Title: Blood on the Mountain
Series: The Mountains #4
Author: P.D. Singer
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel (210 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (December 13th, 2012)
Reviewer: Thommie
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5Hearts
Blurb: Jake Landon thinks a second ranger season in the Colorado Rockies with Kurt Carlson is close enough to heaven, and a national forest is big enough to be his closet. Pharmacy school—and the luxuries of electricity and running water—can wait, maybe forever, as long as Jake doesn’t have to come out. He doesn’t plan on Kurt’s vision of his future being as narrow and direct as the single-track roads through the trees.
“Your future, your fear, and me,” Kurt tells Jake. “You can have two of the three, so choose wisely.” Jake may have no choices left after they stumble on armed men guarding a beautiful but deadly crop that doesn’t belong among the pines and spruces. Angry men with guns are only one danger in the Colorado wilderness, and Jake’s reluctance to come out is now his smallest problem.
Kurt’s skills and Jake’s silver tongue may not be enough to get them out of this mess—how much of the bloodshed on the mountain will be theirs?
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3447&osCsid=djoc0g3b40av1hf9mt80j84sp3
Review: All right, so once again I’ll have to scream it out loud how much I love Kurt. That character makes everything fine for me. And because I love Kurt, so much I spend more than half of the book wanting to slap Jake silly. I mean I knew at some point thing would get better, but till they actually got there, I really envisioned ways of killing that little fictional character myself.
Anyway, so Blood on the Mountains continues with Jake and Kurt returning to their summer job, their little primitive cabin close to their natural refrigerator aka the lake, and with Jake living in his own panic room inside his head. This time the “coming out” talk is a bit more intense because the way he’s been acting is telling Kurt that he’s putting off of returning to college out of fear. Fear of living with Kurt in the big city and being out.
You know, one would’ve thought that after what happened a year ago when they nearly died and during the winter season Jake would have put some things into perspective, but near death experiences need to hunt him more than once to shake him, and even that in the end didn’t. Hence, I wanted to slap him silly.
The first half of the book in essentially a rerun of past events blending with their now familiarity. The memories of the cabin and lake when Jake had been pinning for Kurt merge beautifully with the present, when their relationship is firm and their lovemaking has lost that urgency but turned into a slow burning passion. I loved their love-games and their routine. This couple has always been perfect and it keeps that way.
If you pay real attention, you can see how the plot will unravel from the very start, what with Jake nearly besting Kurt in the range field and the scenery description, but when it came to the highlight of the story, it still gets you in a high-speed. One moment things are simple and boring with our guys going through everyday life and the next all hell breaks loose. Just like in the previous books though it happens with a small even after another and then another and before you know it you’re thinking dear Lord can things get any worse? The answer to that is yes, but it is worth it. The author gives us a very nice action plot with a lot of blood wetting down the mountain floor and an unexpected near-death experience. I loved those scenes immensely and had it not been for Jake’s silliness once again I’d have loved it even more.
However, I suppose it made much more sense for the book to end the way it ended instead of him simply yielding. Still, didn’t make him more lovable to me, even if he did take my beloved Kurt to the ice-cream store.
As for the writing well, if you’re reading this book most probably you have read the other too and know how sufficient and easy-going this author is with her pen. If this is the first book, you’re reading you will encounter a great description of scenery, a slowly building intensity in the plot that will keep you going and wanting for more and a very lovable pair that will probably hook you and make you read all the rest of the books. As it is, Blood on the Mountain can be easily read as a standalone although it’d be best if you read the series in order. My guess is you’ll love them if you like life in the wilderness, forest rangers and quite a bit of action.