Searching for Risk

Redwood Coast Rescue, Book 2

By: Tonya Burrows

Narrated by: Stephen Borne, Auri Alden

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

She woke up with the wrong man. Sasha LeBlanc had her life all planned out. Become a veterinarian? Check. Build a thriving practice? Check. Settle down with a nice guy? Not yet, but she has her heart set on the local sheriff, and Redwood Coast Rescue’s charity masquerade ball is the perfect opportunity to seduce him. So why does she wake up with a sexy, heavily tattooed former Marine in her bed instead? But he's the only man who has ever made her feel alive.

Donovan Scott has always been a risk-taker, but after a traumatic brain injury ended his military career, he lost everything. His only solace is his K9 partner, Spirit, who understands him in a way that no human ever could. But that all changes after his night with Sasha. She’s beautiful, smart, and his opposite in every way. She makes him want to be a better man. Is she willing to risk everything to be with him–even her life? When a serial arsonist starts targeting everyone Donovan loves, he knows his murky past has finally caught up to him. He can't protect Sasha without revealing his secrets, but will she still want him when she discovers the truth?

Searching for Risk is the second book in the Redwood Coast Rescue romantic suspense series, but it can be listened to as a standalone. If you love protective bad boys, curvy heroines, and steamy romance with a side of danger, then you won't be able to put down this thrilling adventure by Tonya Burrows!

©2023 Tonya Burrows (P)2023 Tonya Burrows

Thrilling, Sexy Story!!

Another thrilling story from Tonya Burrows! This story is compelling and intriguing and I had trouble putting it down! The book begins with a bang and gets better from there. Sasha and Donovan are wonderfully maligned characters who grow so nicely together. Donovan's demons have followed him for his entire life and only got worst after this time in the military. He's the poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks and everyone's always treated him like that. It only gets worse when there's a cold case podcast airing episodes about a missing girl from his high school days, where he was the main suspect. Sasha has a plan and she plans to stick to it. She does not count on an encounter with the local bad boy.
I enjoyed the character growth from everyone and how first impressions can be wrong and that people can grow and change. Donovan and Sasha were fantastic! I liked how each played of the other and their interactions. The dogs were wonderful and I liked the inclusion of the characters from the previous book. I thought the beginning of the park scene was a nice inclusion!

This book has (lots! of) steam (more than some of Burrow's stories), violence, fire, PTSD, TBI, and SA (off page).

The podcast episodes were well done and nicely narrated. I liked the inclusion because it helped set the suspense of the story, because it offered a real life look at how cases like that are handled, especially from a true crime podcast narration. Because, most of the time, someone's partner did it, so of course police and arm chair detectives would suspect the boyfriend with a criminal past!

This is the second book in the series. It can be read as a standalone as the story is self-contained, but I recommend enjoying the first book before this one for maximum enjoyment!

The narrators were wonderful! I quite like Stephen Borne's narration style and I'm glad the author keeps using him for her books! While the story is told in dual POV, Auri Alden only narrated the podcast episodes, not the chapters/sections from Sasha's perspective. I listened at 1.15x speed. That speed fit the male narrator's voice, but was a little too fast for the female's voice.

Great book

Very suspenseful read
I really enjoyed it. Kept you on your toes. Bella seems such a nice person and her brother, nice on minute and suspect the next. Laura trying so hard to do the right thing for her father. Than the little unexplained things started!!
READ the book, you will enjoy it

Great story Line and Narrators

I want completly share this book would keep me interested but It most certainly did. I will definitely be picking up more from this author. 10 stars. The narrators brought the book to life and also deserve 10 stars.

exciting

This story is exciting, full of drama and suspense. A cold case, a person missing, possibly murdered. A wildfire lingering near the town. A stalker, explosives, a soldier returns to his small town suspected of murder in the cold.case. His dog ,Spirit his only companion, is trained bomb sniffing dog, whose training comes in handy in this story.
A woman he is interested makes an intense, steamy, puzzling, story of secrets, lies, action,
twists and turns, that kept me on the edge of my seat.
Stephen Borne and Auri Alden narration brought the intensity, drama, emotions to this story.

