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Chasing Fire

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 14,210 ratings · 1,109 reviews

Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. Flying past towering pillars of smoke, parachuting down to the edge of an all-consuming blaze, shoveling and sawing for hours upon hours, days at a time, all to hold the line and push back against the raw power of Mother Nature.

But there's also little else as thrilling - at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumper...more

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Published April 1st 2011 by Piatkus Books (first published 2011)

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Dec 28, 2012 Karla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, adorable-guy, amazing-narrator, awesome-alpha, emotional, exciting, favorites, funny, heartbreaking, intense, overcoming-tragedy, passionate, scrumptious-hero, secondary-romance, sensual, sexy-men, single-dad, sizzling-romance, strong-willed-heroine, terrific-dialogue, tragic-death, witty, wonderful-secondary-characters, smoke-jumpers

5 Blazing Stars! I loved everything about this book…and then some!!

So much to love about this story!! First and foremost…Gulliver Curry! I really enjoyed his character. He wasn’t always front and center in the plot, but he had such a strong presence, that he carried a lot of the book. He handled Rowan with ease, and she was not an easy woman to handle. His determination to be with her was so sexy, he was dominant, but not in a demanding way. He set his sights on her and wormed his way into her l...more

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Sep 02, 2012 ♡KarLynP♡ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-suspense, steam-warm

This was another really good romance suspense done Nora Roberts style. In all of her books she infuses so much about the characters life to paint a vivid picture of how they live and think, a device that can works great but sometimes consumes the story too much. In Chasing Fire the details about smoke jumping were fascinating, relevant, and not over done.

The heroine is the captain of a smoke jumper squad, a tough lady who takes her job of protecting her crew seriously. When a tragedy occurs, it...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Vinaya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hmm-that-was-interesting, romantic-suspense, books-i-loved, comparative-5-stars

WARNING: This review may prove to be dangerously combustible!

Photobucket

Protection of Endangered Species: Fireman in the Wild

So after a long dry spell, (heh heh) Nora Roberts is ON FIRE!!! (I'm SO punny!) Okay, I'll stop now.

I've mentioned this before, and I'll say it again, Nora Roberts' characters have the BEST careers ever. Whether she's writing about a pastry chef, or a journalist or wildfire fighter, you always feel like you're standing right there with them, seeing how they go about their lives, and...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vocation-man-in-uniform-or-w-badge, genre-romance-suspense, m-library-sj-audio-oda, challenge-chunkster, amazing-secondary-characters, reviewed-by-me, take-flight, well-narrated, vocation-firefighter, setting-usa-montana, genre-mystery-subplot, authors-n, authors-r, zz-fall-colors

Smoke Jumper Pictures, Images and Photos

★★★★½ (Review of audiobook.) It is one thing to fight a forest fire and another thing all together to parachute into one; however, that is exactly what the Missoula Smoke Jumpers do. Nora Roberts has decided to write a story that follows several storylines of these select heroes and manages a murder mystery to boot. Rebecca Lowman does an excellent job of narrating this one, keeping the voice inflections varied enough for me to differentiate the multiple characters.

fireman wallpaper Pictures, Images and Photos

I enjoyed Rowan Tripp and G...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Mollie *scoutrmom* rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of contemporary romance

Shelves: romance, read-in-2011, read-in-2012

This is another winner for Nora Roberts. I liked the plot well enough, loved the subplot, and loved the characters.

It was fun watching the heroine having to deal with her own feelings on her dad's falling in love.

I didn't give it the highest rating because the suspense parts of the plot were a bit too obvious, to the point where I'd guessed the true villian and the motive in chapter three and was able to predict who would be the next victim of his machinations. (view spoiler)...more This is another winner for Nora Roberts. I liked the plot well enough, loved the subplot, and loved the characters.

It was fun watching the heroine having to deal with her own feelings on her dad's falling in love.

I didn't give it the highest rating because the suspense parts of the plot were a bit too obvious, to the point where I'd guessed the true villian and the motive in chapter three and was able to predict who would be the next victim of his machinations. (view spoiler)

I very much enjoyed the setting: a bunch of smoke jumpers from the legendary Missoula base and their daily lives, the teasing, the constant physical training, the tedium between calls, helped the novel come alive for me. I also liked the descriptions of the pristine wilderness saved by these wildfire fighters, and those of the desolation left behind by a wilderness fire. These helped me understand the characters and their motivations better.

The heroine, Rowan is an amazon, and for the first half of the book I couldn't identify with her because she seemed a bit too perfect. As I got to know her insecurities better, that feeling faded. I was able to admire her and to root for her without feeling intimidated by her, which some might. She deserves everything with which she ends up.

