Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
3.75 Stars
Synopsis:
There's little as thrilling as firefighting-at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are in Rowan's blood: her father is a legend. She's been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home-even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering. Fortunately, this year's rookie crop is one of the strongest ever-and Gulliver Curry's one of the best. He's also a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kids' arcade.
Everything is thrown off balance when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year's tragedy. Rowan knows she can't complicate things with Gull-any distractions in the air or on the ground could mean the end-but if she doesn't find someone she can lean on, she may not make it through the summer. . . .
Review:
For the most part I really enjoyed this story. It sucked me right in from the beginning and the life of a fire jumper was fascinating to read about. Roberts did an excellent job there.
I instantly liked Gulliver Curry. He was charming, friendly and all-around-good-guy. I struggled a bit more with Rowan Tripp. I think she’s been the center of her dad’s universe her whole life, so she tends to be a bit self-centered. She can come across a bit abrasive at times. And though I knew stuff about her, I never fully connected with her character. I related better to Gull or even Ella and Marg. I did, however, enjoy the interactions between the fire jumpers. The ribbing and loyalty amongst the crew was well done. I knew they would give their lives for each other, but go down with one final wise-crack on their lips.
I picked out the killer pretty early on and was correct. Still there were some parts that seemed off to me, after it was all said and done. Some things were a little too convenient or it didn’t jibe well with the character. With that being said, the ending was a bit more exciting than the last two Roberts books I’ve read. So points there.
While I enjoyed most of the story, it had the tendency to get hijacked by the fire jumping. There were times I found myself forgetting that there was anything else going on in it, like murders (which should be a hard thing to forget). The romance was enjoyable, and I loved watching Gull work to win over Rowan. Dobie was one of my favorite parts of the story, great character, always good for a laugh. And there were some emotional moments also, Roberts did well with the gut-wrenching. Overall, good story and I’d recommend it to anyone.
--monica
