Long and Short Reviews

Wild Fires by Lisa Dawn MacDonald
The Wild Rose Press
Contemporary Romance
Full length, Spicy
Review by Camellia

Sam Knight works behind a desk for the Forest Service, but dreams of digging trenches and battling the flames of a raging wildfire. The Montana forest is withering under the relentless summer sun, and reinforcements are needed in the field. Sam finally has the opportunity to put her degree to use and she's determined to do the job. However…

Mitch Carter, the fire boss, doesn't believe the wisp of a woman, who hasn't seen action anywhere but the supply depot, can do the job. Hell, her equipment pack weighs more than she does. He'd give her one chance before sending her back to Missoula. She's more likely to be a distraction. It would be best for him and his teams to have her out of his little house that serves as headquarters for the remote camp of forest firefighters. Shouldn't take more than a couple days.

Mitch knows how to fight fires, but can he control the intense flames of desire Samantha incites before they become out-of-control Wild Fires?

♥ ♥ ♥

Samantha Knight and Mitch Carter strike sparks off each other from the minute she arrived at the firefighters’ camp. After three years of waiting and working behind a desk, Samantha gets her first change to go out in the field and fight forest fires in the mountains of Montana. Though fully qualified, she is not well received by the men.

Mitch, the fire boss, hates that he is attracted to her, but is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Embittered by past experiences with women, he allows the men to harass her, telling himself she has to fight her own battles to be accepted; besides, he doesn't want her there either--at least not to fight fires.

Lisa Dawn MacDonald takes the reader where danger is the norm, where the unpredictable storms and winds set and encourage raging blazes that the firefighters pit their wits and strength against. It is also a place where the male firefighters are determined to make Samantha’s life a torment until she leaves. “Good ole boy” chauvinism flourishes or maybe it’s the male of the species trying to protect the female of the species.

Samantha, realizing she represents change, tolerates the verbal abuse and finally gets to fight a fire. But when she finally admits she is in love with Mitch who continues to allow his men to harass her, she feels defeated.

Ms. MacDonald creates important secondary characters that propel the story along.

Wild Fires takes some unusual and tense twists and turns to finally get the reader to a happy-ever-after -- an exciting story.