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Poor Aria cannot get a break. I think after the events of this book, she will refuse to ever go on vacation again. Last time, she fell off a mountain, and now she is stuck in the Keys during a hurricane. Fortunately, she has Jake to come to her rescue while causing some chaos of his own. This is an action-packed thrill ride that I would have given five stars to except for the yo-yo effect of the push away - pull together aspects of the romance.

Full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-susan-may-warren-the-heart-of-a-hero/ ( )

3.5-3.75 stars (rating shown may vary depending on site)

I've read quite a few books by this author including the first book in this series (and I think I won the third book from the series in a give-away and read it before reading book 2).

Perhaps I've just read too much in this genre recently. It's getting harder for the story to impress me enough to earn a 4 or 5 rating. This one is more than a 3 but I'm not quite sure it's a 4.

This book picks up after Aria's and Jake's encounter in the hotel room in Alaska. Both are still struggling with their identities to some extent and maybe that is one of the themes: that we have to know and love ourselves before we can love someone else. Aria's still kind of divided thinking about having her sister Kia's heart and sometimes doing things "for Kia" rather than for herself. Jake's still struggling with thinking he's to blame for many things (his sister Hannah's disappearance as a child, shooting a young boy that he thought was going to blow up his teammates, etc.) and thinking he's not redeemable.

WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW. READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

There were a lot of times I wanted to shake Aria and get her to stop running away, to wake up and see the good man in front of her who was interested in having a relationship with her. There were times I wanted to yell at both Aria and Jake and just tell them to talk to each other and share the inner thoughts that we as readers were privy to but that they weren't sharing with each other. Often one was assuming something about the other that wasn't true.

I enjoyed meeting some of the Miami people--the good ones anyway--Mimi and Yolanda (Yolanda's death shocked me. I wasn't expecting it at all.), Angel (I'm glad she's going to help Mimi), Bailey and his family and their puppy (though it was a bit odd that Jake managed to rescue the dog, then the dog's owner, then the dog owner's dad all in a short space of time and that all 3 end up in the same place. Even Preston. Hagan--Well, I had hoped that Jake was wrong about him.

There's still an overarching storyline featuring Ham that isn't totally resolved. Someone's after Aggie (Ham's daughter) for an unknown reason, and Ham is still hoping that his wife Signe wasn't killed in the yacht explosion that revealed Aggie as his daughter. I think that gets more play in the third book in the series but I can't really remember. ( )

Review: The Heart of a Hero by Susan May Warren.4*

This is an Early Reviewers book that is the second book but it can stand alone. I thought it was well written, interesting, and had plenty of happenings that kept me reading. Susan May Warren fills her story with intoxicating characters and plenty of complexity to her plot. She is a descriptive writer which enhances her book. She has added factors dealing with death, past mistakes, issues with a child disappearance, a sibling passing who was a heart donor, being caught up in a hurricane and deigning love.

Jack Silver is a former U.S. Seal who was dealing with past mistakes when he heard Dr. Aria Sinclair was trapped in a horrible category 4 hurricane in Key West, Florida, she was his other issue. He decided to go to Florida and rescue her not knowing what the outcome would be. They didn’t end as friends in their first adventure but there are such things as second chances, forgiveness and some charm… It’s going to take more than a warm heart and a good deed to face Dr. Sinclair again….Read on to what the eye of the storm brings them through…Great read…. ( )

Susan May Warren is a master at crafting courageous, engaging, and strong heroes and placing them in precarious settings and circumstances. Of course, she also adds amazing, realistically-flawed, and engaging heroines to go with them. And since The Heart of a Hero is part of the Global Search and Rescue series, the hero Jake Silver has lots of chances to rescue the heroine, Aria Sinclair. The characters are amazing, the action is nonstop and dramatic, and the story is typical Susan May Warren fare.

Aria and Jake were introduced in the first book of the series, The Way of the Brave, and I enjoyed getting to know them better and watching their relationship change and develop. There was also some backstory of Hamilton Jones’s situation which is continuing in book 3 of the series.

The only problem I had with this book is that there seemed to be perilous situation overload.
“I thought we weren’t talking about that.” “If we limited our conversation to only the things that happen when we’re trying not to die, we’re going to run out of things to say.”
I’d hate to hang out with these characters, since every time they turned around something else was thrown at them. At times, it seemed to be a little unrealistic and over the top. That said, I still enjoyed the story, and I’m looking forward to book 3 in the series.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from Revell Publishing through LibraryThing. All opinions are my own. ( )