HIGH INTENSITY (High Mountain Trackers HMT 2G) by Freya Barker-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 4, 2024

Dog trainer and handler, Jillian Lederman, is moving with her pack to Libby, Montana, a place where she has made friends and hopes to find a fresh start. It’s time. For years, she’s just been keeping her wounds fresh by staying in Missoula—where there were regular reminders of all she’s lost—while the rest of the world has continued to move forward.
Perhaps the new house, the beautiful mountains, and a certain pair of clear, blue eyes hold the promise of new beginnings.

Since changing careers years ago, former FBI agent Lucas Wolff has found a much better work-life balance as a member of High Mountain Trackers. Still able to serve his community, he has also been carving out a comfortable existence for himself and is not looking to make any changes to it anytime soon. Not even for a particular bold and ballsy redhead he’s been trying to avoid.

That turns out to be an impossible feat when a plane crash during a blizzard sets both of them on the trail of a young girl, all alone in the mountains. But it soon becomes evident they are not the only ones looking, and staying safe means sticking close together.

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REVIEW: HIGH INTENSITY is the second instalment in Freya Barker’s contemporary, adult HIGH MOUNTAIN TRACKERS HMT 2G romantic suspense series, a spin off from, set in the author’s High Mountain Trackers. This is thirty-nine year old, dog trainer and handler Jillian Lederman, and former FBI Agent Lucas Wolff’s story line. HIGH INTENSITY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Jillian and Wolff) HIGH INTENSITY follows in the wake of an airplane crash in the mountains of Libby Montana. As the team at HMT struggle with the accumulation of snow, Jillian offers the use of her dogs as the team searches for any survivors, one of whom is missing, an eleven year old girl. As the FBI and law enforcement try to piece together what has happened, our heroine is targeted by a criminal enterprise as they too hunt, for the missing child. Working together to keep the young girl safe, questions begin to arise about the possibility of someone working from the inside in an effort to take control.

The world building follows several paths including the search and rescue of the plane survivors, and several lost hikers but not everyone will make it out alive. As Wolff declares himself guardian and protector of Jillian, he finds himself falling for the child, and the woman he is hoping to claim as his own. We are up close and personal as Jillian reveals the heart break in her life, and her ability to move on from the past.

The relationship between Jillian and Wolff began on a previous search and recovery when Jillian’s dogs were once again need to help but the recent snow storm brought Wolff back into Jillian’s life when he needed to ensure she was safe, having stranded himself over night. Working together to locate and rescue the missing child, our couple find themselves acting on their attraction, with the hope of something more. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Once again, there is a large ensemble cast of colorful and familiar secondary and supporting characters, many of whom we met in the original series. We are introduced to eleven year old, Hayley Vallard, as well as several FBI agents, law enforcement, and Hayley’s uncle Grant Vallard. The requisite evil has many faces.

HIGH INTENSITY is a story of betrayal and greed, search and rescues, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The premise is detailed, captivating and dramatic; the characters are animated and spirited ; the romance is spicy and tender.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one HIGH FREQUENCY

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.

Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

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