Tour Review - - Beyond Power

 

Beyond Power

by Connie Mann

Florida Wildlife Warriors - Book 2

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Release Date: September 1, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

When your heart's involved...
If you dare venture beyond Disney's magic and Miami's high-rises, you'll find yourself in Florida's untamed wilderness. A bush pilot and officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Josh Tanner is one of the tough cops needed to manage these rugged areas. And the minute he finds Delilah Atwood deep in the woods without a good explanation, he knows something is very wrong...

All the stakes are raised...
Delilah barely escaped her ultra-fundamental militia family years ago. Now she's back to save her sixteen-year-old sister, and no government man is going to stop her. Josh isn't going to stand by and watch Delilah risk her life, but unless he can get her to trust him, she may end up being the next victim.

PJ's Thoughts:

This was my first Connie Mann novel. I'm not sure why I've waited so long to give her books a try but it only took this one story to hook me for good. I'm now over here scanning her back list and downloading like crazy. 

From beginning to end, Beyond Power held me in its power. Mann has created an intense, suspenseful, and emotional page-turner filled with so many twists and turns I was still guessing as to how everything would play out with only a few pages left to read. Her characters are so vividly depicted they leap from the pages, pulling me into their world. And let's talk about that world. It's clearly evident Mann knows the wildlife areas of Central Florida well. She created a sense of place that placed me smack dab in the middle of the overgrowth, rivers, forests, and wild animals that populate the undeveloped areas of this region then added characters who brought a sinister quality to the areas that our heroine once called home, adding to the intensity of the story and sense of urgency that continued to escalate.

My heart was with Delilah from the start and even more-so once her story began to unfold and the reasons for her return became clear. It's an emotional journey for her with significant personal issues to tackle. I admired her strength and fortitude. Josh won my heart right along with Delilah's. I adored his strength of character and nurturing heart. I also fell for his family and band of friends and co-workers. I'm already looking forward to more stories for this dedicated group. 

I love when I forget I'm reading a book and slide into the story instead. By the time I turned the final page of Beyond Power, it took me a minute to come back into myself. I could feel the sultry heat, touch the vegetation, hear the monkey chatter, smell the sweat of fear. It's a skilled writer who can pull me so deeply into their world that I forget I'm still in my own. 

If you enjoy intricately-woven romantic suspense with relatable characters, atmospheric settings, and hard-won happy endings, I highly recommend Beyond Power.