The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard

Published: William Morrow
Date:   6th March 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 400
Genre:Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:
                               

Levi Butcher is singularly devoted to his work. As team leader for the GO-Team, his unwavering focus is on the mission. Levi knows all too well that one minor distraction can hold deadly consequences. But with the soothing, sensual voice of “Babe,” the team’s communication expert, constantly in his ear, keeping his concentration on the dangerous work at hand is becoming extremely difficult.

Jina Modell definitely doesn’t feel like a “Babe,” especially when she’s working with the gruff, no-nonsense Levi. When the base where she’s stationed is attacked, Jina manages to escape but the rest of the team, working some distance away, is exfiltrated, thinking Jina died in the explosion—leaving her stranded. To survive, she’s got to figure out how to get back to safety before she’s discovered by the enemy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this military like romantic suspense novel - The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard. It was pure escapist reading, that kept me up reading two nights in a row. 

Jina or "Babe" as her team name her to her disgust, is a gritty, sassy and very able young woman who just cannot quit. Her brothers have given her the basis for that and now when she finds herself thrown into a entirely new and different experience, she does not give up.

The team is a little like a Seal team, they train hard and they go on missions that involve stealth and secrecy. They might be government approved but they are not 'official'. The team is led by Levi or Ace as he is known to his team, on the first day that Jina turns up for training with a new group, they draw her out and make sure they train her. Its gruelling stuff, not for the fainthearted. However Jina is not one to take any nonsense and she has a mouth on her and the ability to stand up to them.  And very soon bonds are formed and they are moving towards trust. I loved the whole team aspect and the guys on the team. The training period takes up a good deal of the story, and I liked that - all the challenges and the final one of parachuting which Gina finds really difficult.

Then they are out on missions and Gina is out with them, its her job to operate a drone that surveys the field while the team carry out there task - which usually involves weapons. And then one time things go really wrong and Gina is left on her own and lets just say it rocks her world.

A romance is obviously brewing - Gina and Levi are attracted to one another, but because they work on a team together they can't let it go any further. Watching the two sidestep each other was very entertaining - right through to the final resolution.

Action, romance, a little suspense and team comradeship. Now and then its just the kind of read I find perfect.

Running Wild

 Running Wild
Linda Howard and Linda Jones
Published: Random House Audio
Date: November 2012
Genre: Western suspense
Length: 11 hours 47 min
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Maggie Wheeler
Source: Own the audio

Summary from Goodreads

Carlin Reed lives in fear, off the grid, moving from place to place. So Battle Ridge,Wyoming, a small town in the middle of nowhere, seems like a good place to lie low for a while. But after becoming cook and housekeeper to cattle rancher Zeke Decker, Carlin suspects that she’s made her first mistake. Rugged, sexy, and too distracting for his own good, Zeke is pure temptation mixed with something deep and primal that makes Carlin feel almost safe. Soon things are getting way too hot in the kitchen.

Zeke doesn't challenge Carlin’s terms: cash, dead bolts, and no questions. It is easy to see that she’s a woman in trouble. Problem is, he’s so blindsided by his attraction to her he can’t think straight. Zeke tries to stay all business, no complications—but that game plan is sabotaged the second Carlin gets under his skin. And when her terrifying past follows her to the ranch, Carlin faces a heartbreaking choice: run away from the man she loves, or put him in the crosshairs of a madman.

My thoughts:
I've had this sitting on my iPod for over a month, and didn't get started on it. Over this weekend I have listened to it all.  Very unusual for me, but sometimes just listening to a book is more relaxing than reading.  Actually as I put in the length of the audiobook I think, oh my goodness did I just spend that much time listening - and here's the thing, I wasn't doing any housework or driving while listening!!

This was the kind of plot I have read by other authors, such as Catherine Anderson and Nora Roberts.  Linda Howard and Linda Jones handled it well also and I enjoyed it.  Somewhat tense at the beginning and end, with daily life making up most of the book, but with that edge of tension as you know the bad guy is going to turn up again.  A few other events involved some tension, so the contrast between calm and tense was just right for me.

Carlin is a gutsy heroine, I liked her sense of humour and some of her quick witted responses made me laugh out loud.   She grew as the book developed, the challenges she met along the way called for resilience and learning to take care of herself.

Maggie Wheeler narrated this book, I have never heard her before and would listen to another one of hers readily.