Madison's Library

Playing With Fire – Susan May Warren – Montana Fire #2 – Published 5 July 2016

♥♥♥♥♥

Synopsis

She can’t forget the man she walked away from . . .

Liza Beaumont knew she was playing with fire when she let smoke jumper Conner Young into her life. Just friends, she promised herself, but she couldn’t help but fall for the tall, blond firefighter who needed her. But loving him got her burned, and she’s not about to risk her heart again.

His once chance to get her back . . .

Conner Young knows he blew his one chance with Liza. His personal losses—and his profession—made him wary of offering any promises he couldn’t be sure he’d live to keep. So he let her walk away, but he never forgot the place she’d held in his heart.

A race to find a missing girl . . .

Until Liza is attacked in the mountains by a rogue grizzly. Her panicked phone call alerts Conner to everything he lost—and still wants. Now, with a teenage girl missing in the woods, and a predator on the loose, Conner and Liza must fight against time and the elements to save her. But when the old friendship ignites into fresh sparks, are they setting themselves up to get burned again? And when disaster happens, will their nightmares pull them apart, or will they find the courage to survive?

My thoughts

Once again, Susan May Warren delivers a book that is teeming with action, dangerous moments that leave you anxious for the characters’ survival, and romance that grips your heart (with a few toe-curling kisses thrown in for good measure).

Playing With Fire is the second book in the Montana Fire series, returning to the brave group of men and women smokejumpers who fight fires and save lives. It also colides rather nicely with characters and settings from Warren’s Christiansen Family series and the Deep Haven series. It was wonderful to reconnect with so many familiar and dearly loved faces.

Liza Beaumont, artist and resident of Deep Haven, knows to never to trust men – certainly not with her heart. A friendship with smokejumper Conner Young, showed her how true that was. But when a young girl is lost in the wilderness and Liza faces down a bear while attempting to rescue her, she reaches out to Conner. Is this their chance to reconnect and finally take a chance on love?

Synopsis

When Deputy Sam Brooks commits to something, nothing can sway him–not just on the job as liaison between the Mercy Falls sheriff’s department and PEAK Rescue, but in his private life. He’s the one who stuck around to take care of his mother after his father’s accidental death. And he’s the one–perhaps the only one–who believes Sierra Rose is the perfect girl for him. Safe, practical, and organized, she’s nothing like her hippie, impulsive, bleeding heart sister, Willow.

Willow, however, has been in love with Sam Brooks for as long as she can remember. But she wants her sister to have a happy ending. Besides, Willow has other things to focus on–namely, nabbing the job as youth pastor for her small-town church. Best thing for her to do is to purge Sam from her heart.

Neither can predict the events that will bring them together in a fight for their lives in the forbidding wilderness of Glacier National Park. Stranded, injured, and with the winter weather closing in, Sam and Willow will have to work together to save a crew of terrified teenagers. As they fight to survive, they might just discover a new hope for love.

My thoughts

Rescue Me is literally heart pounding, both the action and the romance. This story was addictive, leaving me wanting more – more of the sizzling romance, more of the touching soul searching and faith affirmation, more of the tense action that just kept building and building and building. Rescue Me has so much going for it, so much packed into one novel. I can’t wait to read book three in this awesome series.

Deputy Sam Brooks knows what it takes to be the reliable one. He has to, especially because his brother continually shirks responsibility for fun and danger. And dating Sierra fits Sam’s ideals of organisation and commitment. Willow, Sierra’s younger sister, knows she is nothing like responsible Sierra. Willow aches for the day she might capture the attention of someone like Sam Brooks, but she feels that no one could ever want some one as irresponsible and impulsive as Willow. It’s why the church is going to overlook her for the role of youth pastor, why she isn’t trusted. But a series of high-risk accidents, starting with a grizzly bear attack, leave Sam and Willow relying on each other to save themselves and the teenagers in their care. Continue reading