A Book Review of Sunrise by Susan May Warren, Book One in the Sky King Ranch Series

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the author and publisher. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review. Also, this blog post includes affiliate links. You can view my affiliate disclaimer here.

The cover of the book, Sunrise by Susan May Warren, set in the Alaskan Wilderness with a plane flying over mountains and a glorious lake.

A THRILLING ADVENTURE

Introducing Sunrise, by Susan May Warren - a captivating new beginning to the Sky King Ranch series offering adventure, romance, suspense, faith and family!

Warren brings the frozen tundra alive with her vivid imagery and heart-pounding excitement both on land and in the sky, as her characters face danger, grizzly bears and poachers in the wilds near fictional Copper Mountain, Alaska. Sunrise is a beautiful story of restoration, healing and forgiveness that readers are sure to enjoy!

Scroll down for my full review and favorite quotes…

A quote from the novel Sunrise, written by Susan May Warren. It reads: …love doesn’t come from us - it’s born in us, a birthright from God. We can’t manufacture it, we can only release what He’s given us. That nudge to forgive? That's love."

Coming home was never the plan

After a terrible family fight, pilot Dodge Kingston left home to join the Air Force. A decade later, he's headed back to the destiny that awaits him as heir to Sky King Ranch. But that's not all that's waiting for him at home.

Echo Yazzie is a true Alaskan woman--a homesteader, dogsledder, and research guide for the DNR. After her childhood best friend and former flame, Dodge, fled Denali, she settled into life on the Alaskan range. She's made her peace with being left behind--by her mother and by Dodge. And she's strong enough to live without them.

When one of Echo's fellow researchers goes missing, Echo sets out to find her, despite a blizzard, a rogue grizzly haunting the woods, and the biting cold. What she doesn't know is that there are more than just the regular dangers of the Alaskan forests stalking her . . .

As Dodge sets out to find Echo, he can't ignore the feelings he still has for her. But will he be able to find her in time? And if he does, is there still room for him in her heart?

“Dodge, be honest. It’s not close to over. You’ve been nursing this wound for nearly ten years, working it off over there in Afghanistan, trying to forget the girl you’ve loved since you were ten. There’s no way this is over. There is so much bitterness sitting in your heart you can’t even see it. But maybe that’s why God brought you back - for her. And to set you free from all that darkness.”

— Susan May Warren, Sunrise

★★★★★ | I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Susan May Warren never disappoints! Her books always leave my heart feeling warm and full. She is a masterful storyteller whose books and series are like a finely-woven, beautifully-intricate web where each thread is connected to another! It makes me excited to return to her books time and again, to find characters I know I’ll love and stories that expound on each other.

Her captivating new release, Sunrise, launches readers into the new Sky King Ranch series with appearances from characters and family members who her readers may recognize from her other books. Sunrise reads as a standalone novel and focuses on the story of Dodge Kingston, a former Air Force pilot returning home for the first time in ten years and his teenage love, Echo Yazzie, an Alaskan homesteader, dog sled runner and research guide.

“She never considered that her mother’s leaving could cause her to be stuck in a sort of darkness, afraid to move. Yeah, she needed the sunrise like she needed breath. ”

— Susan May Warren, Sunrise

Sunrise offers readers a beautiful story of restoration, healing and forgiveness in the otherwise unforgiving setting of the Alaskan wilderness. Warren brings the frozen tundra and homesteader life alive with her vivid imagery, both on land and from the sky.

I found this exciting second-chance romance to be very enjoyable for numerous reasons besides the incredible, vast setting where the story takes place. One, I loved the heart-pounding adventure her characters faced of multiple search-and-rescues, wild grizzlies and hair-raising moments in the sky. Two, I enjoyed the dangerous suspense Warren created which kept me quickly turning the pages. Three, I dearly love her expertly crafted characters who present as relatable, raw and heroic. In each of Warren’s books, she delivers characters who struggle through real-life situations, emotional turmoil and brokenness as well as offers threads that are rich in family, friendship and strength. In Sunrise, main characters Echo and Dodge face past regrets and residual anger while seeking forgiveness and reconciliation that comes about by a personal surrender to God’s will for their lives… Which leads me to perhaps my favorite part of Warren’s Sunrise - the emotional, faith-based depth of the story that offered hope and spoke to my heart in a profound way but didn’t overpower the unique unfolding of an exciting contemporary romance and epic adventure in heart of the Alaskan wilderness.

Lastly, Warren beautifully wraps up her exciting story with a happy ending which I enjoyed while leaving readers with a suspenseful cliffhanger (or two!) and her signature launch into the next book of the series, Sunburst, which I am very eagerly anticipating!

I highly recommend this novel which I have already dubbed one of my top 2022 reads (and I am so glad it was the first book of the year!). If you’ve not read Warren’s Global Search and Rescue series, The Montana Marshalls or Montana Rescue series, I recommend those as well.

Note: Due the nature of the intricately woven web I mentioned earlier, I did find that Sky King Ranch introduced a lot of characters early on in the book and sometimes, I find that to be overwhelming. Because I’m familiar with Warren’s books and know she often mentions those characters in her other books, I was able to overlook this and actually enjoyed recognizing names. Some readers may find it a bit distracting though.