A Wall Street Journal bestseller.
From bestselling author Susan Stoker comes a sizzling new series about four former military operatives who rid the world of the worst of humanity while fighting to protect the best part of their lives: the women they love.
Former military operative Carson “Bull” Rhodes hasn’t dated seriously since he and his teammates left the army. Since then he’s opened … the army. Since then he’s opened Silverstone Towing—which is a front for his other job: hired killer. When kindergarten teacher Skylar Reid calls for help while stranded on the side of the interstate, the attraction is instant. The problem is Bull’s career has jaded him. Skylar’s innocent, and he wants to keep her that way.
Cautious by nature, Skylar never expected to fall in love with her tow truck driver. Even so, once Bull reveals what he really does for a living, she’s not sure she can handle it. When Skylar faces threats that have nothing to do with Bull’s job but are just as deadly, the stakes are higher than ever.
With the help of the Silverstone team, Bull will use everything he’s learned over the years to bring the woman he loves home—because the alternative is unthinkable.
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This is going to be a great series. Susan Stoker always writes great books with special meaning behind them. In this new series, it’s a team of guys who were done wrong in my opinion in the Delta Forces on a job they were sent to do. So they got an offer from a stranger they couldn’t refuse. Carson (Bull) met Skylar on the side of the rode when she called for a tow truck. They clicked right off. But when she becomes kidnapped and in danger, he and his team are there to help. HEA.
Skylar Reid is a naive and trusting kindergarten teacher and it is her innocence and goodness of heart that draws Carson “Bull” Rhodes like a moth to a flame. She makes him feel good about himself and some of the ugliness that inhabits his world has less of a hold on him. But how will she react when she learns the truth of his secret life? An intriguing start to an new series about an off-the-books black ops group who also run a towing service in Indianapolis.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The start of a new series is always exciting but the start of anew series by an author you read a lot of is always beyond that. Susan stoker didn’t disappoint with anything in this book. We read about Bull and his team mates with how they are treated within the Army as Delta Force, we read about what they are doing now and then we get introduced to Skyler, an innocent naive person who sees the good in people but can sometimes be taken in by them. As you get through the story your mind is on one track only as we read each characters part but then we are thrown a curve ball when everything you thought was going to happen………didn’t. By gosh did it muck up with my head. In a good way though because I was so itching to find out what, who and why. I love twists in a story and this one certainly had a twist. I really can’t wait for the next book. It can’t come quick enough.
Carson “Bull” Rhodes led a Delta team that successfully completed a mission but became a political scapegoat in the aftermath. In lieu of getting split up, the team (Bull, Eagle, Smoke, and Gramps) goes freelance and establishes Silverstone. On the public front, it’s a legitimate tow truck company. Behind the scenes—and with some resources from FBI and Homeland Security—they use their skills to rid the world of the evilest forms of humanity.
Bull meets Skylar Reid during an evening tow call. From the moment they meet, Bull is drawn to the kindergarten teacher’s innocence and kind-hearted nature while Skylar enjoys the cloak of safety she feels when he’s near. I loved the way the author showed us how Skylar cared for her students and the little things she did to help them. She was a textbook example of a teacher we often remember decades later as influential. Bull is the super protective alpha with the heart of gold. He’s surprisingly sweet and as the romance moves swiftly between them, he’s incredibly open and vocal about his feelings. Some dialog seemed a bit over the top and the relationship progression was lightning speed, but their chemistry worked for me and their interaction was sweet and had me smiling at times.
Overall, the romance and suspense were well balanced and kept me vested in the characters and excitedly turning the page. The team’s camaraderie was fluid and natural during their mission at the start of the story and in their friendship throughout the book. I can’t wait to read more about them.
/I received an early edition of this book from NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the story or content of my review./
Skylar Reid is a sweet innocent kindergarten teacher hi goes above and beyond for the kids in her class.
“Run away with me, Miss Skylar. I can take much better care of you than this young whippersnapper can.”
Carson ” Bull” Rhodes is former military Now his team goes after the bad guys under government black opps.
This is a super sweet slow burn love story. It’s a little different from Ms. Stokers other stores in there is some suspense towards the end but not as much thought it the book as usual. I’ve been waiting for this book since this team showed up in Rex’s book and it did not disappoint.
I absolutely enjoyed this series starter to the Silverstone series! Bull and Skylar had an instant attraction but took the time to get to know one another. They fit together perfectly and neither could believe or trust how well they suited together. He thought only the secret about his reality is what was hanging over their heads, but unbeknownst to them, another danger lurked nearby. Great suspense, great chemistry, and a great story!