Stand alone in series

I've also listened to the first book in the series and while the characters do overlap between the books, Searching for Risk could be read as a stand alone. There is not a relationship cliffhanger at the end, but there is some setup for the next book in the series (which I'm excited to listen to when it comes out). I would caution that there could be a lot of triggers in the book related to PTSD and/or violent crime.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Stephen Borne and Auri Alden. They both did a great job and I would listen to them again.

I received a copy of the audiobook at my request (and read in KU), and the opinions here are my own.

Spirit

Great story with lots of action and steamy encounters. Love all of these wounded heroes and their dogs. This is second in series and we get more of all the characters in the first one. The narrators are great just wish the female and males speakers would read all of their lines. If you like intense and suspenseful with romance thrown in this series is for you.

Love these characters!

I LOVED this second installment in this series! The story filled my head and I could not wait for this to conclude. On the other hand I did not want it to end because it is so amazing. This crew of old/new friends are all intermingled from the past to the present. I love their attitudes towards each other. They make me laugh/chuckle and actually *feel* empathy for them. I could have cried in here easily a time or two. Mr Scott really had has a tough time and I really felt for him for his past and issues with the town. The therapy group peeps really pull on the heart strings.

This could be listened to as a stand alone but I highly recommend grabbing book 1 for two reasons. Firstly because it is just as good as this one. Secondly because there is a bit of an interconnecting story that pulls together a few different parts. Lastly this has all the adorable dogs that are helpful and personalities in their own right.

I can not say enough good things about this audio. The narration is SWEET! Stephen Borne and Auri Alden do an amazing job. If anything just grab this to listen to Stephen Borne’s gruff and sexy voice! He is perfect voice for the these military baddies.

I can’t wait for more in this series!

Donovan and Sasha

I was not certain about this book when I first selected it. I am so glad I did! It was wonderful. It is well written, has interesting characters, and is engaging. Disabled service members as the primary led is different, but a refreshing change. This is Donovan and Sasha’s story. Donovan comes from a poor and broken family. He has always been known as a wild child headed for trouble. He was accused of murder, but it could not be proved. However, he was judged guilty by the community. He joined the military, but was injured, and is now back home. Sasha is an upstanding member of the community, as the local vet. These two get together, and the attraction is immense. The narration was excellent. I received a free copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This story really had it all.

This story really had it all. The former Marine with a bad reputation and a local vet that cares for the rescue dog he works with started with a really hot encounter. The story flowed well with lots of questions, thrills, and romance. The narrators did a great job, and the female narrator performing the podcast was a nice touch. At one point I even forgot I was listening to a book, not a real podcast. I highly recommend if you like a good romantic suspense. I look forward to more in the series.

Great Audio

NOTE: This book is not for my clean reads followers. There is lots of language and on-page scenes.

I've enjoyed several of Tonya Burrows' books because she does a great job of having tension and conflict outside of the romance, which makes for a more exciting and enjoyable read. This particular story wasn't my favorite, but it was still good. I'll try and explain.
First, while well-written and narrated, the podcast sections always threw me out of the story. From the beginning, I wondered how those sections would work out since they are obviously setting up our hero (Donovan) as a troubled murderer.
Second, Sasha goes to the masquerade with the intention of seducing the sheriff and working toward the last of her goals--marry a nice guy. Instead, she gives in to the intense attraction she feels for someone else. The way the story was written, she didn't know who it was, but I guess she did? It wasn't clear, but they spent the night together anyway, and she tried to sneak away the next morning. The rest of the story is her swinging between liking him and wondering if he killed his girlfriend 15 years earlier. It was kind of annoying.
For the most part, they were just together but I didn't feel like I knew why other than they were attracted to each other. Donovan was strong/tough, but he deserved someone who believed in him and supported him better than Sasha did.
The narrators were good and made for an enjoyable listen. In the end, I think the issues I had with the story were personal and not related to the actual writing. :)

I give this 4 stars and an R rating.

1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always