THE RUMBLE AND THE GLORY (Sacred Trinity 1) by J.A. Huss-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 27, 2024

Collin Creed is a killer. But he’s Lowyn’s killer. And after a twelve-year separation, she wants him back.

Deep in the hills of West Virginia, three small towns have found a way to flourish in the face of extreme poverty. Disciple runs a side-show tent revival that brings in millions of dollars a year. Bishop flaunts traditional ways in the vein of Colonial Williamsburg, luring weary city people to the slow-living lifestyle. And Revenant offers them an experience of sin filled with tattooed bikers and live-music dive bars.

It’s a sacred trinity that worships the almighty dollar and everyone plays their role like a well-trained Broadway actor.

But these hills have secrets, and so do the people.

Twelve years ago, when he was just eighteen and dreaming of a future with his high school sweetheart, Collin Creed learned something about himself. Something so disturbing he left Disciple to join the Marines and didn’t once look back. But all that came to a screeching halt with the congressional hearings, forcing Collin to return home and rebuild his black-ops empire brick by brick.

Lowyn McBride’s heart broke when Collin shut her out and left town without an explanation just as they were getting ready to start their adult lives together. The death of her mother the following year was a make-or-break moment and Lowyn rose to the occasion, giving up her university education to parent her younger sister while building an empire of her own as a specialty antiques dealer.

Anger and desire, guilt and shame—the return of the enigmatic Collin Creed ignites the town and sparks an explosion of emotions inside Lowyn. But he’s not the only one with a secret in his past.

Lowyn has always played the good girl to Collin’s bad-boy reputation. But it turns out—she’s just like everyone else up in these hills—not as wholesome and pure as she looks.

•••••

REVIEW: THE RUMBLE AND THE GLORY by JA Huss is the first instalment in JA Huss’ contemporary, adult SACRED TRINITY erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on three small towns in the hills of West Virginia-Disciple, Bishop and Revenant. This is thirty year olds, former US Marine, Black Ops agent and security specialist Collin Creed, and antiques dealer Lowyn McBride’s story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Lowyn and Collin) THE RUMBLE AND THE GLORY focuses on the second chance relationship between our story line couple. Twelve years earlier Lowyn’s life imploded when the man that she loved killed an intruder who was intent on kidnapping someone he loved. Fast forward to present day, Collin Creed, a former US Marine and Black Ops Agent returns to Disciple, West Virginia where the town has remained the same, with secrets deeper and darker than he could have ever imagined. Setting up a new security business called Edge, along with his former Marine buddies Amon, Ryan Desoto, and Nash Skinner, Collin is about to be thrown to wolves when the yearly Revival festival points a finger directly at our story line hero. Coming face to face with the woman whose heart he destroyed, Collin knows Lowyn is his past, his present and his inevitable future but the town of Disciple is refusing to give up its’ secrets. What ensues is the rebuilding relationship between Collin and Lowyn, and the potential fall-out as the past continues to demand reparations for the sins of our hero.

The world building is complicated and detailed. The ‘Trinity’ towns of Disciple, Bishop and Revenant are predicated and built upon religion and the Bible, and every year a ‘Revival’ is held from Easter to Christmas, featuring all of the townsfolk in acting roles, and this year’s ‘play’ focuses on the return of the prodigal son but Disciple continues to keep its’ secrets buried, and Collin is about to discover the depth to which our heroine is under their control…but …a cross has four points, and darkness is surrounding the Trinity towns.

The relationship between Collin and Lowyn is one of second chances; a rekindling romance that was destroyed when Collin enlisted, without looking back. Lowyn had struggle in the years since Collin’s betrayal but Lowyn never stopped loving the man who owned 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 coloful, questionable and interesting secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Collin’s former Marines and business partners: Amon, Ryan and Nash; Lowyn’s sister and chef Bryn McBride; Lowyn’s childhood best friend Clover Bradley, as well as Mayor Jim-Bob Baptist, town gossip Rosie Harlow, town clerk Ester, and a large assortment of townies, and Collin’s former commander General Forbe. The requisite evil has many faces.

THE RUMBLE AND THE GLORY is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, family and friendships, forgiveness and love. The premise is twisted, dark, dramatic and thought provoking; the romance is compelling; the characters are sassy, spirited and determined.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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J.A. Huss never wanted to be a writer and she still dreams of that elusive career as an astronaut. She originally went to school to become an equine veterinarian but soon figured out they keep horrible hours and decided to go to grad school instead. That Ph.D wasn’t all it was cracked up to be (and she really sucked at the whole scientist thing), so she dropped out and got a M.S. in forensic toxicology just to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible.

After graduation she got a job with the state of Colorado as their one and only hog farm inspector and spent her days wandering the Eastern Plains shooting the shit with farmers. After a few years of that, she got bored. And since she was a homeschool mom and actually does love science, she decided to write science textbooks and make online classes for other homeschool moms. She wrote more than two hundred of those workbooks and was the number one publisher at the online homeschool store many times, but eventually she covered every science topic she could think of and ran out of shit to say.

So in 2012 she decided to write fiction instead. That year she released her first three books and started a career that would make her a New York Times bestseller and land her on the USA Today Bestseller’s List eighteen times in the next three years. Her books have sold millions of copies all over the world, the audio version of her semi-autobiographical book, Eighteen, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award and an Audie award in 2016 and 2017 respectively, her audiobook Mr. Perfect was nominated for a Voice Arts Award in 2017, and her book, Taking Turns, was nominated for an Audie Award in 2018. Johnathan McClain is her first (and only) writing partner and even though they are worlds apart in just about every way imaginable, it works.

She lives on a ranch in Central Colorado with her family.