Series recommendation: Hunt Brothers Search and Rescue by Jessica Ashley

 I discovered  this author last year when I ran across the first book in her Coastal Hope Series. I bought the other four books as they came out, and loved the whole series. The Hunt Brothers were introduced in the final book of that series, Perilous Healing, being cousins of the main male character in that book, Silas. 

Now an interesting thing about the book titles in this series: Those are not the brother's names - though they are their nicknames/call signs.  The book titles are the names of the guy's dogs. 

Bravo came out in February, and features Bradyn

Echo features Elliot. The paperback just came out, and the ebook is due out April 28. I love it when it happens like that.😃

Romeo is due out June 30, and features Riley

Tango features Tucker, and is due out August 25.

Delta features Dylan, and is due out October 27. 

Two of the brothers are twins. I think it is Dylan and Tucker. 

Here are the blurbs for the two books I have read so far: 

Their love is a risk neither can afford—but it might be the only thing worth fighting for.

Bravo:

Former Special Forces Operative Bradyn Hunt may have left battlefields behind for his family's Texas ranch, but he’s still fighting—now as the head of Hunt Brothers Search & Rescue. He and his team tackle the toughest missing persons cases, reuniting families and seeking answers.

Kennedy Smith has been on the run for years, living under different names and never getting attached. Her latest hiding place is as a ranch hand at the Hunt family’s property, figuring there’s no safer place than among a group of Army veterans. But she didn’t count on falling for Bradyn, the quiet, determined leader who just rolled back into town.

Just as she considers staying, her past catches up. The danger she fled is at her doorstep, and now Bradyn is in the line of fire. Kennedy must decide—keep running or fight for the only man she’s ever trusted. But the secrets she’s kept could destroy them both.

A pulse-pounding romantic suspense about trust, redemption, and the kind of love that refuses to let go—even when the past threatens to destroy it. Will they survive the firestorm, or will her secrets bring everything crashing down?

A soldier tormented by the past. A woman with no memory. A love neither of them saw coming.

Elliot "Echo" Hunt carries the weight of his past, haunted by the one person he couldn’t save. When he finds an injured woman on his ranch, he rescues her without hesitation—only to realize she looks eerily like the one he couldn’t protect.

Echo: 

"Jane Doe" wakes with no memory, no identity—just an overwhelming sense of connection to the man who saved her. The attraction between them is undeniable, yet Elliot, scarred by his past, keeps her at arm’s length, terrified of what a second chance at love could cost.

As the danger surrounding Jane intensifies, so does their bond. With every passing day, their hearts grow closer, but secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart.

As Elliot faces his greatest fears, he must decide if he’s willing to trust in God’s plan for a love that might heal them both—or risk losing it forever.

Dive into a gripping tale of love, redemption, and unshakable faith. Get your copy of Echo and experience a heart-pounding Christian romantic suspense story that will leave you breathless!

I just read Echo yesterday, and it was an awesome read. I always enjoy a good amnesia story, and the female is a Jane Doe for most of the book.

The author excels at creating great and likable characters, and she is not afraid to weave  strong Christian themes and truths in her books, while keeping them clean and completely free of bad language. In Echo, I related a bit to Elliot. Three years previous, a tragedy happened and he has been struggling with his faith, and has not been to church since. (No tragedy in my case...politics has caused my struggles, and I do go to church.)

I have enjoyed both books, and am looking forward to reading the others. But yikes....the end of June for the next one. Sigh.

About the author:

A USA Today bestselling author of over sixty novels, Jessica recently felt her faith pulling her in a new direction. Now, her focus is inspirational romantic suspense with characters who fight to find their faith in even the darkest of moments, because, as she has learned, it's then we should lean on God the most.

She lives in Texas with her husband and homeschools her three kids. She is an Army veteran and has written multiple bestsellers since debuting in 2016.

                                                Book 3, coming June 30

Book #4, coming August 25

Book #5, coming October 27

A response from Tyndale Publishing on cursing

 I have blogged many times about one of my pet peeves: cursing in Christian fiction. And I have blogged a couple of times about Tyndale Publishing putting bad language in books by a fairly new author, Ryan Steck.

There is a new book coming out from them that is also  military type book by a new author: Silent Horizons by Chad Robichaux. Now normally, I would just buy the book, but I don't trust Tyndale. So I emailed them this morning, pointing out the issues with the Ryan Steck books, and asking if this book was going to have the same kind of language. 

