Falls Like Lightning by Shawn Grady

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Falls Like Lightning Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Shawn Grady



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shawn Grady signed with Bethany House Publishers in 2008. He was named “Most Promising New Writer” at the 39th Annual Mount Hermon Writers Conference. He is the author of the novels Through the Fire, Tomorrow We Die & Falls Like Lightning.



Shawn has served for over a decade as a firefighter and paramedic in northern Nevada. From fire engines and ambulances to tillered ladder trucks and helicopters, Shawn’s work environment has always been dynamic. The line of duty has carried him to a variety of locale, from high-rise fires in the city to the burning heavy timber of the eastern Sierras.



After graduating from James Logan High School in Union City, California, Shawn attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego as a Theology undergrad. There he found clarity of direction and proceeded on to acquire an Associate of Science degree in Fire Science Technology as well as Paramedic licensure through Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada.



Shawn currently lives in Reno, just outside of Lake Tahoe. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his wife, three children and yellow Labrador.



ABOUT THE BOOK

When hotshot smoke jumper Silas Kent gets his own fire crew, he thinks he's achieved what he's always wanted. But a lightning-sparked fire in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas has his team in a plane before they can even train together.



Pilot Elle Westmore has been called up to drop the crew into the heart of the forest infernos. A single mother of a mysteriously ill six-year-old, she can't imagine her life getting any more complicated.



It doesn't take long for things to go very wrong, very quickly. A suspicious engine explosion forces Elle to make an emergency landing. Silas is able to parachute to safety but soon discovers his crew can't be trusted. They're hiding something, and now Silas is on a race to save himself and Elle from the flames--and from a more dangerous threat: his own team.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Falls Like Lightning, go HERE

Ok, I think I have a new favorite author!  Last time I remember having a favorite author was when I was 13 and it was Judy Blume!  I do reviews with several book groups, so I have access to a variety of styles of writing. I was contacted by Shawn (back at Homeschool Blogger) when my blog had the firefighting layout (which I am wanting for this blog if anyone wants to help me out here?) about his first book, Through the Fire. He let me know that it was in the line-up on Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. Since our lives revolve around the fire department, I was eager to read this and signed up to review it.  I loved it, Roger read it and enjoyed it and I haven't seen it since... It is circulating somewhere at Roger's station...

The next year, he releases Tomorrow We Die, and he also gave me a heads up about this review, so of course I signed up with CFBA to review this book as well. I enjoy reading it, but Through the Fire was my favorite, so far!

I have to say... Falls Like Lightning may just have taken place as my favorite of the three...When it started out, I thought it was going to be a firefighting book, then it started getting a little romancy (which concerned me, because I was thinking- Roger won't read this).  I admit, I struggled a little at this point...(may have been because things were busy here at the house)... but when I picked it back up - the action kicked in and I couldn't put it down!!  I stayed on the edge wondering what was going to happen next!



With so much going on in my life recently, I totally missed the past few lists that have gone out with CFBA. Imagine how upset I was when I get the email from Shawn letting me know about the book... Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on one! Thanks Shawn!! And let me just say, this one runs a close race with Through the Fire for my favorite!

I really like the way he combines the action/firefighting (boy stuff) in with the romance/love story (girl stuff).  There is just enough girly stuff in there that I keep reading and am not totally bored with the boy stuff, yet not so much that it turns the guys, who want to read the action stuff, away from the book.