A Bitter Man (Appalachian Star 2 / Special Forces: Operation Alpha) by Deanndra Hall-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 9, 2023

It takes the right woman to sweeten a bitter man.

HOLLYWOOD:

Rebirth.

Betrayed and framed by my brother, I walked away from everything–the fortune, the lifestyle, and the world that used to be mine. Now I’m living in Kentucky, working with my hands, and finally loving the life I have here. When I meet Audrey and her son, I know one thing for certain: I’d move mountains for them, and destroy anyone or anything that tried to hurt them.

AUDREY:

Rebirth.

Destitute and desperate, my son and I are on the verge of starvation. The job offered at Iron Oak Farms is just the lifeline we need, and working with Porter “Hollywood” Winthrop is one of the many perks. But the demons of our pasts threaten our chances at a future. Navigating the rocky waters of a relationship seems perilous and uncertain, and trust is hard to come by for two people so damaged and destroyed. Can he save me from drowning in a world that seems too hard to endure?

•••••

REVIEW:A BITTER MAN is the second instalment in Deanndra Hall’s contemporary, adult APPALACHIAN STAR erotic, romance series, a part of the multi-authored Special Forces: Operation Alpha series focusing on characters first introduced by author Susan Stoker. This is forty-one year old, former California inmate and tech mogul Porter ‘Hollywood’ Winthrop, and twenty-nine year old, single mother Audrey Sinclair’s story line. A BITTER MAN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

SOME BACKGROUND: Appalachian STAR is a search and rescue operation set in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, an operation that hires former inmates from the US prison system.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Audrey and Porter) A BITTER MAN follows the hunt for a cook and housekeeper for the man at Appalachian STAR Search and Rescue. Porter ‘Hollywood’ Winthrop has been doing triple duty, working at Appalachian STAR, in the wake of his release from prison for a crime he did not commit. Patrick ‘Patch’ Scott recognizes that the operation needs someone to take on the job no one else wants to do, so Patch tasks Porter with hiring a cook to feed the growing numbers at Appalchian STAR. Porter is quick to discover the limited number of available people looking for work or qualified for the job until a response from a woman, desperate enough to reveal the true extent of her need for work. Enter twenty-nine year old single mother Audrey Sinclair, a woman and her son living in abject poverty, but a woman capable enough to look after the people at Appalachian STAR. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Audrey and Porter, and the potential fall-out when misunderstanding and miscommunication threaten the building love between our story line couple.

The relationship between Audrey and Porter begins when Porter hires to work at Appalachian STAR. Porter recognizes the desperation in our story line heroine, a heroine who has been used and abused, a woman who is willing to protect her son, at any cost. Porter Winthrop was betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust, a betrayal that landed him in prison for a crime he did not commit. Finding a kindred soul, of a sort, in Audrey Sinclair, Porter is drawn to Audrey, like a fated mate. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including many of whom we have me in the previous story line and interconnected series: Patch and Penny (A Desperate Man 1), Miles ‘ Bear’ McMillan; Ghost, Priest, Reboot, Paddy and Bulldog, as well as several townspeople in and around Mallie, Kentucky. Something is building with Bulldog.

A BITTER MAN is a story of betrayal and vengeance, addiction and recovery, desperation, misunderstanding and forgiveness, love and acceptance. The fast paced premise is intriguing and entertaining but the story line conflict is limited to the relationship between Audrey and Porter, and her acceptance by the people at Appalachian STAR. There were a couple of other potential conflicts that fizzled and died, I was hoping for a little more romantic suspense. The characters are numerous, determined and charismatic; the romance is seductive and impassioned.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one A DESPERATE MAN

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Deanndra Hall is a working author living in the far western end of the beautiful Bluegrass State with her husband of over 35 years and small menagerie of weird little dogs. When she’s not writing, she’s editing. When she’s doing neither of those two things, she’s having dinner with friends, spending time with family, kayaking, eating chocolate, drinking beer or moonshine, or looking for something that she put in the wrong place and can’t seem to find (which is pretty much everything she owns).

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