I got an email that didn't answer that question, but defended the cursing, and I am more disgusted with the company after reading it. Now it IS a polite response, and they even offered a free book....but.....

The response: 

Hello Mark,

Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns about this title.  I will pass along your feedback to our acquisitions and editorial teams. I understand that this book was not what you expected or wanted when you selected it. I am sorry that you were disappointed with this purchase. 

Our goal for this series is to target a broader audience of readers who come to us with a different perspective and life experience. Though open to faith-leaning content, they perhaps haven’t read Christian fiction before or don’t even know that it is a category of fiction. They don’t bring the same personal convictions to their reading choices as some long-time readers of Christian fiction.  

Our team has heard countless stories of readers who have walked away from Christian retail and Christian fiction because they say it failed to honestly represent the situations and struggles; they’ve faced. This is especially true of men who have recently or are currently serving in the military and makes up a significant portion of the readership for this genre. We specifically asked for permission and guidance from our executive team in offering content that allowed some instances of more realistic language from our characters, especially those who may not be Christians--if it serves a purpose, to simply to represent their world in a more authentic way. While I understand that you may disagree with the strategy or philosophy that we’ve taken with this book, know that our sincere goal is to connect with new readers who may have never been exposed to any Christian content in the novels they read. 

We are happy to offer you a copy of one of the following books as a replacement for the book you purchased.  Please respond to the e-mail and let a customer service representative know your preference. 

A novelization of one of the Kendrick films, Overcomer or Lifemark 

Under a Cloudless Sky by Chris Fabry 

Rule of Law by Randy Singer

 Again, thank you for your feedback. 

Charlie

Customer Service Representative

  OK, my first two thoughts:
#1. We are talking fiction. Fiction is not real. Fiction is often unrealistic. So you don't need bad language to make something more realistic that isn't realistic in other ways. I mean seriously...so many Christian suspense novels are about a couple falling in love while on the run from a killer or while trying to solve a crime. Is that realistic?😀

#2. Christianity is not realistic. I could write a long time about that, but I will say this: The one true God sent his only son as a baby who grew up to die on a cross for our sins and rose the third day. That is not realistic in the least. 

#3. You want to draw non-Christians to Christianity by using words in a book that Christians should not be using? Doesn't make sense.

#4. Here you have a Christian publisher that publishes and sells a lot of Bibles....yet they see nothing wrong in ignoring what that Bible says when it comes to the language in recent books. Stuff like how we should talk, about not offending our Christian brothers and sisters...etc. 

   I have struggled in areas for years, and in more recent years have really been struggling with my faith, mostly because of politics and political Christians.  I like it when a book has a character struggling with their faith. In fact, I just read a book yesterday where the main male character had been struggling with his faith for three years because of a tragedy, and had not been in church for three years. (Echo, Hunt Brother Brothers Search and Rescue Book #2 by Jessica Ashley.) It was an amazing read and not one improper word in it. And all of the main male characters in the series are former military.

 Sex scenes would probably make a book more realistic these days. I hope that Tyndale never goes there, but there is such a thing as a slippery slope.

 And I don't want to come across as some perfect Christian. I am not. My faith has about been shattered, and I am barely hanging on some days by a thread. But that doesn't make bad language in a Christian book by a Christian author and publisher OK. 

I am not sure what to do about buying and reading Tyndale fiction books at this point. If I but one with the kind of language in that are in Ryan Steck's novels, I am going to be frustrated and wanting my money back. 

I did suggest that if they are going to do the bad language, they should indicate on the book, or make a special imprint where authors can curse to their heart's delight. 

There are others bothered by it, and some who will defend it. I have a theory, and there is no way to prove that theory: I believe most, if not all, Christians who defend bad language in Christian fiction read a lot of non-Christian fiction. I know of two Christian fiction authors that I read who defended it, and I know both of them read a lot of secular fiction. And I am not knocking that. I just think they are so used to cursing in books that it doesn't phase them if it appears in Christian fiction. Now me...I only read Christian fiction, and one reason is to avoid that kind of language. 

The last secular fiction novel that I read was a Nicholas Sparks book I somehow got to review 5 years ago. 

I did reply to Tyndale, asking again about the book, and politely saying what I thought of their "realistic" reasoning. We will see what they say to my suggestion. But I have a feeling I may have to boycott their books, or email them about any book I am interested in to check on the language.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Bad language does NOT belong in a Christian book. There is no reason or excuse for it. We are inundated with it all around us, and it is pathetic that a Christian publisher doesn't care about offending long time faithful readers in their attempts to be more "realistic".