5 stars
Carson/ Bull was in the Delta Force but he and his teammates were punished for killing a terrorist without permission. Carson and his friends are trying to decide what to do when a man comes up to them and offers them a proposition….work with the FBI and Homeland Security to take down the terrorists, sex traffickers, drug dealers. Now five years later the guys have built up their towing business, which is a front for the other one. Skylar is a kindergarten teacher and calls a towing company when her car breaks down. Carson comes to the rescue and he can tell there is something different about her. Carson hasn’t dated in a long time but he wants to go one a date with Skylar. Skylar agrees and the relationship takes off. But Carson is keeping a secret from Skylar and he’s afraid he’ll lose her when she finds out the truth about him. There is someone watching Skylar’s school and he plans to do harm.
Excellent book. Action and secrets. Carson is a hardcore badass but with a very big heart. Skylar only sees the good in people and is a little naive. But Skylar soothes the rough edges around Carson. I can’t wait to read the next one, it will be so good.
* Voluntarily read and reviewed this for NetGalley *
I love the we are getting another team to fall in love with. I’m such a fan of Susan Stoker’s heroes. Trusting Skylar was like an adorable love story with some serious and a bit of dark content. You wouldn’t think that those two would go together, but I find that this author is really good at this kind of romance.
The adorable love story is more about how the heroine, Skylar is a kindergarten teacher who has somewhat of a charmed life and just sees the good in people. She goes above and beyond for her kids and while she has had brushes of not so good people, she still has some naivety to her.
The darker content of the story is the evil that our hero, Bull and his teammates see everyday with their secret job with the government. Bull takes one look at Skylar and he sees so much innocence and all he wants to do is preserve that in her but also open her eyes to the dangers of the world so that she will always be protected.
While Skylar and Bull’s courtship was not always realistic, it was romantic and cute and a lot of what I like to see in a feel good love story. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!
I love this author and the opportunity to get an early read is a privilege.
I’m really looking forward to discovering more about all the other characters in Silverstone Towing.
Bull and the team are more than truck drivers, their experiences with Delta has their services still in use. Mission Impossible music starts when I think of this team.
Bull and Skylar made a great couple, but can a relationship survive with secrets. When danger hits will both even survive to have their HEA.
I enjoyed Skylar’s naivety and goodness, Bull’s protectiveness and intensity, polar opposites they were great together.
Ms Stoker knows how to write sigh worthy heroes, I like to believe they’re not all fictional.
Brilliant new series, I loved it.
This first book in the new series starts with a bang! A series about four elite Delta Force members whose team was about to be split after a mission but instead were offered an option and ended up leaving the Army and creating Silverstone. A business that was more than a towing service. One that assisted the FBI, and was in reality black ops.
This first book belongs to Carson/Bull Rhodes and kindergarten teacher, Skylar Reid. From the moment he meets her, he is smitten. But while she’s sunshine, he’s jaded and only a special woman will be able to accept him and his job.
The story was one that grasps your attention from the first sentence and one filled with complex characters.
It is also a thought provoking story. One in which reminds us that life is not black and white but rather shades of gray . This quote from the book was also thought provoking. “Judge people by how they treat you not what they look like, the color of their skins or their past.”
I do have to confess that I would reacted like Skylar when she found out what Bull’s profession was and I too had to dig deeply to accept it. Not an easy feat.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Netgalley and Montlake.
Great start to the Silverstone Towing series. Loved the dedication Skylar had to her students and the bond Bill had with his teammates. Bull and Skylar had a spark from the start that I enjoyed watching ignite. Can’t wait for Eagle, Smoke and Gramps to meet their matches.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC received via NetGalley.
Silverstone
I’m just going to say it because I have to…..this is by far the best book Susan has written….and I’ve read most of her books but this one grabbed me by the collar and threw me into this magical world of towing trucks, cute kids and sexy Alpha men and boy oh boy I was enthralled I’ve been looking forward to this series since it was announced and the Silverstone crew was mentioned in the previous series and I’m happy to say it’s worth the wait
Bull meets Skylar one night when her car breaks down on the side of the highway and she needs a tow. They are both instantly attracted to each other and Bull literally takes the Bull by the horns and asks her out. But the reason for Silverstone and their side gig….could it be all for naught? Will she accept him for who he is and what he does or will she flee at the first sign of trouble?
