Into the Fire

Smoke Signal by L. T. Ryan and Brian Shea is Book 4 in the Rachel Hatch Novel series. Hatch (aka Rachel Hatch) returns home from Africa after discovering the source of and resolving the murder of her father. While she survives the physical and emotional ordeal and learns some new life lessons, she can't help but wonder if she'll be able to find "normal". She's missed her mom after beginning to re-establish a relationship with her before she left, her loving niece and nephew, and, more than she can admit to herself, she's missed Dalton Savage. 

In the emotional sense, neither Hatch nor Dalton can muster up the courage to declare their genuine feelings for each other. Dalton's clumsy with his, showing his attachment and respect to her via offering her a position working with him as a deputy. Hatch is afraid of her feelings for him, needs a break from a committed position in law enforcement and all that procedural hoopla to be instated would require. Her real question is whether or not she can find or lead a "normal" life, having nearly lost hers on more than one occasion in sanctioned battles at war and in private battles to discover who murdered her father. Although she needs time off to regroup with her mom and her dead sister's kids, the investigation Dalton is working has her itching to help him with his current case. 

On a brief impromptu hiking endeavor to express her desire to confront their "relationship", everything that can go wrong does. It's a life and death struggle to get back to the house where Hatch has to figure out how to protect them all. 

Okay, I've gotta say this: I'm impressed that these two male authors were able to emotionally bring me to tears with the ending to this Book 4. And I mean real tears. They captured a hardened female soldier's emotional state with perfection according to the character they'd created, and it literally broke my heart. Well done, Gentlemen.  

(Some profanity.)

Father, you know hearts, minds, bodies. All of us, each of us. Only you save souls. Bless these men as they write. Minister as only you can do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.