Lindsay McKenna is one of the authors who piqued my interest in series romance romance. Her Love and Glory series years ago made me realize how exciting, passionate and compelling series romance novels could be. I have enjoyed many hours of reading thanks to this author and her latest release is wonderful.

Hunter’s Pride is also part of the Morgan’s Mercenaries series, which is a spinoff of the original Love and Glory series. This novel is the third in the series focusing on the Hunter men, who are brothers and work for Morgan Trayhern, the magnetic hero who began it all.

Hunter’s Pride is set in Hawaii and features mercenary Devlin Hunter. His assignment is to stop a mad terrorist who is producing the deadly poison anthrax, destroy his factory, and recover the poison the terrorist has already produced. However, the secret base where the poison is being manufactured is in a valley surrounded by lava cliffs that must be scaled to reach the base. Devlin is an expert climber, but he is ordered by Morgan not to go on the mission alone because it’s too dangerous, so Morgan assigns Hunter a partner. Kulani Dawson is a former operative of Morgan’s agency, grew up in the area, and knows the cliffs better than anyone. Morgan wants Kulani and Devlin to work together.

Kulani is not keen to take on this mission. She gave up climbing and working for Morgan’s firm after her lover was killed in a fall. She now runs a helicopter firm shuttling tourists around the island. Kulani likes her quiet life and doesn’t want it interrupted. Knowing that, Devlin pretends to be a tourist when they first meet and waits until the right moment to tell Kulani who he really is and what he really wants. But when he meets Kulani, the mission takes a back seat to the growing attraction between them. Eventually, Kulani learns the truth and despite her anger at Devlin for lying to her, she agrees to go on the mission, not just because millions of lives are at stake because of the anthrax, but because she has feelings for Devlin and can’t bear to see him hurt. And so begins a breathless adventure.

The decent into the valley is full of risk and danger and Ms. McKenna imbues every page with intrigue and suspense. The story ripples with fast-paced action scenes, and there is no doubt that the odds are stacked against this twosome. While the action scenes are as good as any adventure-lover could want, it is the characterizations which truly shine. While Devlin is a compelling, intriguing character, it’s Kulani the reader will most remember. She is a woman of quiet grace, beauty and dignity, but she proves herself as a tough, skilled and talented operative when her life and the lives of others are at risk. McKenna also brings the lush beauty of Hawaii alive, rendering it vivid and real. It’s also clear that the author has done her research on mountain climbing and piloting a helicopter – these parts of the story were full of accurate detail without bogging down the narrative in any way.

Unfortunately, what does suffer is the romance. Because of the complicated plot and the set up that surrounds it, the hero and heroine spend very little time getting to know one another. The result is that it’s kind of hard to buy that they want to spend their lives together at the end. And once the action gets started, there’s little room for bonding between these two. Furthermore, Hunter’s Pride indulges in my least favorite plot point in which a couple has unprotected sex with their only concern being pregnancy. Although in this case, Kulani wants to get pregnant even though this is her first time to have sex with Devlin and she is not married.

Despite these problems, this is a book well worth reading. I haven’t read the previous books in this series, but Hunter’s Pride makes me want to search them out. Lindsay McKenna remains one of my favorite series authors and her books remind me why I love series romance.