Review: Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

Publisher - Piatkus
Publication Date - 5th April 2012
Paperback - 480 pages
Genre - Romantic Suspense

Source - Received for review from publisher

Rating - 4 out of 5: I really liked it

Book Info - Rowan Tripp is addicted to danger.  Ever since she turned eighteen, Rowan has been a 'smoke jumper', fighting back the ferocious forest fires that sweep through the Montana mountains each year.  But now Rowan is mourning the death of her good friend and partner, Jim - haunted by the belief that she could have saved him.

Determined to carry on, Rowan throws herself into training the new recruits to the smoke jumping team - not realising there is a different kind of danger waiting for her.  She has always had a strict rule: never get romantically involved with a workmate.  But the moment she meets Gull Curry that rule is severely tested.  And when it becomes clear that someone blames Rowan for Jim's death, and is determined to get revenge, Rowan realises this is one fight she can't win on her own...

My Thoughts - I haven't read a Nora Roberts book for a long time and, as I am going through a romantic suspense phase, I was very excited to start this book.  And I have to say that I wasn't disappointed at all.  It had everything that a reader would expect from a Nora Roberts novel - heart-warming romance, loveable characters and a gripping storyline.

Rowan is a likeable heroine, although it did take me a while to really fall in love with her due to her rather prickly demeanour.  Luckily our charming hero didn't seem to have the same problem though.  She is great at her job as a smoke jumper - someone who jumps out of a helicopter to battle fierce woodland fires in areas that are difficult to reach.  I loved watching her interact with her friends and colleagues as there was just something so genuine about their dialogue and how they gelled together as a team to get such a tough job done.  However, she has built up a lot of walls around herself since her mother left her as a child and so she can come across as too tough and unreachable at times.  But as Gull breaks down these walls the reader gets to see a softer side to Rowan.

Now as for Gull, I fell in love with him from the start.  He is confident, although not arrogant with it, considerate, intelligent and incredibly fit - what's not to like?  What I liked most about him was how he knew exactly what he wanted (Rowan) and was not afraid to fight for it.  Plus he was so full of witty one-liners and self-deprecating humour that more than once I found myself laughing out loud at something he'd said.

There was a good balance between the romance and suspense, meaning it didn't feel too heavy in either direction.  The descriptions of the fires were so well-written that I could imagine myself standing there right next to the characters - yet feeling very grateful that I wasn't!  My only complaint about the book was that I managed to work out pretty early on who was behind the murders so that meant the storyline lost some of it's pull for me.

Summary - A great romantic suspense novel that has all the ingredients any fan of the genre could wish for.  Can't recommend it enough.