Paperback: 235 pages

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (September 30, 2005)

Book Description 

 Disaster brought them together and, despite desire, may ultimately keep them apart.

Wind. Fire. Ice. Love.

Nothing for Gable McCoy and Erin Richards seems to go smoothly. From the tornado that sets its sights on them, to

the perils they face as volunteer firefighters, the forces of nature conspire to bring them close to danger, and closer

 to each other.

Review

After wowing readers with the thriller, HUNTER'S PURSUIT, Kim Baldwin's follow-up is a romance. But it's a romance

 book-ended by scenes with thriller qualities, starting with a twister.

Forty-six year old Gable McCoy is employed at a pharmacy and works as a volunteer firefighter for Plainfield

Township, Michigan. One evening, when her corner of the county is hit with bad weather culminating in tornados touching

down, she sets out to help those in her assigned area. Little does she know that the storm will literally touch her life.

 "In a whirling hail of sticks and stones and leaves, she scrambled down the bank, her hands shielding her face. The wind

tried to blow her off her feet, and the noise of the tornado was deafening, like a jet aircraft parked directly

overhead. Squinting between her fingers, she saw the twister cut out of the woods and onto the highway a quarter

of a mile away. It looked like a mammoth V-shaped plume of black smoke" (p. 15).

Though Gable's life is spared, the house of a nearby resident is destroyed. When Gable gets to the decimated ruins,

she can't believe anyone could still be alive. But Erin Richards did survive and is trapped in the basement

 bathroom. Unfortunately, Gable can't get to her. But they can still talk through the wreckage, and that they do-most

 of the night. Sight unseen, the two women form quite an attachment, and their friendship begins from there.

Baldwin writes great action scenes throughout with just the right balance between plot tension and the character's

 internal thoughts. Her descriptions of the training, fire, and rescue efforts are terrific. The ups and downs of the

 two characters' relationship occur in a natural, yet not entirely predictable, progression. Just like a twister or a forest

 fire, you're never quite sure what direction Gable and Erin will go. Will they play it safe? Or give in to passion?

 Highly recommended to all who enjoy a good romance with rescue/action interspersed.