Tag: Mentink Dana

Trapped in Yosemite

When a massive earthquake levels the region, secrets and unknown dangers are exposed…

The ground in still-icy Yosemite National Park isn’t stable, and K-9 handler Von Sharpe fears the worst. But his worries are pushed aside when he sees an SUV viciously forced off the road…with his ex-fiancée at the wheel. It’s only when Stella Rivers steps out of the vehicle that the very ground under their feet cracks and breaks with the onslaught of a terrifying earthquake. 

When her meeting with a mysterious client is ambushed, Stella witnesses the man being gunned down by a sniper and becomes a target herself. With the threat of aftershocks triggering landslides and floods, the new mom has no choice but to run to save her baby girl—even if it means teaming up with the man who has no idea he fathered her child.

Trapped in a dangerously unstable wilderness with a killer closing in, Von and Stella are running out of time to get to safety. And every fissure reveals a new secret that will shake them to their foundation…

My Review:

Action and adventure and suspense, oh my! An edge of your seat, page-turning wonder of a read. Nothing like being stranded in the wilderness with a killer to ramp up the spidey senses! Oh, not to mention throwing in an earthquake to make things a wee more complicated. 🙂

Mentink knows how to engage her readers and keep them riveted and I am sure hoping that some of these secondary characters are going to have their turn to star in their own stories!

Von and Stella have to overcome a whole lot of obstacles before they can claim their happily ever after. And — woohoo — this one is a second chance romance which is a trope I love. BUT it’s paired with a secret baby trope which I’m not a fan of. The author handles it well, given the circumstances Stella found herself in, but I wasn’t entirely won over to her way of thinking. Keeping a guy in the dark about being a father is a hard sell for me. I still enjoyed the romantic elements of this suspense though and was invested in their relationship from the get go.

I listened to the audio edition of Trapped in Yosemite, expertly narrated by Abby Craden.

Snowbound Escape + Giveaway

To rescue a witness…this K-9 teams must face a killer and a storm.

After months tracking a colleague falsely accused of a double homicide, officer Tanner Ford and his K-9 partner finally locate crime tech Mara Gilmore—but the real murderer is closing in. Now they must run into a frozen wilderness to survive. Evading the killer is the only way for Mara to clear her name. But will the harsh winter conditions cover their tracks…or bury them forever?

My Review:

Finally — the resolution we’ve all (well, fans of the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit series) have been waiting for!! And it’s a doozy! So, definitely don’t read ‘Snowbound Escape‘ if you are planning on reading the whole series — it has a number of spoilers since this is the grand finale. But if you want to jump in and just read this one, the story will make sense…maybe just won’t pack the same emotional wallop it will for those of us we have been with this K-9 team from the very beginning.

Dana Mentink did a fantastic job of wrapping things up with her unique blend of hair-raising and laugh-out-loud finesse. Honestly, the meet-cute — desperate tension meets Cheshire grin because Mara is one tough, tenacious, never-say-die survivor. She’s been on the run for eight months and just when she finally gets some K-9 help…well….if the killer in pursuit doesn’t do them in, Mother Nature’s fury just might.

There’s something about reading a good ‘stranded in a blizzard’ suspense that ticks all the boxes for me. I actually crave this scenario once the weather starts to grow colder so I was in reading ecstasy all the way through. Loved all the wilderness survival parts and, oy, the relentless snow! Luckily they have K-9 wonder dog Britta on their side.

An exciting conclusion to this continuity K-9 series — and I’m hoping there will be another one starting up in the New Year.

Oh — and I listened to the audible edition expertly narrated by Eva Kaminsky. Love, love, looooovvvvveeeee that this series was available in audio format. I preordered them all and got such a thrill each time I got the notification that I had a new book ready to download. (Yes, I’m nerdy like that.)

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

ebook available to anyone, anywhere who has a .com (US) Kindle account

US — paperback or ebook — winner’s choice

Canada — paperback or ebook (via a gift card to Canadian Amazon) or audible (.ca)

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Snowbound Escape, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday November 11, 2023

Targeted in the Desert + Giveaway

Danger from the past…and a little girl in peril.

Family secrets have Felicia Tennison and the sister she never knew existed, on the run. Someone is after them and Felicia will have to turn to someone she never wanted to see again for help — her ex. Sheriff Jude Duke vows to protect them as they race to uncover why the little girl is a target. But the search to find the answers could cost them their futures.

A Desert Justice Novel

My Review:

Dana Mentink concludes her Desert Justice series with her trademark pizzazz. It contains all the elements I’ve come to expect (and love) in her storytelling — humour, romantic tension, twisty turny plot, some critter comic relief and lots of edge-of-your-seat danger.

I appreciated getting glimpses into the lives of some of the past heroes and heroines (but you could totally read this book as a standalone too without any trouble.) And I really enjoyed the fact that Jude and Felicia’s break-up is quite fresh — it’s only been a few weeks and that makes it all kinds of awkward and angsty when they are thrown together under dire circumstances.

And there’s a certain critter that I don’t want to say much about until you meet him for yourself — but he captured my heart and had me imagining what my life would be like with a….no, best not go there. 🙂

This is another suspense that hooked me from the first line: “Felicia Tennison’s hands shook as she idled her car on the side of the road.” Oh, the quandary she’s in, the turmoil she’s already lived through…the uncertainty of her future. I couldn’t stop reading until every last question was answered and the happily ever after became a reality.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback copy.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Targeted in the Desert leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday April 22, 2023. Offer open to International Readers.