We'd all give anything to find a guy like Gulliver. (What kind of a mother names her son Gulliver anyway? Turns out it was one in the entertainment business.) Gull's a regular kind of nice guy who turns out to have a lot of money but you'd never guess from his behavior. He's sensitive, funny, educated, and has a vocabulary of some "ten dollar words" and literary allusions which his sidekick gets to tease him about. (I hope the sidekick gets a book of his own; I liked Dobie a lot.) Gull is smart enough to admire Rowan's strengths, and to form a separate relationship with her father, to go behind her back to protect her without mashing her self-esteem doing it. He deserves Rowan.

The suspense plot is a backdrop the book could have been just as good without. I did like it well enough, I guess, but it wasn't as strong as those in some of Roberts' earlier work, like that in Blue Smoke. When a master paints something that is merely excellent, we get disappointed. Our fault, not hers.

Worth owning and re-reading in my humble opinion.(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Rosina Lippi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed-here

Edited to add: I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, and I should have said this: what a great narrator. Good differentiation of one character from another, and no straining to sound male -- she just pulls it off.

I've read a lot of Nora Roberts' novels -- with the exception of the fantasy and paranormal titles, which just are not my proverbial cup of tea. A lot of her books blend together for me, which means that they were less than compelling or memorable. Not bad, mind you. Just n...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Norma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, read-2011, romantic-suspense

I have to say I loved this one. I wouldn't recommend the audio, but when I switched over to paper, I flew through it. This is Nora Roberts romanctic suspense of old. As is habit with NR, there was a little too much detail and a little too much time spent on fighting fires, jumping out of planes, organizing equipment--time that could have been cut out or spent on the story. But anyone who's read an NR book expects that I suppose.

I loved the lead characters. Rowan Tripp is smart, tough, witty and...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, z-2011, contemporary-romance

One of the better Nora Roberts books I've read. (Which isn't Nora's fault, I'm just not a huge fan of romantic suspense).

Very interesting setting and characters, which reminded me a bit of The Smoke Jumper, which I have very fond memories of. Smoke Jumping just is very interesting, because, well it's firefighting in the wilderness, it's absolutely crazy and brave and scary, and it goes beyond anything I've experienced, because, well Belgium doesn't have any forests. At all. We have parks.

All the...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Cris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Still a bit on the fence about this book. The hero is legend (I found Simon, the hero in NR's previous offering, The Search, to be a bit of a wanker): he's a bit alpha but not overbearing, he's sweet & romantic and not ashamed to admit it, he's funny & witty, and he knows what he wants; the heroine is strong & confident & kicks major arse (albeit she has some mummy abandonment issues); and the dialogue between them is excellent and really cracked me up. The supporting characters...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Ren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-paperback, giveaway-blogger, 4-stars, family-theme, own-and-read, ass-kick-heroine, author-autobuy, book-in-english-challenge-2013, dangerous-heroes-2013, its-just-vanilla, perfect-hero, read-2013, tower-team-b-reading-challenge, thriller-suspense

Chasing Fire might be not the best of Nora Roberts, but I still enjoy it. I love how Nora writing her heroines. All are though and in this one, the heroine's job as smoke jumper is unique. I never hear about smoke jumper before and assume they are just a usual firefighter. So, of course I need to check into Google (the answer for almost all of our questions) and know that they're used to fight the fire on the forest or mountain or remote area. Heh, I don't know the right term for this, lol!.

Rowa...more Chasing Fire might be not the best of Nora Roberts, but I still enjoy it. I love how Nora writing her heroines. All are though and in this one, the heroine's job as smoke jumper is unique. I never hear about smoke jumper before and assume they are just a usual firefighter. So, of course I need to check into Google (the answer for almost all of our questions) and know that they're used to fight the fire on the forest or mountain or remote area. Heh, I don't know the right term for this, lol!.

Rowan Tripp is one of Missoula's smoke jumper and in the last season as a smoke jumper, her partner Jim Braynes killed when they're on mission. His death still haunt her dreams, but with the new season and new rookies, Rowan must get ready. She meet Gulliver Curry, one of the rookies, a sexy and overconfident Irishmen (is it new with Roberts's books? Nope) with feet as fast as his charming smile. They begin flirt to each other, despite Rowan's rules to not date her co-worker. Then, some nasty events happen. Rowan's childhood nemesis, Dolly accuse her for let Jim died. She is doing vandalism for her and the rest of the Zulies (Rowan's smoke jumper unit). One day, Rowan found Dolly burnt to dead. While she's most likely to be a suspect, Rowan realize that someone is targeting her and want her dead. Is it because of Jim's death or more than that? Rowan must be careful since maybe this time she will go into the flames. But not comeback to live and burn for forever.

Chasing Fire is full of Nora Roberts's cliche. A heroine with unusual job? Yep. A sexy Irish hero? Of course! A suspense? Most likely. And shower sex scenes? Yum! What I like from Chasing Fire is her writing style still as good as before. But then, I just read some of her books despite I devour all of J.D.Robb books. Her writing is vivid, beautiful (especially when she describe the fire in the forest) and easy to read. She is still maintain to put family themes in all her novels, include this one. We can see how close Rowan and her dad. And not just a family theme, but friendship as well. We can see from how solid Zulies team can be and how their time together can be funny and also heart-warming.

As for the characters, I just find the development of Rowan and Gull's characterization is interesting in the first but become a little dull near the end. But I like how they are become close, even no "love" words yet, their relationship seems natural. Rowan is though even have some bad temper and sometimes can be childish. Especially when she know her dad have date, maybe because in the past she have mummy issues. Rowan also confident with her sexuality and usually act as a man since she live in men world. But that don't mean she lost her feminine charm.

Gulliver aka Gull, most like another perfect hero that Nora created/ Almost perfect but I still love reading about him. Since he fallin in love with Rowan first and never shy to show his interest to her. Even I see him as beta hero, he's alpha to the core and definitely enjoy his job as a smoke jumper.

I don't know why many reviewers said they already know the culprit from the beginning. I just know it when I hit the middle of the book. I see the suspense is not good as her Robb's book. There's a secondary plot from Rowan's dad, Lucas Tripp with his ladylove Ella. I like how Nora write about 50-60 age's love life. LOL, I know for some people it's will gross when see characters with same age as their parents have sex. But, ehm, love know no boundaries and in this one, no age limit.

I would love to recommend this to any Roberts's fans and readers who like their heroine as though as nails and have unusual job. Also with suspense, family drama, friendship and well... if you have things for firefighter, maybe you'll like this one.

Note : Thanks for Riverina Romantics that give me this book from their giveaway!(less)

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Jan 28, 2013 KarenF rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, kindle, romance, rom-suspense

I'm a fan of Nora Roberts for many reasons and one is that I've yet to read a book by her where I didn't enjoy my time spent with her characters. She's got a way of writing friendship and camaraderie that just makes me enjoy hanging out with them as much as they enjoy hanging out with each other. I could just imagine hanging out having a beer with Cards, Dobie, Libby & the rest of the crew.

I liked Rowen & Gull as well but my one criticism would be that Gull is a little too perfect. He's...more

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May 25, 2011 Renee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, read-in-2011

3.5

It's apparent that Chasing Fire was excellently researched, and the fire jumper aspect was really interesting. I also really liked Rowan and Gull, as well as all of the secondary characters. However, I did have a couple of minor issues that prevented me from rating it higher.

I listened to the digital audiobook, and between parts 9-12 (out of 13 parts) the book started feeling really long. Rowan and Gull's relationship seemed to be in a holding pattern while they continued to work on the fire...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Sarah Maddaford rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, realistic-fiction, mystery, modern, audio, belton, natural-disaster

I went into this book pretty skeptical. I'm not a fan of the romance genre in the first place because there usually isn't enough action to keep my attention. I chose this book on purpose because the romance had an interesting backdrop of a dangerous profession about which I didn't know much. The scenes fighting the fires were exciting. You could feel the adrenaline pumping and the sense of danger throughout the fight. At the end of each fight, the exhaustion and triumph were also palpable.
And t...more I went into this book pretty skeptical. I'm not a fan of the romance genre in the first place because there usually isn't enough action to keep my attention. I chose this book on purpose because the romance had an interesting backdrop of a dangerous profession about which I didn't know much. The scenes fighting the fires were exciting. You could feel the adrenaline pumping and the sense of danger throughout the fight. At the end of each fight, the exhaustion and triumph were also palpable.
And the romance wasn't corny at all. It was well developed. Rowan didn't fight her attraction to Gull unnecessarily for countless pages. She tried to ignore it for a little while, but allowed him to convince her after some fairly decent logic. That and he's hot, smart, and good at his job.
The mystery could have been a bit more well developed. I was starting to suspect who it was long before the characters even got close. The reveal didn't even occur until the last or second to last chapter. Not enough time to wrap things up for me (I wanted another shower scene or something I guess). It just all wrapped up too quickly for me especially with the length of the build up.
Lot's of cursing including liberal and frequent usage of the f-word. Didn't bother me, but would definitely bother people not used to hearing it (switching from YA to adult it was a slight shock at first). There are several sex scenes all of which are between unmarried couples. The couples (at least the ones with on-screen sexy times) are destined for committed relationships. There are discussions of affairs, multiple partners, crude remarks about both men and women as well as mentions of inappropriate gestures. The actual sex scenes could have been more descriptive, but since I was listening to this in my car I was rather glad they weren't (would have been embarrassing to be pulled over or something during anything steamier). I did wonder what (other than probably some form of monthly/daily pill birth control) Rowan was relying on to avoid getting pregnant since they never talked about condoms. Guess condoms aren't sexy or romantic. As for violence, there are two murders (one is an accident maybe), arson on a grand scale, injuries from parachuting accidents, injuries from extreme fire fighting, a bar fight that is pretty epic and shots fired at people. Nothing is described in terribly gory detail, but it is described enough to have emotional impact.

