HE’S HER ONLY HOPE…
Park ranger Hope Banning’s plans for a little R & R are put on hold when a plane crashes at the top of a remote mountain. Hope will have to climb the summit and assess the situation. And the only climbing partner available is Sam Rutherford–the enigmatic man she spent a night with six months ago.
FOR STAYING ALIVE…
Ever since Sam lost his girlfriend in a falling accident, he insists on climbing solo. But Hope and any potential survivors need his help. As Sam and Hope set out on an emergency search-and-rescue mission, he realizes the sparks still sizzle between them. And when they learn a killer is among the survivors, they must place their trust in each other for a chance at happiness.
Hope Banning and her sister Faith have planned a 3 day river rafting trip and it’s the morning of the first day when Hope gets a call from work. She’s a Park Ranger in the Sierra Nevada’s and there’s a plane that has been reported to have crashed. Hope is supposedly on vacation but as there’s no one else available she sends her sister – who is NOT into river rafting – on her way on the trip and goes to find the plane and see if there are any survivors. The plane crash was reported by Sam Rutherford who happened to be hiking in the area when the plane went down. Hope and Sam met in a bar about six months earlier and ended up having a one night stand. Right after Sam kicked her out of his bed and she was completely humiliated. Now they’re face to face again and Sam’s embarrassed and Hope just wants him gone. Unfortunately there’s no one else who can climb with her to the plane crash and she can’t go alone.
It has been almost three years that Sam’s been emotionally numb. His fiancé died and he lost his memories of the incident. He has blamed himself for Melissa’s death and until he can get those memories to come to the front of his brain, if they ever do, he’s going to stay emotionally unavailable. Hope, however, is one person, actually the only person in the years, that has made a crack in Sam’s self-made prison. He knows he screwed up majorly when he kicked her out of his bed but he had the feeling even then that Hope could be the person who could invade the castle, so to speak.
So Sam and Hope head to the top of the summit and discover the plane crash but they also find that the pilot was shot and didn’t die in the crash. Now they’re looking for a murderer. When Hope figures that they murderer joined the rafting trip with her sister Faith she’ll stop at nothing to save her sister.
Sam doesn’t want to follow Hope into whatever crazy rescue mission she’s thought of but he can’t let her go alone either. They go through some incredible things together and the longer they spend with each other the closer they get.
This was another great story in the Aftershock series. I really loved the first book, Aftershock, and was hoping that the second book would be just as good – and it was.
Sam and Hope both have serious emotional issues from past experiences and each other them has to learn to open up and trust someone. Together they manage to do that but it’s certainly not an easy road for either of them. It’s not like they looked at each other and started spewing their past – they had to work up to it and that wasn’t always easy.
Then there was Faith who actually ends up getting close to the murderer. Now, this sounds horrible but I was actually pulling for Faith and Javier throughout the book. I just kept thinking that everyone deserves a second chance and so should Javier. Their story was a good one was blended into Hope and Sam’s story almost seamlessly.
Between the climbing, kayaking, hiking…the drug cartel boss and his minions…the romances and a couple of other things going on in Hope’s story there was never a dull moment. I didn’t want to put the book down and I definitely recommend this one.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Jill Sorenson
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