There is not a hero written by Susan May Warren that I have not loved reading about, and Gage is a welcome addition to that list. Warren easily grabs reader's attention with this book and does not let go. A Matter of Trust has plenty of action, romance and more to keep those pages turning! Highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel and was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A really good book. Adventure. Secrets. Suspense. Well written!
The characters are very believable with realistic characteristics and weaknesses, and the romance is not crazy or like it belongs in a cheesy hallmark film.

I loved the characters and the storyline development of this book. It was absolutely one of my favorites so far and I can't wait to delve in to the next one that this author writes. The storyline was simple, enjoyable, and entertaining.

Another great book about the PEAK rescue team! I cannot get enough of the characters and the stories that take place around the PEAK team, Gage and Ella's story is a great story of redemption and forgiveness. The Montana Rescue Series is one that everyone can enjoy

Thanks for sending me an arc, I do appreciate it. I wasn't able to get into this one and haven't been able to get back to it so I won't be leaving an official review at this time.

I've been a fan of Susan May Warren since reading her earlier novels, which took place in Russia. For those who like fast-paced, suspenseful stories, which are outdoor enthusiasts, A Matter of Trust is sure to please.

I'm grateful to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for this my honest review.

Ella Blair has helped to destroy Gage Watson's life a couple of years ago. And now she needs his help.

There was once an attraction, maybe a love between Ella and Gage. But then Gage, famous snowboarder, took an unresponsible - and unprepared - youngster for a ride far too difficult for his skills. The youngster died. And attorney Ella had become a part of the opposite lawyer team - and the settlement had cost Gage a lot.
Now Ella, driven by her conscience and her heart broken by all that, is hoping for forgiveness. And then her kid brother goes missing. And Gage is capable of saving him. If only he can trust her. If only he can trust himself. If only they can uncover their hearts, be able to understand their motivations - and the meaning of forgiveness and the saving grace. For themselves, too.

A star added for the choice of (almost) anti-heroine! Ella DID wrong - quite less of it than one should suppose and she has all of the motivations to do said wrong, but - still, she did it. But she is so understandable! Like us, when we do the same, driven by all the complicated mix of motives. And then we pray and hope for understanding - which we are not able to offer to ourselves.
Gage, too, has pain in his heart - all of his rightful anger and all of the good motivations - a person had died. This feels heavy on his heart.

And I like my characters to find the grace in their lives!

And the side characters? Delightful almost-couple of Pete and Jess, a new addition to the Mercy Falls's posse of lovely girls in Brett, who has catched the eyes of Ty. And my favourite of complicated relationships in Ian and Sierra! I love the galore of these couples and their stories!

This series is delightful. True, one can find some cons (like do we need Ella being a senator? It is not connected to the story, her being a lawyer would more than do), yet the wisdom, understanding of the heart and all the warmth surpasses these cons greatly.

I have read all the books in this series so far and absolutely LOVE them! The characters are fun, packed full of drama, clean romance... Once I start reading it, I can't put it down! Love this series and this book!

Gage and Ella are some of my favorite characters so far. I truly enjoyed the details of all the rescue ops and of how they go about finding the lost people. I still felt distracted by a lot of the other subplots, but not as much as in the previous book. The characters are all colorful and interesting, which makes it a hard one to put down.

Content: There are some minor expletives/crudities that got on my nerves a bit. There was a lot less kissing than the previous book, and I really was grateful for that.

Thanks to the publisher for a free review ecopy, though the one I actually read was a library book.

A Matter of Trust is the third romantic suspense book in the Montana Rescue series written by author Susan May Warren. Thanks to NetGalley and Revell Publishing for the advance copy.

Professional snowboarder Gage Watson fled the limelight after a tragic accident cost a fan his life. Now working as a ski patrol and serving on the PEAK rescue team, Gage can’t seem to shake the ghosts that landed him there or forget the woman he once loved — the same one who betrayed him.

As a young senator, Ella Blair spends most of her time in the public eye. But she struggles to move forward knowing she holds the secret that shattered Gage’s career. If Ella could find a way to put his career back on the right path maybe she could stop feeling so guilty.

With a snowstorm barreling toward the Glacier National Park, Ella’s brother vanishes while snowboarding on one of the most dangerous peaks. When Ella turns to PEAK Rescue, Gage is reticent to help the woman who destroyed his life, especially when she insists on joining the search party. As sparks fly amidst the dropping temperatures, not even they can deny the kindling feelings still beneath the surface, but Ella’s secret threatens to extinguish their tentative truce.

Grab your coats for this one as you’ll feel the chill all the way to your bones. A Matter of Trust delivers a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat tale as Gage and Ella race against nature to save her brother. Susan May Warren brings an icy world to life that has the reader feeling cold and frostbite right alongside the characters.

A story about mistakes and forgiveness, I loved how the characters learned that we are rescued because we need help, not because we deserve it. Such a real, yet often overlooked, concept of what God did for us.

I greatly enjoyed the way the setting popped off the pages, the valuable lessons learned, and the nail-biting quest to find the missing snowboarder. However, the romances — both the main one between Gage and Ella, and the secondary one between Ty and Brette — weren’t my favorites. They happened too fast to feel believable and I question the legitimacy of Ella’s feelings toward Gage considering her actions.

