Storm Rising {A Book Review}

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own. 

Mentioned in the pages of the Septuagint but lost to history, the Book of the Wars has resurfaced, and its pages hold secrets--and dangers--never before seen on earth.

Tasked with capturing the ancient text, former Navy SEAL Leif Metcalfe is finally given command of his own team. But their best efforts are ruined when a notorious Bulgarian operative known as "Viorica" snatches the volume right out from under them.

Iskra "Viorica" Todorova is determined to use the book to secure the thing that matters most--freedom. But a series of strange storms erupts around the globe and the coming dangers foretold in the text threaten crops, lives--entire nations.
Though both are haunted by secrets of their past and neither trusts the other, Leif and Iskra must form an uneasy alliance to thwart impending disaster. However, the truth hidden in two-thousand-year-old words could unleash the storm of their own destruction.

Ronie Kendig is an award-winning, bestselling author of over twenty novels. She grew up an Army brat, and now she and her Army-veteran husband live outside New York City with their children and a retired military working dog. Ronie's degree in psychology has helped her pen novels of intense, raw characters. Visit her at www.roniekendig.com.

I love a good suspense story and had heard great things about Ronie Kendig's writing from others, so I was excited to check her out for the first time in the first book of her new Book of Wars series, Storm Rising. After reading various reviews on this book, I had really looked forward to enjoying it as so many others had. I must admit though, I really struggled to get into this one. For me I think it came down to two things:

While I love a good suspense, this was also a bit of a war fiction story as well. This is great for many, but is not a genre that I typically read a ton of. Others who enjoy that type of story are much more likely do enjoy this one too. Even with that though, I think the hardest thing was trying to keep up with who was who. I don't mind a book with many characters and point of view, but because of the subject matter being less familiar to me and the names used, I found it really difficult to get into the story and catch up. There are a lot of rather uncommon and hard to pronounce names throughout- names I truly had no idea how to say. This slowed me down while reading and just really kept me from getting into the flow of the story. Had I better been able to figure out those names, I truly think I would have enjoyed this book more. The story itself was very good and the writing was likewise fantastic.

It was a good book, but ultimately not my preferred read. Still, I would recommend it to anyone who likes this genre and doesn't have an issue with name pronunciations (or perhaps those who prefer to do audio books even!). I also look forward to reading more from this author.