Wildfire and Roses
Hope Malory
Contemporary Romance
Sparks fly when tenacious mountain climber and hiker Beasley McLemore meets hot smokejumper Will Gregor on a search and rescue mission in Yosemite. Getting together, however, isn’t easy. Strong-willed Beasley is bent on building a thriving landscaping business back home in the foothills of the majestic Smoky Mountains. Busy working 24/7, she has no time or energy for a man in her life…she thinks.
Scorched by love in his past, Will is content to live near awe-inspiring Lake Tahoe where he saves lives and forests as a remote wildland firefighter. He doesn’t need a committed relationship complicating his dangerous lifestyle…he thinks.
Through life-changing events and a family mystery, each must question long held beliefs about work, love, and life. Looming over their blossoming love affair is the 2,400 miles separating their homes and livelihoods. Will love keep them together or distance tear them apart?
Uncaged Review: This is a nice contemporary that will draw a reader in pretty fast with a good lead-in in how Beasley and Will meet – with a little boy missing on a trail and both of them being on the team that volunteers in the search. Will is a firefighter/smokejumper and is not thrilled to have a thin woman on the team, but Beasley proves herself pretty quickly.
This is a good debut novel, and the backstories of the characters, even the secondary characters, are very well developed and interesting – my only wish was there just a bit fewer characters overall to read about. The long distance romance between Will and Beasley plays out and this book covers about a year’s time, so the reader has a lot to cover. But it’s done beautifully and paced well, and for those who like a bit of suspense in their novels, the mystery in Beasley’s family is woven seamlessly into the story. An author to watch in the future. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars
