Chasing Fire [Paperback]

Rowan Tripp loves being a smoke jumper and fighting fire with her fellow jumpers. But this year things are different. Last season her jump partner died in a fire and his death is not so easy to deal with. And then there's Gull Curry, a rookie smoke jumper, who seems to be seriously interested in Rowan. Normally she doesn't mix work and play but Gull is not that easy to discourage and pretty tempting. When a murder happens and Rowan is in danger, she realizes that maybe leaning on Gull and letting him into her life might be not such a bad idea.
Will Rowan and Gull's relationship make it through the fire season and will they be able to stop the murderer before he kills one of them?

When I get a new book by Nora Roberts I always feel a bit like a kid in a candy store. She is my favourite author and once again created an amazing novel. "Chasing Fire" is about a group of smoke jumpers and after reading the book I think that what they do is amazingly brave and absolutly crazy.

At first I needed some pages to get into the language used between the smoke jumpers because it's a bit different from Nora Robert's usual style. But after the first ten pages I appreciated the way the book is written because I felt that it fit to the smoke jumpers and the constant danger they are in.

I loved reading about the main characters Rowan and Gull. Rowan is strong woman, she is hard but also fair. She is a good trainer and team leader. I loved the scenes in which she trained the new smoke jumpers. The way she supported them and joked with them was admirable.
Gull is a hero after my own heart. He's intelligent, interested in a lot of different things and seems to live his life exactly the way he wants to. Together he and Rowan make a wonderful pair. Their banters were very entertaining and I loved the scenes in which Rowan let him into her heart.
I also liked that there is a second, smaller love story between Rowan's father and a woman he meets. Their relationship is so sweet and shows that you are never too old to find love.

Besides the two main characters I especially loved reading about the camaraderie of the smoke jumpers and about their missions. The smoke jumpers are like a small family, they love to rib each other and there are a lot of funny scenes between them. To read about them fighting the fire was thrilling and made this book a fast read. I was always interested in reading about their operations and I was impressed that with every jump into the flames they risked their lifes.

The suspense part of the book fits to the fire theme. The first murder is like a spark that sets the murderer on fire and makes him unpredictable and dangerous for everyone. I had a suspicion about who the killer might but was never sure about it.

covers
I like both the UK and US cover, they fit to the fire them and look interesting.

final appraisal
"Chasing Fire" has everything a great romantic suspence novel needs. The story is thrilling and fascinating, there are two wonderful love stories in the book, the camaraderie between the smoke jumpers is amazing and their fight against the fire is breathtaking.

I've been a great fan of Nora Roberts for many years and never thought she could write a bad book - until this one. The heroinne is so tough she makes Rambo look like a wimp. I'm all for women being strong, but this one has no softness in her. I can't understand why the hero is attracted to her as she is more butch than him. If you have not read any of Nora's books before, don't start with this.
Sorry Nora, but this is the first,and I hope only, book of yours that isn't worth keeping.

I am still reading this novel (nearly finished) but although a good story and well told, it it just so different from the Roberts style I am used to that I find it hard to believe it was written by Nora - really, REALLY hard to believe. It's well researched, as you would expect from a Roberts; the characters are interesting but there isn't the depth of character development I've come to expect. There are two main male/female pairings but the rest of the cast are pretty much interchangeable. They all act the same; they all talk the same. That's not normal for Nora - her books are usually rich with a variety of likeable people and complex relationships. They may not differ much from book to book but they are what Nora does, and does exceptionally well. The language used is unusual too - more sparse, less descriptive.

Sorry Nora, either this isn't your best work or someone else wrote it.