I’m so excited to read more about this crew and getting to know Smoke, Gramps and Eagle better. I received an advanced copy via Netgalley and I voluntarily leave my honest review
I see a spectacular new series here. The men of Silverstone Towing are so much more than they appear to be, and I don’t mean just their company and true work. They’re a family by choice and have always known that eventually, they would find the right women for each of them…or hope for it.
Bull manages to find his in Skylar via a chance meeting. At first, he’s not sure she can handle him, but Skylar proves time and again to be much tougher than she appears. Their relationship comes to mean everything to both of them, but can Skylar handle the truth?
As usual, Susan Stoker delivers a tight-knit band of brothers who definitely have stories to tell, and she manages to masterfully weave in some uncomfortable truths about reality without berating the point or feeling anything less than genuine. I’ve loved seeing how her writing evolves with each series and story, and I see fantastic reads ahead in this series!
On its face, Susan Stoker’s Trusting Skylar has all the hallmarks of a great romantic suspense tale. But there are some problematic elements about the way that the author describes and portrays marginalized groups that were impossible for me to get past.
The plot revolves around Carson “Bull” Rhodes, a former military operative turned private contractor and Skylar Reid, a kindergarten teacher. They share sort of an insta-bond, and he’s understandably reluctant to tell her what he really does for a living.
All of this would have been fine if Stoker wouldn’t have spent an inordinate amount of time stressing how “color blind” her heroine is and how she accepts all people. It came across as problematic, tokenizing, and white savior-y to me. I doubt that was Stoker’s intent, but I’m more concerned about the result of what’s communicated over the page. By using the “color blind” narrative, Stoker unwittingly dismisses the lived experiences of the marginalized groups she’s going out of her way to portray.
The reason I’m mentioning this element of the story is because I think a lot of white readers don’t pay enough attention to when this type of narrative tactic happens in novels. And we should. I’d much rather hear an own voices story from an author of color than a white woman’s romanticized and simplified take on the complex racial and socioeconomic divides in this country. Some would argue that it’s not the author’s job to do so, but when she makes it an integral part of the plot, it’s her responsibility to ensure that she’s doing so with as much nuance and sensitivity as possible.
Additionally, there are secondary characters of color who I could see getting their own novels down the line, and that worries me. I hope at the very least Stoker recruits a group of sensitivity readers to ensure that the characters are portrayed authentically and respectfully.
At the end of the day, this novel wasn’t for me. Had the aforementioned been omitted, I would have enjoyed the escapism of the narrative, and I’m sure that many will still enjoy reading this story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Trusting Skylar is the first book in Susan Stoker’s new Silverstone series and it is a wonderful story. I was completely captivated by the two main characters Carson “Bull” Rhodes and Skylar Reid and from the glimpses of the rest of Bull’s team – Eagle, Gramps, and Smoke – I am really looking forward to reading their stories as well. If you enjoyed Stoker’s Mountain Mercenaries series, you will definitely enjoy this new series. It’s like the Mountain Mercenary guys and then some. They are also briefly mentioned in the final book in the series, Defending Raven.
Silverstone’s mission is to deal with the worst of the worst, to rid the world of the depraved and evilest of humanity and they work to do this while running a legitimate towing business in the forefront as a cover, and taking on missions in secret. From their years’ in the army, these four men work like a finely oiled machine and are closer than blood. So when one falls fast and hard, it affects them all both personally and professionally. Even more so when the sweet, innocent teacher finds herself in a heap of trouble no one saw coming and it’s up to Bull and his team to find her and bring her home safe.
These two were an odd pairing, but they worked. I enjoyed the honesty Carson and Skylar had with each other while building their relationship along with the easy conversations and chemistry they shared. You could tell the attraction was instant and electric and they both, for their own reasons, worked to build something solid at a steady pace instead of rushing in full steam. I really liked the rapport Skylar had with her kindergarten class and Bull and his team’s interactions with them as well; there were some cute moments with the kids. There were also some fun moments when she first meets the guys at Silverstone.
Since Trusting Skylar is the first book in the series, some of this story was setting up the overall background along with Carson and Skylar getting to know each other and letting us get to know them. There are adorable kids, some fun and laughs, alpha gruffness, swoon-worthy alpha sweetness, great friends and family, a bit of drama, danger, and, of course, a rescue with a happy ending. It’s the perfect mix of suspense and romance. A new series not to miss especially if you are a Susan Stoker fan.
*Thank you to the author for an advanced copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own.