SPOILERS BEYOND

I know that Yangtree's (audio edition so no idea about spelling) accident was tragic and supposed to strike a cord, but other than feeling for Rowan, Gull and the others, I wasn't really affected by it. I guess I didn't get attached to him the way I was to Dobbie, Libby, Janice and Cards. Had it been one of them I would have been sobbing. Was it bad writing, a bad choice of character for a pivotal event or just me missing the impact of the scene? I'm not sure, but it just didn't hit me.
I didn't like the ending. I'm going to contradict my opinion in my review of Graceling, but I just didn't want them to jump to marriage even though I was glad that Rowan did it rather than Gull. They've only known each other a couple of months. They haven't completed the season and found out whether they like each other during off-season yet, and this season was even more dramatic and traumatic than normal.(less)

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Apr 30, 2011 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an amazing book!! A strong and independent couple, interesting supporting characters, a fun side romance, witty dialogue, and riveting suspense!! I kept changing my mind on the villain's identity(yes, one of my first guesses was correct!!) This had some really great dialogue. I really enjoyed Gull's vocabulary!! Rowan came across perfectly! Sometimes authors get carried away with childhood angst and abandonment issues, that didn't happen here. We were able to infer it, but it wasn't ham...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Jane Litte rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm torn about this book. It has a lot of great dialogue, particularly between the hero and heroine. I loved the heroine. She was an awesome, competent smoke eater respected by her peers. She was also totally comfortable in her own sexuality.

I thought how the romance played out - two people enjoying the physical release and then becoming two people enjoyed spending time together outside the physical release, without a lot of emotional hangups - was a relief.

However! I thought the detail was excr...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From Publishers Weekly

...more

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This searing stand-alone from bestseller Roberts (The Search) celebrates the smoke jumpers of Missoula, Mont., who routinely risk life and limb to beat down raging forest fires. As close knit as any military combat unit, the "Zulies" include veteran Rowan Tripp, haunted by the loss of Jim Brayner, her onetime jump partner who was killed the previous season in a fall, and rookie Gulliver Curry, who soon earns the nickname "Fast Feet" for his speed and prowess. Threatening trouble is cook Dolly Brakeman, Jim's girlfriend, who blames Rowan for his death—and whose new baby may well be Jim's. Rowan and Gull grow closer as the team battles fires from Montana and Idaho to California and Alaska. Meanwhile, the Zulies are plagued by vandalism and sabotage as well as a killer with arson among his crimes. Roberts fans can expect another bestseller. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Product Description

The number-one New York Times-bestselling author delves into the world of elite firefighters who thrive on danger and adrenaline-men and women who wouldn't know how to live life if it wasn't on the edge.

There's little as thrilling as firefighting-at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are in Rowan's blood: her father is a legend. She's been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home-even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering.

Fortunately, this year's rookie crop is one of the strongest ever-and Gulliver Curry's one of the best. He's also a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kids' arcade.

Everything is thrown off balance when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year's tragedy. Rowan knows she can't complicate things with Gull-any distractions in the air or on the ground could mean the end-but if she doesn't find someone she can lean on, she may not make it through the summer. . . .

(less)

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Dec 30, 2012 Esther Shaindel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Full review on Reader's Dialogue: http://readersdialogue.blogspot.com/2...

What struck me most about this book is the amount of research that must have gone into getting every detail of fighting fires exactly right! Each fire that they battle is described in its own way, each time they have to choose different strategies based on the nature of each fire, and it amazed me how many variations there are in it, that it's not just going in there and spraying water on the fire. And that Nora Roberts wa...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Beverly Diehl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book brought back home to me why I generally don't like murder mysteries. Either they play by the rules and introduce us to the murderer in the first few chapters, then try to convince us that s/he was too nice/helpful/religious/clean-and-neat to be the murderer, OR it's a total stranger or aliens from the planet of WTF. I knew in this book who the murderer was pretty much from the get-go. And as people are getting picked off one at a time, pretty soon you've only got a couple people it cou...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fire has the power to destroy, consume everything in it's path, and yet it is beautiful and entrancing in it's destruction.

