I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Reads and was under no obligation to post a review. No compensation was received for sharing this review and all opinions are my own.
Series: Danger Never Sleeps #2
Published by Revell on August 4, 2020
Source: Revell Reads
Genres: Christian, Fiction, Romance, Suspense
Pages: 320
Sarah Denning is a military journalist with the Army in the Middle East when her convoy is attacked and she's taken hostage. When former Army Ranger Gavin Black is asked by his old unit commander--Sarah's imposing father--to plan an extremely risky rescue, he reluctantly agrees and successfully executes it.
Back in the US, Sarah is livid when she's discharged on a false psychiatric evaluation and vows to return to the Army. Until she learns of her brother's suicide. Unable to believe her brother would do such a thing, she puts her plans on hold and enlists Gavin to help her discover the truth. What they uncover may be the biggest story of Sarah's career--if she can survive long enough to write it.
Strap in for another breakneck nail-biter from bestselling romantic suspense author Lynette Eason that will have you up turning pages long into the night.
Acceptable Risk is the second book in the Danger Never Sleeps series by Lynette Eason and follows the story of Sarah Denning and Gavin Black who were introduced in book #1, Collateral Damage.
There is a current trend in publishing that pushes authors for easy to consume content every six months to a year. As a result, books published in the last five years or so, in general, tend to be dialogue heavy, and lack character development. Unfortunately, I ran into some issues of that nature with this series so far.
Awkward sentences and repetitive use of phrases such as, “a pause,” following a conversation, was enough to distract me and make getting through this book difficult. However, it was the lack of character development that really kept me from enjoying this book as much as I wanted to.
Sarah came off like a spoiled brat who lived for nothing but to make her father miserable. Granted, he wasn’t an outstanding father but for a Christian book, a little bit of humility and repentance would have gone a long way. And can we discuss Sarah’s obvious identity crisis? Are rebellious girls really allowed to join the military under an assumed name? I guess it is entirely possible that Sarah legally changed her name but I had such difficulties connecting with her that I started to glaze over her many tantrums. Given her less than charming personality, I may just not remember as many details as I should. In any event, changing your first name to stick it to the old man seems immature and bratty. I’m not quite sure Sarah should be considering a romantic relationship with anyone at this point in time. She really needs to work on her daddy issues.
Then we have Gavin, who is apparently a heavily tattooed, former Army Ranger who crosses his arms a lot which causes his tattoos to ripple. As a person with ink, this description seemed really…odd. You either see ink and hate it or you’re interested in the ink itself. I don’t know anyone who notices ink and obsesses over it rippling. I have no idea what Gavin’s tattoos looked like but I honestly would have found it much more appealing to hear about. Soothing Sarah and making tattoos ripple is really the two main traits of Gavin, and that stinks because potentially hot, tattooed Army Rangers piques a girl’s interest!
One thing this book did get right introducing an antagonist that is actually competent with a weapon. Someone who can and will do what it takes to further his agenda. In Collateral Damage, the antagonists were incompetent and rather disappointing. I won’t give a spoiler on the identity of the main antagonist, though it was rather obvious to me. However, I will say that this person didn’t disappoint me with their ability to make me hate them. That was the saving grace of this book for me and I would have honestly loved to have had more time with them on paper. Maybe that’s asking a bit much of a Christian book because the content does have to stay a bit vanilla.
Don’t think for a minute that my 2.5 stars is negative in that I would not recommend this book to other readers. I would in fact recommend this author and this book for a quick fix as long as you don’t mind a little predictability.
Overall, I think if you’re looking for an easy to read book in the Christian genre that has a little bit of danger—you may really love this book. If you’re an avid reader who is starting to see an overall repeat in novels, the book may not scratch that itch that you have for something new and exciting. The series is a clean read and I would only caution those who are triggered by the topic of suicide to take caution.
Note: Kristin reads and reviews both Christian and secular fiction on A Simply Enchanted Life. Out of respect for my readers, I am including a content review. This content review will help you decide whether this book is suitable for you.
Christian or Secular: Christian
ASEL Content Rating: Mild. No profanity or bedroom scenes. There is mild violence, blood splatter, gun violence, and suicide (jumping, hanging, and etc.) as well as mention of PTSD and depression.
Themes: Military Suspense, PTSD, Mild Romance, Suicide & Suicide prevention.
Suggested Age: 13+
Active Defense Sneak Peek
As a former field surgeon in Afghanistan, Heather Fontaine is used to life-or-death situations. She just didn’t expect them to follow her home. When she returns from a party to find that someone has broken into her house–and threatened her friends–she assumes it is the stalker who has been following her and creeping her out. She hopes to find safety and peace of mind by leaving the city and hiding out in a small town. But trouble has followed her even there.
Luckily, a stalker isn’t the only one watching Heather. Travis Walker has been secretly watching out for her for weeks. As owner of his own security agency, it’s what he does. Together, Travis and Heather must figure out who wants her dead–and why–before it’s too late.
Bestselling and award-winning author Lynette Eason will have you looking over your shoulder as you dive into this fast-paced, suspense-filled story about losing control and finding something even better.
About Lynette Eason
Lynette Eason grew up in Greenville, SC. She graduated from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and then obtained her masters in education from Converse College. Author of twenty inspirational romantic suspense books, she is also a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA). In 1996, Lynette married “the boy next door” and now she and her husband and their two children make their home in Simpsonville, South Carolina.”
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