Allied Operations
Wings of Gold #2
Tracy Tappan
Genre: Military Romantic Suspense
Publication Date: April 4, 2016
Note from the author: Some years ago, a good friend of mine (who was in the same naval helicopter squadron as my husband) suffered through a horrific helicopter crash. This book depicts some of the real events of that accident. Please be forewarned that, although the story is ultimately one of triumph, it is heart-wrenching in spots.
Compelled to join an operation by an admiral with a personal agenda, Lieutenant Kyle “Mikey” Hammond finds himself thrust into the harsh desert terrain of northern Pakistan. Four American engineers have been kidnapped, and Kyle is tasked to work with Samantha, a civilian authority on Pakistan, whose expertise in terrorist negotiations is the hostages’ only hope. However, this is just one part of Kyle’s assignment. He’s also operating off a set of top-secret orders that could ruin his military career.
From the outset, Samantha’s negotiations with the terrorists walk the sharp edge between life and death. But she is an expert at such shrewd tactics…tactics that soon begin to mirror her personal dealings with the enigmatic Navy lieutenant. Determined to unearth the true Kyle, Samantha engages in a cat-and-mouse game with him that ends up peeling away some of her own carefully concealed layers. Once both their masks are lowered, love blossoms between them. But when the daring hostage rescue finally gets underway, a horrifying accident nearly shatters everything they’ve worked to attain. Their survival will hinge on the strength of their love…and if the man she’s certain can save the day will become the hero he’s convinced he’s not.
Content warning: contains profanity and adult situations
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Books that have a level of authenticity always grab my attention. It can be something you know the author has experienced or a level of knowledge that is intriguing and allows you to come away feeling like you learned something new. Tracy Tappan’s books feel this way to me. When I read her first book in this series, Beyond the Call of Duty, I was taken aback by the technical jargon of the military she used. She does a great job of sharing the definitions and explaining this to readers but at first I found it distracting. Yet as I read it became more and more vital to the backbone of the book. It is the same in the second book of the Wings of Gold series. Allied Operations features Kyle, someone we met in the first book, and it is his turn to shine in the spotlight. I love how the connection between Kyle and Samantha is not love at first sight. Instead it is lust at first sight, followed by disappointment, which soon morphs into respect and admiration. These two could not be more opposite yet as the story progresses, their similarities are discovered. They might butt heads but seeing them work together and learn to trust one another in high stakes and dangerous situations creates a bond that is unbreakable.
This book reads like an action movie. It is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. It takes real world situations that are relevant and adds a fictional story to the mix. Allied Operations is a high adrenaline story that keeps you guessing until the very end. There is a great deal of heart, emotion, and hurt in this book. The lives in this book are not immune to the heartache of war and loss of those they love. I appreciated that Tracy keeps the raw and gritty reality of war at the forefront of this story. It is dangerous and sometimes feels like the price to be paid is too high.
If you love a book that takes you deep into the workings of the military and offers a real and gritty story of war and love, check out this book! Watching everything unfold in the exciting and dangerous realm of terrorist infested Pakistan gives this book relevance to the realities we see on a day to day basis. This book shares the heart and soul of those who fight for the weak and the heartache of those who never come home. It is not something you will want to miss.