Rowan Tripp is the daughter of Lucas "Iron Man" Tripp, a famous smoke jumper out of Missoula, Montana; he was the elite of the elite. Ro followed in his footsteps to become one of the few women who has what it takes to physically and psychologically fight raging forest fires - and she excels at it. She has single-minded focus when in the heat of the fire, revels in the adop...more Fire has the power to destroy, consume everything in it's path, and yet it is beautiful and entrancing in it's destruction.

Rowan Tripp is the daughter of Lucas "Iron Man" Tripp, a famous smoke jumper out of Missoula, Montana; he was the elite of the elite. Ro followed in his footsteps to become one of the few women who has what it takes to physically and psychologically fight raging forest fires - and she excels at it. She has single-minded focus when in the heat of the fire, revels in the adopted family of other jumpers who live and risk their lives together every summer, and her only rule is to not sleep with other jumpers. But, Gull Curry - the new star rookie - fascinates her with his fearless dedication to the job, love of the wilderness they protect, and inner romantic. However, when it is determined that fires are being started to cover murders, Ro quickly realizes that someone is fighting everything she loves.

Nora Robert's last romantic suspense novel, The Search left me a little cold when it came to the relationship, but Chasing Fire definitely burned off the chill! I really enjoyed the banter-based relationship of Ro and Gull and, while the romance aspect is always rushed (who wants to read a book about a couple's 5 year relationship?! Not me) it felt more natural than some of hers do. As a daddy's girl, I also greatly enjoyed the close relationship between Ro and her father, and the close friendships between the jumpers was also fun to read about but I would have liked a little more depth between some of them.

Holding me back from a higher rating is that I immediately knew who the killer was. NR attempted to throw the reader off on several points but, to me, the guilty party was blindingly obvious. I don't read NR for the complex murder mystery aspect - I usually pick up on the clues before the killer is revealed - but in this one I guessed about 50 pages in! It was just a little too obvious. However, it didn't keep me from eagerly reading the book cover-to-cover or anxiously follow the characters as they evaded violence.

Nora Roberts is never a brain-buster or a literary prize winner, but I consistently devour her books and she is creative enough to make each of them unique despite the underlying romance blueprint. I was kind of in a reading slump so hopefully this will get me back into the swing of things!(less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Sahara Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know that every now and again it becomes "fashionable" to knock Nora Roberts' books. To say they're formulaic, routine or repetitive. And yes, occasionally those complaints hold some merit. BUT - there is no getting around the fact that this lady works magic with words and characters. Are the plots predictable? Probably. Do I care? No. I don't care because Ms. Roberts writes characters that consistently come alive for me, leaping brightly from her pages with humor, reality and the desire to ta...more I know that every now and again it becomes "fashionable" to knock Nora Roberts' books. To say they're formulaic, routine or repetitive. And yes, occasionally those complaints hold some merit. BUT - there is no getting around the fact that this lady works magic with words and characters. Are the plots predictable? Probably. Do I care? No. I don't care because Ms. Roberts writes characters that consistently come alive for me, leaping brightly from her pages with humor, reality and the desire to take up residence in my brain. Which they inevitably do. This story, Chasing Fire, is a classic example. Spunky heroine, handsome hero, threat hovering over them, all covered by the umbrella of this novel's backdrop - wildfires and the folks who fight them. As far as I can tell, Nora's research is spot on, although I've never been anywhere near a fire myself. After reading this book, I feel I have. And I fought one alongside Gull and Rowan, getting dirty and exhausted while watching them fall headlong in love with each other.

Like the song says, nobody does it better. This book whisked me off from my everyday routine and into the world of smoke jumping, physical fitness extraordinaire and people who go the extra mile for each other. It brought me into a place where passion burned every bit as hotly as the fires and where the frightening events unrolled naturally around Rowan, building a tense and taut plot which could only be resolved by a passage through fire!!

