Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Damien is tired of putting all the pieces of himself back together. He may never be the man he once was, particularly since his leg is still healing and the idea of flying makes him sick to his stomach and turns him white with fear. But he refuses to give up, flying when he must and ignoring the pain. Still, Damien knows deep in his heart that he’s not fit for anyone, especially Preston, who has waited so many years for Damien to get his head out of his ass and love him as Preston does Damien. Now the two must land in a recent earthquake site and rescue Preston’s brother. Unfortunately, that not only means flying; for Damien, it also means talking to Preston about why the two of them would never be a good fit—something Preston refuses to hear.

I will admit that Silent Heart, the second installment in Amy Lane’s Search and Rescue series, started off a bit slow for me. Perhaps it was because I didn’t get a real sense of who Preston was and the way in which he viewed the world. Knowing Preston well is pretty critical for understanding just how he and Damien fit together, so you must read the first book in this series, Warm Heart, to have this one make any sense. I do wish the author had taken a bit more time in giving us a handle on exactly what was up with Preston. He struck me as someone with Asperger’s, but that’s only because I have taught students with the same diagnosis. Lane chooses not to label Preston and so we are stuck trying to get a fix on all his idiosyncrasies through Damien who knows him well. That left me with a less than clear understanding of a critical character, and until the action really kicked in, I was frustrated by the sketchy details about Preston, especially because the story was so focused on him and Damien.

However, once things got going, it was a really good story—lots of action, nail-biting rescues, and a nicely building romance between the two men. I loved how Preston simply took control and wouldn’t allow Damien to question him or wallow in self-doubt. For Preston, their love and living together was a done deal and that assuredness made me really just fall in love with this quirky young man. I also felt that the set up for the next novel in this series was done quite well and will no doubt focus on Preston’s brother, Glen. The dynamic between Glen and Damien as partners was well played with Glen being snarky and prone to kick Damien in the butt, figuratively, when he thought the man was overthinking things—something he did quite often when it came to viewing a future with Preston.

Silent Heart turned out to be a good sequel and a great set up for a third novel. While I wanted lots more background on both main characters, I will say that their relationship was well done and realistic and the story’s action sequences were top notch.

Note: Silent Heart releases January 7, 2020, but is available now for pre-order