What I’m Reading – The Way of the Brave

Patricia Bradley What I'm Reading Friday 39 Comments

Oh, my! Susan May Warren has done it again. I started reading The Way of the Brave at three in the afternoon and almost decided not to make dinner. Alas, I had people to feed, but rest assured, once the dishes were washed, I was back with my nose stuck in the book! Here’s the back cover copy and then I’ll talk more about what I liked about the story:

Former pararescue jumper Orion Starr is haunted by the memory of a rescue gone wrong. He may be living alone in Alaska now, but the pain of his failure–and his injuries–has followed him there from Afghanistan. He has no desire to join Hamilton Jones’s elite rescue team, but he also can’t shirk his duty when the call comes in to rescue three lost climbers on Denali.

Former CIA profiler and psychiatrist Jenny Calhoun’s yearly extreme challenge with her best friends is her only escape from the guilt that has sunk its claws into her. As a consultant during a top-secret mission to root out the Taliban, she green-lighted an operation that ended in ambush and lives lost. When her cathartic climb on Denali turns deadly, she’ll be forced to trust her life and the lives of her friends to the most dangerous of heroes–the man she nearly killed.

Her skills and his experience are exactly what’s needed to prevent another tragedy–but in order to truly set Orion free from his painful past, Jenny will have to reveal hers. They’ll have to put their wounds behind them to survive, but at what cost?

My Take:

The Way of the Brave is set against the backdrop of Denali, the tallest mountain not only in Alaska but in all of North America. Susan May Warren puts you there in the cold, the wind, the dangerous ice flows and also the beauty of the mountain. Three women have trained for a year to climb Denali. Each is recovering from life-threatening events and are out to conquer their fears and prove their mantra–we are stronger than we think we are. They didn’t count on avalanches, white-outs, losing their tent and stove or two of them falling in love with two of the men who came searching for them when they didn’t show up at Base Camp.

Orion Starr and Jenny Calhoun have a history. Orion fell in love with Jenny in Afghanistan, but after she almost got him killed, she disappeared from his life. He never forgot her or what they might have had and Jenny was the same way. I loved watching them work out their problems against the framework of the mountain climb. If you’ve never climbed a mountain, by the time you finish the book, you will feel like you have.

While this is a romance, there is enough action and tension in this first book of the Global Search and Rescue series to satisfy any male reader. There’s even a hint of a conspiracy that is sure to show up in book two, and I’m eagerly waiting for it!

Leave a comment and let me know if you would consider climbing a mountain and why or why not and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a book from my library at the end of the month!


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Comments 39

  1. Monique

    Hmm, would I climb a mountain?? I’m not sure. I kinda like the idea, but I’m really not a physical person, and probably wouldn’t make it!

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  2. Sharon March

    No, I wouldn’t consider climbing a mountain. Heights and I don’t get along well. Plus as I get older, I find I’m less daring.

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      Patricia Bradley

      I totally understand about heights, Sharon! I hate heights, like looking over a cliff…so years ago when I helped paint a house with a really tall eave, guess who got to climb to the top?? Yep. me.

  3. Tim Johnson

    Hmm. I might have considered it when I was younger, and didn’t know I had limitations :-). Now that I know I have them, uh-uh.

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  4. Delores Topliff

    You’re right, Susan May Warren more than hit a homerun on this book. In fact, I think she rounded the bases twice with all the fans in the stands cheering. I have skied on mountains often and also hiked above the tree line on a number of mountains. I might not climb a mountain now as a grandma, but I can still climb major hikes like En Gedi, Israel, and gratefully survive.

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  5. Edward Arrington

    Hey, Pat. Thanks for sharing about this book. I have been tracking Susan May Warren’s Montana Marshalls series and somehow missed this new series. I will be looking for it at the library very soon. My wife and I climbed Grandfather Mountain in our van last summer. Does that count? I did walk further out on the rocks than my wife, but I’m like Tim: I realize I have limitations and don’t push them like I once did. I doubt I would have attempted Denali even in my early 20s. Due to asthma as a child, I have always been short of breath when it came to strenuous exertion.

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      Patricia Bradley

      Yep, that counts, Edward. lol. I probably wouldn’t have attempted Denali because I’ve never liked cold! One thing I’d like to do is walk the Appalachian Trail. But that’s more of a hike than a climb.

      1. Edward Arrington

        I worked with someone years ago who did a lot of hiking and had a dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail. I don’t know if he ever made it or not. It’s been about 25 years since I last talked with him. My wife and I walked a tiny segment of it a few years ago. We visited Harper’s Ferry and walked across the bridge portion of the trail over the Potomac River. Other than a slight incline up to the bridge, it was basically flat, so it was easy going. 🙂

      2. Tim Johnson

        I too walked a small segment of the Appalachian Trail 40 some years ago in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I walked with some friends and their small children, so it wasn’t too strenuous. The highlight for me was spotting a large, cylindar bear trap opened and waiting for a bear to trip it. It was a good reminder that as much as we like to enjoy walking in God’s wilderness, awareness of potential danger is critical. I never did spot any bears, but it was a conversation topic for awhile.

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        Patricia Bradley

        Tim, when I went to the Blue Ridge Mountain Writers Conference a few years ago, I hike a little of the trail, but not too far from the conference center because there was a bear alert posted. I wonder if that counts as walking part of the Appalachian Trail? 😉

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  6. Betti

    I don’t think I would climb a mountain. I would cheerfully take a shuttle to the top and then enjoy the view 🙂

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  7. Caryl Kane

    I’m not up to climbing a mountain. Although while I lived in Colorado Springs, I enjoyed hikes while enjoying the view of the Pikes Peak.

    Happy Friday, Pat!

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  8. Gloria A

    This is a great book and I certainly have no interest in climbing mountains and conditions like SMW writes about but have hiked around in North Carolina some. My husband’s brother and his wife live in Brevard and their neighborhood is a climb!

  9. Valita Randolph

    In my younger days I probably would have. I did a lot of backpacking in the back country of the Sierra, mostly, and the Rockies. But not with a bum knee. Denali is beautiful, but I’ve never made it to the top!

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  10. Alicia Haney

    Maybe if I were much younger I would. When our now grown up children were little we climbed a pretty tall mountain, we went on the trail and packed everything we might need for them. We camped on the mountain top. Now , I look at the mountain and I think wow, how did we do it. Our 2 children were like 5 and 4 years old at the time . Our 5 year old did great, and our son would walk a little ways, and then he would want to be carried. It was a lot of fun though. Have a Great weekend. This book sounds like a great read. Thanks for the chance. God Bless you.

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  11. MS Barb

    I lived in CO for two years (1976-1978) & enjoyed walking around Estes State Park, but, I don’t think I’m physically able to climb a mountain…maybe a moderate hike!

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  12. Maureen Tenney

    Climbing a mountain, a true technical climb, is most certainly NOT on my bucket list. I’ve hiked to the top of Laramie Peak in Wyoming and have backpacked in some of the mountain ranges in Wyoming, but the type of climbing in this book I prefer to experience in a book in a nice comfy chair. 😉 I look forward to reading it.
    I appreciate these book reviews. Thank you so much!

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  13. Erika Luther

    This sounds like a really good book. Another one to add to my ever growing list of books to read! I think I would rather take a walk and skip mountain climbing.

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  14. Connie Porter Saunders

    Even if my nerves allowed it, I don’t think my knees would. Sorry to say, I am now an arm-chair adventurer when it comes to diving for sharks or climbing in Denali. I am, however, still able to garden, walk, and keep up with my six year-old granddaughter. Thanks for a great review!

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