Seriously, my literary friends. Say what you will, but those of us who attempt to pen our own books can only stand and applaud this incredible lady. Her volume of work stands as testament to her ability to spin a tale. I'm hooked; I have "Witness" ready to roll, and look forward to more of the Boonsboro series. Yeah, I'm a fan. But Nora's no one-trick pony seventies pop group. She's a long-standing, respected creator of literary magic. She's an example for us all and her talent shines brightly. Long may she continue to entertain readers like me.(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Jennie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, mystery, romance

All in all, I'd give it 2.5 stars. I liked it better than okay, but not enough to merit 3. The thing that bothered me most was the sentence structure. It was terrible. "Gibbons came to stand behind her, gulped coffee." Let me just say that a comma is NOT a substitute for a conjunction, subject and predicate. I could accept if she used this sentence style sometimes, as a change up in dialogue, but they just permeated the narrative. It felt like Roberts wrote the book in a hurry but never came bac...more All in all, I'd give it 2.5 stars. I liked it better than okay, but not enough to merit 3. The thing that bothered me most was the sentence structure. It was terrible. "Gibbons came to stand behind her, gulped coffee." Let me just say that a comma is NOT a substitute for a conjunction, subject and predicate. I could accept if she used this sentence style sometimes, as a change up in dialogue, but they just permeated the narrative. It felt like Roberts wrote the book in a hurry but never came back to flesh out the sentences, and it detracted from the story. I had to read and reread sentences to find the subject or the verb, and more often than not, there wasn't one.

The second thing that bothered me was the deplorable predictability. Not even 200 pages in, with almost 250 left to go, and I already knew whodunit. I hate to sound like a know-it-all, but it was really just too obvious, and the lack of suspense made the rest of the read that much more tedious.

The third and final point on my rant list is the love interest. A Mr. Gulliver Curry. Gull is everything a woman could ever fantasize over, and then some. He's witty, funny, brainy, seductive, ridiculously attractive, good in bed, thoughtful, and caring. Oh and let's not forget rich, the voice of reason, incredibly fast, insightful, protective, and a real live romantic. He's got Tony Stark's car, a great bod, and a penchant for big words and Shakespeare references. I wouldn't have been surprised if he started to sparkle and called himself Edward Cullen. Don't get me wrong, I love a fantasy guy as much as the next person, but come on. She didn't even try to make him realistic; the guy's flawless.

Despite my hateful ranting, there were bits that I liked. There were quite a few witty parts that had me chuckling to myself. And Gull may be too perfect, but that doesn't stop giving a girl flowers in a bottle from being adorable. Rowan is a great character, a take-charge, kick-butt woman with zero tolerance for nonsense; I love her spark, no pun intended. (Okay, maybe a little bit intended.) The supporting characters were lovable and engaging. Most of all, I liked the fire jumping. It's exciting, intense, and not something I've read about before, so I found it really interesting.

But that's as far as the praise goes, so we're left with 2.5 stars. Good enough to take up some time, but don't expect fireworks.(less)

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Mar 30, 2012 Megan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One and a half stars. But I give one star if I can simply manage to finish the entire book. I did here, but barely. This was the first Nora Roberts book I've read, and I'm not sure if I'll read anymore if other people are saying this is one of her better books. A girlfriend recommended it to me - and as much as I love her, she can now buy me lunch for the two weeks of my life I will never get back. I'm probably being too hard on Roberts - it was a fine book. It was just difficult to stay interes...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Rowena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-review

It took me a while to read this book. It started off pretty great but as the book wore on, I found myself wanting to move on to the next book already. That bummed me out because I love Nora Roberts. She always has the ability to make any occupation under the sun seem so hot dang interesting. I've never thought about fire jumpers but holy goodness, are they intense or what? I couldn't imagine myself jumping out of planes into the thick of roaring fires to try to contain them. I couldn't imagine h...more It took me a while to read this book. It started off pretty great but as the book wore on, I found myself wanting to move on to the next book already. That bummed me out because I love Nora Roberts. She always has the ability to make any occupation under the sun seem so hot dang interesting. I've never thought about fire jumpers but holy goodness, are they intense or what? I couldn't imagine myself jumping out of planes into the thick of roaring fires to try to contain them. I couldn't imagine having a loved one be part of this occupation either, those long nights when they're out on a fire and waiting to hear back from them to make sure they're alright.

This book tells the story of how Rowan Tripp and Gulliver Curry fell in love. Rowan is a seasoned fire jumper and Gulliver is a rookie fire jumper. Gulliver likes what he sees whenever Rowan is around and his flirty attitude and general hotness is totally wearing Ro down. There's a crazy person out to get the fire jumpers and all fingers seem to be pointed at Dolly, the ex-girlfriend of a fire jumper that died a year or so ago. She blames the fire jumper crew, especially Ro (who was Jimmy's partner) and she's done a bang up job of telling them (Ro) exactly how she feels about them (her).

