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Firehawks #1
Romantic Suspense - Contemporary Romance
Sourcebooks Casablanca
May 6th 2014
Paperback
352
Library
These daredevil smokejumpers fight more than fires.
The elite fire experts of Mount Hood Aviation fly into places even the CIA can't penetrate.
She lives to fight fires...
Carly Thomas could read burn patterns before she knew the alphabet. A third-generation forest fire specialist who lost both her father and her fiancé to the flames, she's learned to live life like she fights fires: with emotions shut down.
But he's lit an inferno she can't quench...
Former smokejumper Steve "Merks" Mercer can no longer fight fires up close and personal, but he can still use his intimate knowledge of wildland burns as a spotter and drone specialist. Assigned to copilot a Firehawk with Carly, they take to the skies to battle the worst wildfire in decades and discover a terrorist threat hidden deep in the Oregon wilderness—but it's the heat between them that really sizzles.
Pure Heat is book one in the Firehawks series by M.L. Buchman.
I will admit I was lured in by the cover and blurb. Unfortunately; Pure Heat didn’t hit it off with me. First books are usually difficult in a series. Their is a lot the author has to get across to build the world and characters; besides the story and romance.
I started Pure Heat; before the Holidays and it took me forever, into the New Year, to finish this book. My reading time was very limited, but even with that I almost didn’t make it through the book. I think that had I been in my reading grove I probably would have DNF’d or taking a long time like I did to finish. It wasn’t that it was bad, their where things I enjoyed, but I had trouble staying interested and focused.
I will say that I got the impression that the Firehawks series is a spin-off from another series. Reading another review’s review they mentioned that some of the characters from the Night Stalkers series jump over to this one.
Now onto Pure Heat:
Our hero Steve “Merks” Mercer comes off as a jerk on the very first page. Does he change? Yes, but I was turned off at the start with him, but the farther I got into the story and the more I understood him and his past as a fire jumper plus seeing him change his attitude, I ended up liking him.
Carly is a third-generation forest fire specialist. I liked that she was in a male dominated field and that that didn’t stop her from doing her job and standing up to the men. She has earned their respect and is a master at what she does. I will say Carly was just a so so character. I didn’t love or hate her, she was just a character.
As for the secondary characters it was nice to meet them, but no one stood out or wowed me. They where just their. I didn’t fall for any of the characters introduced.
The romance between Carly and Steve has some emotional angst, but it doesn’t drag on and on. The sex is sensual and romantic.
This last thing was interesting, but it did bog down the book; especially at the beginning. The author loads the reader down with a lot of technical details on smoke jumping and forest-fire-fighting. It’s cool to learn, but it got to be a lot of information and slowed the story down for me.
The one thing that I really liked was that Mount Hood Aviation is more then just firefighters fighting fires… Their’s something else going on under the scene. This aspect is fascinating. I also liked when they went out to fight the fires.
Even though I had trouble with Pure Heat I will be giving another book in the series a shot.
Rated: 2.5/3 Stars
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Challenge(s) (2018): Try Something New (Series/Author) | Library Love
I was born and raised in Northern Indiana. I’m an outdoor sun loving reader living near San Fransisco. I’m a mother, wife, dog owner, animal, and book lover. I’m the owner, reviewer, and mind behind Angel’s Guilty Pleasures. My favorite animals are horses & dogs. As for reading I love all things paranormal & urban fantasy. My favorite shifters are dragons!
![Daniel's Christmas: Night Stalkers [Paperback] [2012] (Author) M L Buchman - M. L. Buchman](http://booklikes.com/photo/max/220/330/upload/books/a/7/a7dc57830b749d7693dbc777bb425622.jpg "Daniel's Christmas: Night Stalkers [Paperback] [2012] (Author) M L Buchman - M. L. Buchman")
