Ex-Navy SEAL Stone Pressfield has a bad feeling about the proposed church missions trip to Manila, Philippines. The college-age church group plans to go to Manila and help victims of the sex-trafficking industry. Stone's lingering nightmare memories about the sex-trafficking industry have him warning church leaders that the trip is a bad idea. He knows all too well that it could end in violence, and those involved aren't to be trifled with.
When beautiful Wren Morgan goes missing, he has a sick feeling that he knows exactly who took her, and for what purpose. The problem is, Wren isn't just any other student. She's someone he's close to, someone he cares about. Now she's in the hands of cruel, evil men, and Stone is the only one who can rescue her before the unthinkable happens.
5 Crazy My-heart-can’t-take-it, I-need-valium, BUT I-love-it STARS!!!!
I’m a huge Jasinda Wilder fan and by huge, I mean, scary-stalker-girl-crush fan, so when I heard her husband, Jack Wilder, was writing a book, I was like I don’t care if it’s about elephants taking a dump, I’m gonna read it.
I’ve read a few books from male authors like Jo Nesbo, Stieg Larsson and Kurt Vonnegut, and of those are fabulous authors to me. So, when I saw The Missionary’s cover, I thought to myself, oh this is going to be like a Jo Nesbo book, a big mystery with a touch of romance.
OH NO
BIG FAT WRONG
THE MISSIONARY IS NO ORDINARY BOOK
let me explain ....
When I read the blurb and I saw, sex trafficking, I knew I was done for. I had to read it. I didn't care if Jesus walked into my house and told me not to, I would say really Jesus? Yeah right and then proceed to read this book.
The Missionary is like one BIG action movie where you will be gripping the edge of your seat and glued to your pages until you are done. Stone and Wren go on a church mission trip to the Philippines. The church wants to save the girls who are part of the sex-trafficking industry. Stone is EX-Navy SEAL (HELLO!), who understands it takes more than a group of young kids from a church group to do any real damage, but Wren and everyone in the group are, determine to do good. So off they go to help and **GASP** Wren gets kidnapped.
It’s no secret I love kidnapping books. I gobble these up like turkey on Thanksgiving. The darker the better? Yes. The grittier, please. Do I like, oh-my-god, did-that-really-happen kind of books? You can bet I do. I don’t know why I love reading about kidnapping and sex slavery theme books, there is just something so raw about it.
The Missionary isn’t the lightest of reads. There are a few dark scenes, but the book needed them. On top of this, it’s a very descriptive book. I usually cringe against descriptive writing because I’m a dialogue kind of girl, but Wilder paints a beautiful description of the area and I felt like I was there. I felt for Stone and I felt for Wren.
I have to say it! Shout out to my Asian ladies. Wren is Filipino! It’s not every day I read a book where the leading Heroine is Asian and yes, when I read one where she is, it does something to me. It’s just nice to be represented. For all of those who wondering, I’m Vietnamese, so I especially love the Pho reference. Don’t know what that is? Look it up.
Oh Stone, he’s awesome, he’s epic, he’s well, like his name a Stone. Do I love his name? Yes, yes I do. I think Stone is an excellent name for a Hero. Wilder created a badass hero, I could one hundred percent picture ex-military guy busting in to save the day. He’s beefy, manly and really smart.
If shit gets hairy, get out of the way and stay out of the way until I get you.
The Missionary is more than a “save the girl” read. There are many layers and many and many shifts. Just when I think I know where it’s going, something happens and I’m thrown in a different direction. It’s action pack! I could seriously watch this as a movie.
This book does have steam people! Oh lord, thank you for those parts. I had everything I could think of, face-pace writing, with great leading characters and gut-wrenching story-line.
The Missionary will definitely take you on a crazy journey and leave an impression on you. I’m just glad I am happily married, or Mrs. Jasinda would think I’m macking on her man. Because seriously, I’m a Jack Wilder fan. Well, I’m just a Wilder fan period.
An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review
She had to fight it. It was coming, it was going to happen, and soon. She’d rather die than endure that. As he clomped down the creaking wooden steps, Wren realized with a bolt of horrified awareness, that she very literally would rather die than let him—or anyone else—rape her.
He knelt down in front of her, a cruel smile on his lips. “I got prends come to see you. Pretty American girl, not look like no American girl. Dese prends, dey come see. Maybe, dey want try you. Yes? I make a good deal.” He grabbed her upper lip and twisted it so hard she couldn’t stop the yelp of pain and the start of tears. “You keep shut up, I don’t let them try you before buy you. You like dat? No, I don’t tink so.You keep shut your stupid mout, dey look, dey touch, but dey not gonna fuck you.” He said the vile, vulgar word with hissing, spitting vitriol, making the ‘f’ sound almost an ‘p’, but not quite: ppffuck.
With that, he left, smacking her none-too-gently, hard enough to make her ears ring and the cross around her neck swing free and dangle in the darkness.
And that was when Wren Morgan understood, fully, that he wasn’t just an opportunistic animal. He’d hit her, but he hadn’t damaged her. He’d forced drugs on her, but he hadn’t raped her himself, or let anyone else do so. He was saving her, keeping her intact. Keeping a product in prime condition so he could make a maximum profit.
Wren was young and sheltered, and she knew she was naive in some ways, especially when it came to men, but she was far from stupid. She wasn’t a virgin, but the few experiences she’d had only served to emphasize how awful things were going to get.
Unless a miracle happened. Unless someone saved her.
Someone like Stone.
Even in tied up, in pain, drug-fogged and addled, terrified, and alone, Wren felt a shiver go through her at the thought of Stone Pressfield. Huge, hard, mysterious, and difficult, Stone was…everything a girl could want. Six-foot-four, a body Adonis would be jealous of, close-cropped dark blond hair and deep brown, almost black eyes. But he was out of reach. He’d made it clear he wasn’t interested. Not like that, at least. He’d made it clear she wasn’t enough for him.
That didn’t stop her, in the darkness of a dirty, bug-infested, smelly hole in the ground prison cell, from wishing for him, from hoping and praying that he would come for her.
As she fell into an exhausted, frightened doze, Wren let herself imagine Stone bursting through the trap door and carrying her away.
It was small comfort, but it was something.
Jack Wilder—aka Mr. Wilder—is one half of the writing team "The Wilders." You might know his wife, Jasinda Wilder, as the author of bestselling books such as Falling Into You, Falling Into Us, Stripped, and Wounded, among many others. The Missionary is Jack's first solo work, but you can bet it won't be the last. The Wilders live in the suburbs outside of Detroit, Michigan with their five kids, a dog that vaguely resembles a coyote, and a manny.
You'll often find Jack drinking beer and eating Cheez-Its
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Your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, right? That’s what they say, at least. I went into that day hoping I’d get the happiest day of my life. What I got? The worst. I mean, you really can’t get any worse of a day without someone actually dying.