Nora Roberts writes a lot of fantabulous books and while I did start off enjoying the heck out of this book, overall this story dragged for me. There's a lot of unnecessary information going on in this book. Lots of things going on as well and while it usually works for me, the secondary romance between Ro's father and one of his customers didn't really get me excited to continue reading the story.

The romance between Ro and Gully showed such promise in the beginning but teetered off somewhere in the middle. Ro's trust issues and all the craziness that comes with all of the drama at work (Dolly destroying Ro's room, the destruction of the room, etc...) should have made this book more interesting but for some reason, it just wasn't. The book isn't bad, it's just not in your face exciting either. The characters, the story, the setting, it's all painted with such pretty words but that's about it. The book has great imagery when it comes to the actual fires and what goes down at the fire house but other than that, things were just okay.

I enjoyed getting to know everyone in the story but I can't honestly say that these characters will stay with me the way that other books by Nora Roberts has.(less)

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Jan 18, 2012 KatiD rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a-review-ish

Nora Roberts used to be my very favorite romance author. She's still an autobuy for me, but has dropped from my top 3 favorites. This is, in part, because the sheer volume of books that she publishes means that there is a level of repetitiveness and predictability to her books. Oh, it definitely does not make them less entertaining, but I find that these days I can ID the bad guy in her romantic suspense books almost immediately.

Chasing Fire, her April release, is just such a book - predictable...more Nora Roberts used to be my very favorite romance author. She's still an autobuy for me, but has dropped from my top 3 favorites. This is, in part, because the sheer volume of books that she publishes means that there is a level of repetitiveness and predictability to her books. Oh, it definitely does not make them less entertaining, but I find that these days I can ID the bad guy in her romantic suspense books almost immediately.

Chasing Fire, her April release, is just such a book - predictable, yet very entertaining. Rowan Tripp is a second generation Zulie. A smokejumper. She's part of an elite team of fire fighters that parachute into the wildfires that menace western states during the summertime. Her team digs trenches, cuts down trees and does everything possible to kill a fire that is raging out of control. Rowan is very, very good at her job. She would be, she's the daughter of Iron Man Tripp, a Zulie legend. Rowan, or Swede, as her team calls her because of her statuesque figure and short cap of blond hair, is tough as nails, independent, and slightly haunted by the death of her jump partner, Jim last season.

At the beginning of the season, Rowan meets Gulliver Curry, a rookie. He's also an experienced fire fighter, but hadn't jumped out of airplanes before. He's quick on his feet, well read, smart, and has an immediate attraction to Ro. Rowan is having none of it. She doesn't get involved with team members, particularly not rookies, who may wash out. But as Ro and Gull work together, she develops a grudging respect for him, and really loves that he can make her laugh. Gull is not to be dissuaded by Ro's "no dating policy" and woos her with a picnic, thoughtful gestures, and being good in a fire or under pressure.

While Ro and Gulliver are falling for each other, a former flame of Ro's dead jump partner, Jim has shown up, baby in tow. She's furious with Rowan for "allowing" Jim to die (even though his death was an accident) and leave her baby fatherless. Dolly was fired the season before after Jim's death because she threatened Rowan with a knife. But she's been hired back now and is still furious with Rowan. She wants vengeance and will stop at nothing to get it. One night she's found vandalizing Rowan's room and is promptly fired again. Rowan, who was enraged at Dolly's invasion into her space and the destruction of her belongings, threatens Dolly and has to be restrained from physically hurting her. So when Dolly turns up dead - burned to death- Rowan is considered a suspect. But as things spiral out of control, others die, equipment used by the Zulies is damaged, and lives are on the line. Will the police who are investigating the crimes be able to find the perpetrator before someone close to Rowan or Ro herself dies?

I've said it before, Nora Roberts is a master at creating a sense of place. And nowhere is this ability on display more than the firefighting scenes in this book. One can practically smell the smoke, and sense the exhilaration as the fire fighters kill the fires. Nora also gives good hero. And Gulliver Curry is a charmer. He's affable when possible, but not afraid to kick a little ass when he needs to. He respects the hell out of Rowan and is captivated by her abilities. He's a definite keeper. Rowan is also really likable. She's strong, independent and smart enough to know when she needs help. She also is an asskicker, but never loses her femininity, even amongst a bunch of men.

The other thing I consistently appreciate about Nora's books is the fact that the main couple isn't always the only course. And this is the case in this book too, there's a lovely and compelling secondary romance between Rowan's father and a high school principal.

Overall, the story is entertaining and very smoothly written. Since I don't read Nora books for the suspense, the fact that it was predictable didn't really bother me. But this is definitely not the book for hard core romantic suspense readers. But if you're looking for a terrific beach reach, this one fits the bill perfectly.

