Title: Fire on the Mountain
Series: The Mountains, Book #1
Author: P.D. Singer
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 22nd, 2013)
Reviewer: Thommie
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: 4 Hearts
Blurb: Take a break from academics, enjoy the Colorado Rockies, fight a fire now and then. That’s all Jake Landon expected when he signed up to be a ranger. He’ll partner with some crusty old mountain man; they’ll patrol the wilderness in a tanker, speak three words a day, and Old Crusty won’t be alluring at all. A national forest is big enough to be Jake’s closet—he’ll spend his free time fishing.
Except Old Crusty turns out to be Kurt Carlson: confident, competent, and experienced. He’s also young, hot, friendly, and considers clothing optional when it’s just two guys in the wilderness. Sharing a small cabin with this walking temptation is stressing Jake’s sanity—is he sending signals, or just being Kurt? And how would Kurt react if he found out his new partner wants to start a fire of a different kind? Jake’s terrified—they have to live together for five months no matter what.
Enough sparks fly between the rangers to set the trees alight, but it takes a raging inferno to make Jake and Kurt admit to the heat between them.
First Electronic Edition published by Torquere Press (2009).
Bonus Short Story: Into the Mountains
Long before he met Jake, Kurt Carlson climbed Yosemite with his best friend, Benji. But after a storm traps them halfway up the face of El Capitan, Kurt has to accept that their friendship isn’t what he thought.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3033
Review: Fire on the Mountain is a lovely story that follows Jake’s attempt at leaving human contact behind and hide on the mountains for the summer. Being in the closet for a long, long time, Jake intends to keep staying there after a near bad experience that cost him a couple of friendships. He figures it’ll be easy for him to hide in the heart of the mountains, but he never counted on having a partner like Kurt.
Sexy and alluring Kurt is driving Jake slowly but steadily out of his mind and with him, me too. It’s crazy how easily I fell under Kurt’s spell. The writing made it all happen in quite the special way. I found myself lost in the wonderful pictures the author painted with her words and the intensifying emotions of Jake’s longing. It was quite funny somehow seeing him going crazy with lust a bit more day after day. The fact that the entire story is narrated from Jake’s POV leaves us no indication of what Kurt must be thinking. We witness little things that might give him away, but Jake’s fear laden brain shuts them all down and the angst that is created by that took a hold on me as a reader, too. When Kurt finally lets that armor down it was the best reward for me. I loved him then even more and they both won me over as a couple. They were perfect for each other.
The power balance of the story plot and emotional plot was fantastic with one fueling the other and the blend was almost magical. In between fighting the fires, trying to survive certain death and fighting with emotions there was a healthy dose of everyday life in there that felt so damn normal. The humor wasn’t lacking either and I do have a soft spot for the underwear scene. I couldn’t stop laughing with poor Jake’s frustration.
So I loved this story, made the whole ranger/firefighter stereotype shine and while I’m not much for them I can’t not admit there was quality here that I’d love to see more. Strongly recommended if you love firefighters, rangers, mountain, and action/romance stories. Totally worth it.
P.S.
The short story included was awesome too. Beautiful description that seems to be this authors trademark and very helpful into loving Kurt even more. I could’ve kill Benji that jerk of a character that had my blood pressure high in a matter of seconds. Pff.