Bea Reviews Silent Threat by Dana Marton

Series: Mission Recovery #1

Publisher: Lake Union
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 2nd, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

A former Navy SEAL, Cole Makani Hunter has returned home from a disastrous black ops mission without his best friend, his hearing, or the use of his right arm. So when his ex–commanding officer assigns him to an undercover mission at a rehab center for vets to discover who leaked sensitive military information to an enemy, he’d rather be anywhere but there. Almost immediately, Cole finds himself at odds with Annie Murray—a peace-loving ecotherapist whose dream is to open an animal sanctuary out of her home. While the two seemingly have nothing in common, their spirited arguments soon fuel a passion for each other.

But just as things begin to heat up between therapist and patient, dangerous complications arise. So does the past—and a shocking revelation that puts Cole and everything he now holds dear in the path of a murderous traitor.

My Thoughts:

How have I not read Dana Marton before now?!? I loved this book and the story. It made me so very happy. I was even happier when I realized I have some books in her Broslin Creek series that I picked up as Kindle freebies a while back. :) :) That's a good thing as the next book in this series, "Threat of Danger , isn't out until June. :( This series appears to be a spin-off, or at least related to the Broslin Creek books but I had no trouble reading it as a stand-alone.

What I Liked:

1) Our hero, Cole Makani Hunter, is not the standard white, abled hero. He's mixed race, Hawaiian Pacific Islander and Caucasian. How about that, an MC who's not lily white. That was a nice change. He has limited mobility in one arm and deafness due to injuries sustained while on active duty. He does pretty well reading lips but he doesn't get it right a hundred percent of the time which seems to be true to life. I appreciated that our heroine, Annie, was always careful to look right at him or otherwise place herself so he could see her lips easily to read them. While being deaf came with certain challenges, it wasn't a main part of the story, and there was more to Cole than being deaf or having limited arm functionality. They were part of who was, like his dark eyes, his impatience, and his love for his pickup truck. Neither his ethnicity nor his physical challenges were the focus of the story, but simply aspects of the character.

2) Annie Murray was a wonderful character even if her name gave me fits. Every time her whole name was on page, I thought of country singer Anne Murray. I even visualized Annie as Anne Murray. Yeah, I know. I'm showing my age. But hey, I listened to some Anne Murray songs while typing this up and that was good. :D

Anyway, Annie Murray, our heroine, loves animals, nature, and helping. She's a nurturer and a caretaker. She runs an animal rescue out of her garage with dreams of expanding into proper facilities. Meanwhile, she works as an ecotherapist. In Annie's words, "Ecotherapy is basically ecopsychology. We use nature to connect to our inner nature...Ecotherapy is about healing both people and their environment." I was a little unsure of ecotherapy at first and so was Cole. He was resistant at first but over the course of the book he starts to see its benefits and accept it as a legitimate and useful form of therapy.

While Annie is a lover and a healer, she's not weak. She can does take care of herself, both emotionally and physically, but also asks for and accepts help. Okay, she had trouble with the latter but she was able to do it. She seemed like someone I would want to be friends with and I'd happily help with the animals. Even the skunks.

3) The story. Cole is undercover at the rehab center and that means therapy sessions in a variety of fields while he investigates. Several times, he wonders if there really is a mission or if the commander tricked him into getting help, and I admit, I had the same doubts. But there are mysteries, yes, more than one. Marton reeled me in, kept me reading, and kept me guessing. I had so many guesses and eventually I was right, lol. She provided lots of clues and hints, you just had to decipher them correctly.

The story grabbed me from the first page and I read it in one sitting. The pacing, the characters, the settings, the details, it all worked for me. The story flowed and was a good balance of action, dialog, humor, and romance. I had one qualm and that was that Cole and Annie were therapist and patient when they met and their relationship developed. Annie is hyper aware of this and tries to restrain to keep things professional. I didn't completely buy Marton's workaround to the ethical problem but it did ease my mind. I liked the gradual development of their feelings, the slow burn, and that they didn't rush into things emotionally or physically. The payoff was worth the wait.

"Silent Threat" was 4 solid stars, a wonderful blend of mystery and romance, with wonderful characters, both human and animal. Bring on book two!