Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Love and Honor Series by Hallee Bridgeman (giveaway & review of Honor’s Refuge)

October 2022, 384 pages

You can’t outrun the past

HONOR’S REFUGE
November 2022, 352 pages

You can’t give up on love

When she was just five years old, Melissa Braxton watched her father take her mother’s life and suffered the pain of separation from her sister, Lola. Melissa grew up with a strong desire to help those stuck in abusive relationships. It’s why she became a therapist and opened a domestic abuse shelter.

After losing a leg to a gunshot wound in the line of duty, Phil Osbourne has felt like a man without a purpose–until he hears Melissa’s story and decides to use his Special Forces contacts to track down her missing sister, the wife of a Colombian cartel teniente. He knows what he discovers will break Melissa’s heart. What he doesn’t realize is that helping the women reunite will bring the cartel down on them like the category 5 hurricane striking Miami..

Bruised yet not quite broken, Melissa and Phil battle the storm and the cartel, calling on strength they didn’t know they had to escape death, save the innocent, and–just maybe–find healing in each other’s arms.

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Hallee Bridgeman’s Website

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My review is for book three, Honor’s Refuge.

“Well, this will be an adventure.”

Honor’s Refuge by Hallee Bridgeman is book three in the Love and Honor series but can stand alone just fine; however, with the total knockout punch that Honor’s Refuge delivers, you should probably carve out a coveted space on your to-read pile for this entire series.

Honor’s Refuge is an interesting mix of danger, both from bad people and bad weather; romance, Christian beliefs and prayer; and excellent prose and characterization. Nothing like the Colombian cartel and a massive hurricane bearing down on Miami, Florida, to get the blood pumping and the anger and fear spiking. Phil Osbourne is struggling to find a reason to keep moving forward in life after losing a leg in the line of military duty, and Melissa Braxton is struggling to find her younger sister, Lola, after being separated when they were small children, following the death of their mother at the hands of their abusive father. The two girls were sent to different sides of the family, with opportunities and love on one side, and secrets running deep and dangerous on the other.

Phil and Melissa have been meeting for breakfast each week for at least a year, skirting around their obvious feelings for each other for way too long. Melissa, who runs a domestic abuse shelter in a highly hidden location in Miami, often calls on Phil, with his medical background and EMS skills, to help out when a battered new resident at the shelter is too afraid to seek medical care at a busy hospital. Phil knows Melissa has been looking for her sister ever since they were separated so many years ago, and when he finally locates Lola, he essentially kicks a veritable hornet’s nest of evil, corruption, and deadly consequences. You don’t disrupt the Colombian cartel without repercussions and retaliation, as Phil and Melissa soon discover. Will these two lovebirds finally take their relationship to the next level? Will Melissa and her sister, Lola, finally be reunited? Will a late-season category 5 hurricane heading straight for Miami ruin everyone’s Thanksgiving? With love, war, and weather, anything and everything are possible.

Family and the domestic realm are definitely major themes in Honor’s Refuge, and the author presents the shifting balance between the good and the bad with outstanding talent. Hallee Bridgeman has created a fireball of a story in Honor’s Refuge, keeping the readers clamoring for more at the turn of every page. Tears, prayers, fear, and a fierce determination to protect the broken and the defenseless run rampant across the chapters, culminating in a high-tension ending that will surely entertain just about any reader looking for a thrilling, chilling, and high-action adventure romance. The two main characters are flawed and believable, with just enough skills, valor, and vulnerability to elevate them to a remarkable protagonist level.

As an added bonus, the author includes recipes at the end of the story, enjoyed by Melissa and Phil at his parent’s dinner table, for grilled grouper, mango salad, and seasoned rice, which sound absolutely delicious.

Enter the giveaway below on or before November 23, 2022, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes!

I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.