Casee‘s review of Promises in the Dark (Shadow Force series, Book 2) by Stephanie Tyler.
A rugged Navy SEAL, Zane Scott was part of a failed mission to rescue Dr. Olivia Strohm from abduction by the terrorist group Dead Man’s Hand (DMH)—and her anguished screams have haunted him ever since. So when he gets word that the beautiful physician has escaped from her captors in Africa, he’s got personal reasons to storm the continent and save her.
Like her would-be liberator, Olivia carries the burden of a dark secret from her past. Ruthless and relentless, the DMH has threatened to hunt her down – and to systematically hurt anyone she’s close to. The last thing she wants is to be rescued—even by someone as shockingly handsome as Zane. Yet the hot-headed special ops hero has come for her, and together she and Zane just might have a shot at not only stopping DMH’s reign of terror, but also saving what’s left of their souls.
Zane is the brother of Cam from Lie with Me. You remember Cam? Steph’s best hero ever? Well Zane is now Steph’s best hero ever. When Olivia was taken by DMH during the whole Lie with Me bru-haha, Zane promises himself and her that he would rescue her. It took months, but he eventually finds her. Zane to the rescue. The only thing is that Olivia doesn’t want to be rescued. The things she now knows are too valuable and can hurt too many people. She knows that her life will be worth nothing if she goes back to the US. She has also vowed to herself that she will never fall into the hands of DMH again.
Zane knows Olivia is scared which is the only reason that he doesn’t knock her out and take her to the rendezvous point. Zane is sure that would be the absolute wrong thing to do, as sure as he is that he’s not leaving Africa without Olivia. Zane never believed in love at first sight until he saw Olivia’s picture and heard her story. Knowing that she had been kidnapped as a child made Zane that much more dedicated to finding her.
Usually we get a tortured hero. Maybe a tortured heroine with a problem filled heroine. Rarely do you get a tortured heroine AND hero. There’s no doubt that both Zane and Olivia are extremely tortured people. Zane by his childhood and Olivia by both her childhood and now her adulthood. Part of Olivia thinks that she deserves what has happened to her. She wants to accept Zane’s help, but she doesn’t think that she deserves it. Still, Olivia can’t help but grab onto what he makes her feel. For so long she has had to shut her feelings off. As a doctor she has had to force herself not to think about what she was doing. As a person, she couldn’t let herself think about what she had become. With Zane she could just be herself.
There was also a secondary romance that was about second chances and being strong enough to take them when they come. That’s also true for Zane and Olivia. It all comes down to whether you are strong enough to trust another person. To take the leap to what could be real happiness. I thought Steph did an incredible job conveying Olivia’s emotions. Her yo-yoing feelings about Zane weren’t a game, she genuinely wanted to do the right thing for both Zane and herself. In the end, she could only do what she thought was best. Olivia was incredibly strong and the perfect woman for Zane.
4.25 out of 5.
This book is available from Dell. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
The series:
