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Shattered Sky (Border Watch #2)

Helene Young

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Why we're reading this: Surviving a missile strike on her aircraft suddenly seems like the easy part for Lauren Bennett. A year a…more
[close] Surviving a missile strike on her aircraft suddenly seems like the easy part for Lauren Bennett. A year after being attacked mid flight, Lauren is sure she's overcome her guilt at losing a friend in the ensuing crash. Her brittle, glossy veneer doesn't fool Callam Granger but the naval patrol boat captain knows he's got no right to an opinion. He wasn't there when she needed him most and she's not going to let him forget it. On a routine surveillance assignment Lauren uncovers an operation trafficking sex slaves. Pursuing the women - and their captors - will take her deep into the Australian outback and a reluctant Callam knows this time he can't let her go alone. Is it possible for Lauren and Callam to put aside old enmities to outwit, outrun and ultimately out-fly the traffickers? Or will the frantic race to free the women simply ignite their emotions, endangering yet more lives?

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What Members Thought

Nov 28, 2011 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing

Starting Shattered Sky at just after 1am with the intention of reading only a chapter was, in retrospect, a poor decision when I found myself unable to put it down until I had finished at 4 in the morning. Loosely linked by setting and characters and with all the action, adventure, mystery and romance found in Wings of Fear, Helene delivers an exciting and engaging romantic suspense novel with Shattered Sky.

In Wings of Fear, Lauren Bennett was the likeable supporting character, here she is at t ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2010 Helene Young added it · (Review from the author)

Yes, I'm definitely biased but I had a lot of fun writing Lauren's story!

Her character was begging for a larger role in Wings of Fear (Border Watch) so, from the moment I sat down to write Shattered Sky, Lauren was in the middle of the action. I enjoyed doing more research into Naval operations as well diving into the life and times of Outlawed Motorcycle Gangs. It made for a fascinating couple of months.

I hope you enjoy the finished story.

Helene
...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2010 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-read, favourites

OMG!! Loved this book! Helene Young has done it again!

When Lauren Bennett gets tangled up with a group international smugglers while responding to a mayday call from a stricken yacht in the eye of a cyclone, all hell breaks loose! Lauren and her crew on board their Border Watch aircraft manage to direct the nearby navy frigate to the yacht's aid before heading back to base.

She then decides to follow the smugglers into the isolated country of Cape York, trying to get the information a friend ne ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2011 Joanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, women-writers

Another well written and exciting story from Helene Young. Romance is not a genre I read, but Helene Young's books include plenty of action and suspense, and lots of local colour, so it's a book that can be enjoyed on several levels.

It's obviously written by someone who knows her area well, and has a lot of experience in a world that's unfamiliar to most of us - flying surveillance aircraft for Customs. "Shattered Sky" is also set in the same place as "Border Watch", but with a different heroine ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 11, 2012 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, australian, series, crime, suspense, library-reads, thriller, aww2012

Captain Lauren Bennett is on a routine surveillance flight when they pick up the garbled distress call of a yacht. Although they can do little to render assistance other than relay the call to a patrolling Navy boat nearby, they can help by flying low enough for the people on board the distressed yacht to sight them and know that help is on the way. Lauren also maintains radio contact and stays above the yacht as long as possible, delaying her return to base because she cannot bear to leave anot Captain Lauren Bennett is on a routine surveillance flight when they pick up the garbled distress call of a yacht. Although they can do little to render assistance other than relay the call to a patrolling Navy boat nearby, they can help by flying low enough for the people on board the distressed yacht to sight them and know that help is on the way. Lauren also maintains radio contact and stays above the yacht as long as possible, delaying her return to base because she cannot bear to leave another person alone under treacherous conditions after the devastating experience that rocked her world nearly a year ago. She lost a crew member that day and more importantly, the beautiful blonde lost someone that she loved and was never able to tell him that.

Callum Granger is the man in charge aboard the Navy boat that goes to the yacht’s rescue. He knows Lauren through their fallen friend Gavin and not long after Gavin’s tragic death, he said something hurtful and careless to her that he shouldn’t have and that cut her to the bone. He’s been looking for a way to apologise ever since but Lauren isn’t taking his calls. When they run into each other in the hospital visiting the rescued yacht crew, he finally gets his chance to make amends.

At first the yacht looked like it’d caught the wrong end of a cyclone but the truth is quickly uncovered – they were boarded and sabotaged and then drifted into the path of the oncoming cyclone. Lauren slowly discovers that something sinister is going on up in the north – bikie gangs are smuggling in Asian women who believe they’re coming to Australia to work in factories but really they’re going to be trapped in the country as sex slaves, with no passports, no rights and kept in terrible conditions. Through a friend of hers who works with rescuing such women, Lauren learns a lot. Including the location the bikies are using to smuggle the women in and also to hold them before flying them out of the remote north down south to the capitals. And she just happens to be on holiday – camping up north suddenly looks good, because she needs some evidence before she can take it to the relevant authorities.

Callum knows Lauren is partially fleeing a misunderstanding, especially with a tragic anniversary looming. He pursues her, discovering she isn’t where she said she’d be. When he finds her, Lauren is in danger up to her eyeballs and she’s fighting for her life – and the lives of all the girls she’s trying so hard to save. It’s up to Lauren to get them out safely because she’s the only person who can. And now there’s also Callum…whom she has come to care for. She can’t lose another person that means so much to her.

Shattered Sky is loosely a sequel to Wings of Fear, focusing this time on Lauren, who was Morgan’s provocative first officer. Now promoted to Captain herself, she flies her own team, although she still links up with Morgan regularly and maintains their friendship. We see a different Lauren in this novel – gone are the bright red fingernails, the teetering high heels, the flirtatious innuendos. Instead Lauren is grieving and also stung deep by a comment from Callum. She knows that she acted out a little after Gavin’s death but to have to shoved in her face was callous and cruel and she’s been avoiding him ever since. When they’re thrown back into each other’s company, it sets off an instant attraction.

Callum is at a point in his life where he’s ready to settle down, make a go of things. Lauren is more unstable, still reeling from the loss of Gavin, still uncertain about what she wants and if she’s deserving of happiness after the actions surrounding his death. It still eats at her and it’s like she’s determined to make up for it by saving as many people as she can, such as the couple on the stricken yacht and then the girls being trafficked from the Asian islands, when she hears about them.

Shattered Sky is every bit a breathless, fun read as Wings of Fear, with characters that you can get invested in. I liked Lauren well enough in Wings of Fear but that was Morgan’s story and now it’s her turn to shine. Her character is full of depth and development and I enjoyed seeing her come almost full circle as she heals and deals and realises that she is worthy. Callum is just the man to show her that she is.

Normally I don’t really love protagonists that wander into dangerous situations that they have no business being in but Lauren’s intervention was necessary in this story and although the whole situation had me on the edge of my seat frantically flipping pages to ensure nothing would happen to people I cared about, it didn’t at all bother me like it so often would. Unfortunately Helene Young had me reaching for the tissues again with the fate of a character I had come to really enjoy and had prayed for a happy ending for, even though I suspected very early on it would not happen. I know now that I need to have tissues ready in advance!

Burning Lies is the third and final novel in this trilogy, spinning off again with a lesser character from this novel and expanding on their story to make them the main character. It’s due out around the middle of this year and I’m pretty thrilled to already have a copy although I’m going to (try and) wait until much closer to the release date. The temptation may be too much though!

Another enjoyable, fast paced read set in our beautiful north. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2011 Dee-Ann rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian-authors, movie-material

I was tossing between 3 and 4 stars, and if given the chance would probably choose 3.7. I love the heroine Lauren Bennett, such a unique character, doing a traditional male-type job with gusto and passion, yet she is still a very feminine character. There is a lot of technical bits and pieces, which I found refreshing, but sometimes it seemed to distract from the flow of the story.

The romantic side for me was a bit long winded, but that might just show how unsentimental I am/was at the time I wa ...more

1 like · Like · see review