Whether you are a fan of Warren or suspenseful rescue missions, A Matter of Trust is the adventure for you. Though the novel can mostly stand alone, Ian Shaw’s search for his missing niece has arched throughout the entire Montana Rescue series to date. We’ll finally get his and Sierra’s story in the next book. To say I’m doing a happy dance for that one would be an understatement. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Ian and Sierra’s tale since the series started.

"A Matter of Trust" is the 3rd book in the Montana Rescue series. The books have a continuous flow of story between them, that if you don't read them all in order, you miss part of the story. It does give "fill in" details, but you get so much more of a complete picture if you read all the books. It isn't like some books where the story between the hero and heroine starts and is concluded within the pages of the one book, you get snatches of things throughout the whole series. I think it brings the characters more realism and depth. I like seeing the whole PEAK gang over and over through the series and they become my friends. Although, I was a little disappointed that this book didn't include Sam and Willow (the main plot characters in book 2) until the very end, almost like a cameo. "A Matter of Trust" was primarily Gage Watson and Ella Blair's story, but also Ty Remmington and Brette Arnold as well as a little of Pete and Jess's story continuted. I appreciated that the story wasn't just another "lost in the park" story, but instead involved backcountry skiing/snowboarding. I had to look up a few terms to know what was going on, but it made me look up videos on Youtube and man do they do some amazing, crazy things! The faith element of the book feels natural and seamless, not added artificially. The book pulled me in and I didn't want to stop until the book was finished.

I got a free copy of this book through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received.

Susan May Warren takes readers on a dangerous adventure in A Matter of Trust, the third book in her Montana Rescue series. Gage Watson is a skilled champion backcountry snowboarder, and Ella is a senator and former attorney Ella Blair. When Ella's brother goes missing on one of Glacier National Park's most dangerous peaks, Gage and his team are called in for the rescue.

This series has been an interesting one for me. I have enjoyed the variety of settings for each of the books. This one just might be my favorite! I love snow, and I've thought of trying a snow sport, although I'm not sure how well I'd do snowboarding. There were times I felt like I was there with Gage, plowing through the snow.

While Warren developed the characters well, I'm not sure I ever became invested in the outcome of their story as much as I would have liked. I don't know if the story was a little too predictable or if there is a different reason for it. All that said, Susan May Warren wove together a story with a setting I loved!

A Matter Of Trust by Susan May Warren is a delightful contemporary Christian romantic adventure which I loved. It is the third book in the Montana Rescue series but can be read as a stand-alone. I really enjoyed catching up with familiar faces and meeting new ones.
PEAK rescue team has the mantra of sticking together and leaving no one behind. They rescue people because it is their job. They do not stop to think if they deserve it. "No one in trouble should be worried as to whether they deserve help." Likewise God rescues us, not because we deserve it but because it is in His nature and because of grace that covers us all.
This links to the theme of trust. We can trust God and we need to trust others. We cannot go through life in grand isolation. "You have a history with God... once upon a time you trusted Him." We can trust God in all situations and at all times especially when life is tough. Life may have disappointed us but God never will. "God... I want to believe you are on my side." God is on our side. The question is, are we on His?
The past is gone. We cannot live in it, "tearing open the wounds of regret." We must learn from the past and move on.
There are the themes of guilt and forgiveness. We cannot live a life feeling guilty. It is a tactic of the enemy to divert us from focusing on God. "You wear your mistakes like a brand on your forehead." Our mistakes are gone. We must learn to forgive ourselves because God has already forgiven us.
God is the God of restoration. He can make all things new.
The novel is about teamwork. Teamwork gets things done. Everyone has a job to do and plays their part. We need to partner with God and join His team and get things done for Him.
There was a beautiful love beginning to bud and blossom throughout the novel which was wonderful to witness.
I am loving this Montana Rescue series. A Matter Of Trust was fabulous. It's on to book four now for me. Give yourself a treat and buy the Montana Rescue series now. You will be glad you did.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

This series is so EPIC. I was pulled right into the story and felt like I was there on the mountain in the snowy powder cutting a line and dropping off cliffs. I loved the backstory between Gage and Ella, the way they connected and felt like they could be themselves with each other. There is plenty of conflict and angst as they are reunited and work together in tense and strenuous circumstances. Being thrown together again made them face parts of their past that they had tried to forget, and they had great discussions about faith and God while resolving their difficulties. Their chemistry was amazing and I loved the way Ella could keep up with Gage on the mountain and the joy they found in the extreme sport, even as they raced against a storm to find her brother. Themes of trust, family, and finding one's purpose are strong in this story with fast-paced adventure and toe-curling romance! Highly recommend!

(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)

This book is about Gage, but I loved getting to learn more about Ty. He’s kind-hearted and compassionate.

Okay, back to Gage, the main hero of this Montana Rescue series novel. He’s likable and competent. You trust that if he’s sent out to rescue someone, he’ll bring them safely home. That’s reassurance you’ll need as the story gets more and more intense. Getting to ski with Gage was fascinating. He has something to prove, and Susie slowly reveals his secrets to the reader. Love how she did that. Gage’s heroism flows from a few things—past regrets and this need to prove himself to the world. He’s calm, though, and mature.

