Falls Like Lightning...Review

About the book:
When hotshot smoke jumper Silas Kent gets his own fire crew, he thinks he's achieved what he's always wanted. But a lightning-sparked fire in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas has his team in a plane before they can even train together.

Pilot Elle Westmore has been called up to drop the crew into the heart of the forest infernos. A single mother of a mysteriously ill six-year-old, she can't imagine her life getting any more complicated.

It doesn't take long for things to go very wrong, very quickly. A suspicious engine explosion forces Elle to make an emergency landing. Silas is able to parachute to safety but soon discovers his crew can't be trusted. They're hiding something, and now Silas is on a race to save himself and Elle from the flames--and from a more dangerous threat: his own team.


Silas and Elle parted under difficult circumstances and when they are thrown together again, years later, they discover the spark between them still burns bright.  As the fire season rages in the Sierra Nevadas, Silas is brought in to lead a smoke jumping team and Elle is called upon to fly them into the forest.  However, nothing quite goes as planned and when Silas has to bail out of the plane, Elle tries to make an emergency landing.  Stuck in the Sierras as a fire rages nearby, they must try and find each other all while realizing the smoke jumping crew isn't there simply to fight the forest fire.

Shawn's descriptions are vivid and bold. His familiarity with the locales and his personal experience as a firefighter/paramedic is apparent and make this story all the richer.  Elle and Silas are terrific characters.  I didn't want the story to end and I would love a sequel or at least have them show up in a future book. (Hint, hint!)

I love the setting and references.  I'm from the San Francisco Bay area: I know Oakland and San Mateo.  I love the Sierra Nevadas and I now live in Idaho.  And Star Trek Next Generation references?  I am all over that!

A thrilling, suspenseful novel full of action and just enough Christian romance. 

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for the opportunity to review this book.  You can learn more about Shawn Grady here.  You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 8/11

* * * *
4/5 Stars

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