn’t know what I was wishing for. Meeting the rugged, determined, and handsome Patch makes me want so much more for my future. But when my past resurfaces and my life is on the line, it’s only Patch and his team of unlikely allies that I can truly count on. He’s my confidante, but is he desperate enough to save me once and for all?

•••••••

REVIEW: A DESPERATE MAN is the first instalment in Deanndra Hall’s contemporary, adult APPALACHIAN STAR erotic, romantic suspense series set in the Special Forces: Operation Alpha series featuring characters first introduced in the books and series by Susan Stoker. This is forty-three year old, former US Army helicopter pilot Patrick ‘Patch’ Scott , and thirty-four year old, miniature model/diorama maker Penny Markley’s story line.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Patch and Penny) A DESPERATE MAN focuses on the start up of Appalachian STAR, search and rescue operation that hires former inmates from US prisons. Patrick ‘Patch’ Scott was forced into retirement when gunfire blew out the windshield of the helicopter he was flying, imbedding glass into our hero’s eye. Opening up Appalachian STAR in the mountains of Mallie, Kentucky gives Patrick Scott, and several former inmates a second chance at a life and a career but the team at Appalachian STAR are about to get their first big test when a rainstorm all but destroys most of the Kentucky Valley. Penny Markley is a divorcee, on the run from her abusive ex, hoping to restart her career as a miniature model maker but Penny never expected to come face to face with former US soldier turned business owner Patrick Scott, the man with whom Penny will fall in love. As Penny and Patrick’s relationship turns into something more, Mallie, Kentucky will face a catastrophic disaster pushing the men at Appalachian STAR into their first big test at a rescue operation. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Penny and Patrick, and the potential fall-out when Penny’s past forces our heroine on the run, once again.

The relationship between Penny and Patrick is one of immediate attraction but Patrick continues to battle between head and heart in the wake of the demise of his marriage, and his inability to visit his adult children. Career came before family, and in this Patrick fears history repeating itself, and refuses to get involved with anyone else. Penny has known the terror of an abusive relationship, barely surviving her last encounter with her ex-husband but Penny is hoping for a new start, possibly with the man that calls to her heart. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including several from a number of Deanndra Hall’s Bluegrass Bravery instalments, and books by Susan Stoker. We are introduced to Miles ‘ Bear’ McMillan; Hollywood, ghost, Priest, Reboot, Paddy and Bulldog, as well as several townspeople in and around Mallie, Kentucky. Hollywood’s story is next.

A DESPERATE MAN is a story of second chances, of a sort, for two people who never expected to find love again. The fast paced premise is intriguing with a detailed look at search and rescue, and helicopter information; the romance is seductive and provocative; the characters are lively, captivating and real.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Deanndra Hall is a working author living in the far western end of the beautiful Bluegrass State with her husband of over 35 years and small menagerie of weird little dogs. When she’s not writing, she’s editing. When she’s doing neither of those two things, she’s having dinner with friends, spending time with family, kayaking, eating chocolate, drinking beer or moonshine, or looking for something that she put in the wrong place and can’t seem to find (which is pretty much everything she owns).

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