Senator and attorney Ella Blair is a likable character as well. She has some past regrets that she'll need to overcome. As I read her story, I felt she was more believable as an attorney than a senator, but that may be because we didn't spend much time on her senator role. I loved that she was a strong and competent snowboarder. The perfect match for Gage and someone we could respect.

Like when I read Susie’s smokejumper books, and I felt as if I was breathing in the smoke and coughing on the fumes, while I was reading this wintertime novel, I could almost smell the snow and feel the powder surround me as I swished down a slope. The descriptions take you right into the experience with the characters. Gage’s skiing expertise was so well written. He’s a champion freerider, and the first scenes in the book were extremely well penned. The wording was so technical, I wondered for a moment if someone else had written them. Some of the phrases were foreign to me from start to finish. Then, when I read Susan’s Author Note, she makes it clear she’s been a life-long skier. She knows this topic.

There were many profound statements, some relational, and some spiritual—about how God sees us versus how we see ourselves, especially when it comes to feeling worthy of being rescued. God doesn’t require us to be worthy, but we require it of ourselves. This novel included themes of rescue, forgiveness, secrets, God’s love, mercy, and trust. Also, there’s a theme of believing in yourself and how when others do, their faith in us encourages us to see ourselves differently.

I had a tough time, now knowing this world, believing that a tent without a fire inside, could be warm enough in the temperatures she described for people to camp in. Or how a stove would work inside a tent, without a way to vent the fumes outside. Perhaps a little more explanation would be helpful.

Another concern was that Ty meets someone, and she and he both experience an immediate attraction. No surprises so far. But what didn’t quite click is why he was drawn to her after that initial attraction. Without giving away spoilers, she has a career that threatens the team’s members, so it wasn’t believable that he would continue to pursue her when that became apparent. We could use another strong element that draws him so we believe that he would let her into his life and therefore close to the team.

But overall, I relished this story. I have Susie’s next book in this same series (Troubled Waters) on my Kindle, ready for me to keep enjoying these characters. Can’t wait to get back to it!

Highly recommended! I love this series, which I recommend you read in order. Otherwise, you may be lost. There are a lot of great characters to track.

This story pulled me right in from the start and wouldn’t let me go until the last page. What a fantastic adventure featuring Gage Watson and Ella Blair—both are amazing characters, but each with their own haunted pasts. It was intriguing to see their story unfold. Susan May Warren is a master at creating vivid, engaging, and lovable characters. She also knows how to paint settings with just the right words to let you see them in your mind. I loved the appearance of some of the characters from previous books, but this book can also be read as a stand-alone. If you enjoy romance, suspense, and action, with some inspiration, faith and trust thrown in, I would recommend you read this story
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I voluntarily reviewed a copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I thought Ella should have been older than her mid-twenties because of how long it would have taken her to become a lawyer and in the position she was in in the law office and then became a senator. It also seemed a little unbelievable for Ella and Gage to only have known each other three days before the betrayal and then not see each other for three years and yet still have such strong feelings for each other. I was also sometimes confused about whether the characters were skiing or snowboarding. At times the wording made me think they were snowboarding and then in the next scene it seemed like they were skiing. Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with that world to differentiate between the terms used. Putting those few things aside, I found the characters likable and the overall story enjoyable. Seeing the redemption in their relationship with the history of the lawsuit between them and then putting it aside to help find Ella's brother and his friend while battling the elements was a nice little story.

Warren does another great job of weaving storylines into a must read. Between the adventure and the drama this book was my favorite of her series so far.

This series is just getting better and better. I love it! The great outdoors, extreme sports, man versus nature, and a nice dose of romance to round it all out! What’s more, they are such immersive reads. I could feel the spray from the powdered snow, I could feel the bone-numbing cold (if one could be said to ‘feel’ such a thing!) and I could feel the rush of adrenaline that comes from flirting with that fine line between exhilaration and danger.

Gage and Ella first met three years prior to this novel, at Outlaw Resort. Three days together was all it took for their instant rapport to develop into something deeper, and one accident and the ensuing legal case was all it took to leave everything, including Gage’s career, in tatters. That’s some pretty intense emotional conflict to be dealing with while you’re trying to navigate dangerous terrain in the middle of a snowstorm, and Gage doesn’t even know the whole story yet!

I’m a big fan of characters who handle conflict maturely, in spite of their pain. Yeah, there’s the initial anger and resentment, the “I really don’t want to deal with this” reaction, but it doesn’t take long for grace to smooth the edges as they respond to and support one another in their search for Ella’s brother. And in so many ways, the search becomes a powerful metaphor for what it means to trust God, and for the rebuilding of Gage and Ella’s relationship. It’s dangerous country, and Ella has to stay in Gage’s line, to trust his judgement, even when it doesn’t make sense. It makes for some pretty breathtaking moments, for all sorts of reasons!

As with the other books in the series, there’s a second story brewing that will no doubt be continued in a future release. But first, Ian and Sierra’s story. I can’t wait!