Final grade: B(less)

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Aug 30, 2011 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, romance

The Story
The primary story is of forestry firefighters who jump into the midst of a forest fire to turn it back on itself. The drive, the passion, the life they lead as the men and women wait for the next fire to break out. The strategy of fighting the fire, predicting where she'll turn and advance, planning how to use your people to best effect whether it's in the firefight itself or simply prepping for the next one. This particular group is based in Missoula, Montana—the Zulies.

The jab in the...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Jodi Hufendick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another excellent Nora Roberts. I love her stories, her characters, her settings and multi-layered plots. Yes, they are romance novels, but they are well-written, highly researched romance novels. Her characters just get better year after year. This is no exception. This time she not only writes about a young hard headed woman bent on NOT falling in love, but her widower father who definitely falls in love. Two love stories with a complicated plot about fire jumpers. I did not even know there wa...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Starling rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, romance

I just finished this book. Nora Roberts is no longer simply a romance writer. I almost didn't check the romance shelf when I was tagging the book. Her books always had a lot of good stuff about whatever place and time she put her characters into. Lots of detail. And I've always liked that because it made me feel like I was there where the action was happening.

This time the characters are fire jumpers. They jump into wildfires in remote locations where regular firefighters can't get. The main fem...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well! At last! Nora Roberts is back to her old form with the best book she's written for years! And, I must say, one of the best books, period, that I've read for a while. I was getting so downhearted as she seemed to be lapsing into 'romancewriter laziness', seemingly resting on her laurels, and I was tempted to not even bother to read this one. Boy, am I glad I did!

This is a terrific yarn, with lots of genuine sounding action as our heroes and heroines 'jump fire', travelling all over the US...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Maurisa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Why do I keep reading Nora Roberts? Her characters have become stilted, predictable, and none too personable.

Chasing Fire is about a female fire jumper, a murder mystery, and a romance with a rookie fire jumper. You'll figure out the murderer quickly so don't read it from a murder mystery standpoint.

This book missed the mark. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but I would think that a female fire jumper is a bit of a rarity. You wouldn't know it to read the book. Struggles related to fire fighting are ther...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Siobhan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yet again, Nora Roberts had me glued! This is the latest in her "suspense / romance" genre. All I can say is thank goodness for rain! The weather gave me a perfect excuse to invest extra hours in reading this. That and a 2am lights out.

I've mentioned before that there is real method in these books, girl, guy, job, situation and then the risk/suspense element. This is no different however the author again makes you appreciate another way of life for the Zulies, the wild fire fighters that arrive...more

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About Nora Roberts

aka
J.D. Robb
Sarah Hardesty

Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of the five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sopho...more aka
J.D. Robb
Sarah Hardesty

Eleanor Marie Robertson was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. She was the youngest of the five children, also the only girl, of a marriage with Irish ancestors. Her family were avid readers, so books were always important in her life. She attended a Catholic school and credits the nuns with instilling in her a sense of discipline. During her sophomore year in high school, she transferred to a local public school, where she met Ronald Aufdem-Brinke, her future first husband.

In Augusy 17, 1968, as soon as she had graduated from High School, Eleanor married, against her parents' wishes. The marriage settled in Keedysville, Maryland. Her husband worked at his father's sheet-metal business before joining her parents in their lighting company. While, she worked briefly as a legal secretary. "I could type fast but couldn't spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever," she says now. After their sons, Dan and Jason, were born she stayed home. Calling this her "Earth Mother" years, she spent much of her time doing crafts, including ceramics and sewing her children's clothes. The marriage ended separating, and they obtained the divorce in January 1985.

In February 1979, a blizzard in forced her hand to try another creative outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate. During the now famous blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981 as Nora Roberts, a shortened form of her birth name Eleanor Marie Robertson, because she assumed that all authors had pen names.

Eleanor wrote under the pseudonym Jill March a story for a magazine titled "Melodies of Love".

Eleanor met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Her husband owns and operates a bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland called "Turn the Page Books". Since that time, they've expanded their home, traveled the world.

In 1992, she decided adopted other pseudonym so to publish a futuristic-suspense novels, she first decided to use the pseudonym D.J. MacGregor, but she discovered that this pseudonym was used by another author. In 1995, her first "In Death" serial novel was published under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, the initials "J.D." were taken from her sons, Jason and Dan, while "Robb" is a shortened form of Roberts.

Eleanor has also been known as Sara Hardesty, because when the "Born In" series was released in U.K. it carried that name instead of Nora Roberts. She has since changed publishers.

Eleanor has been plagiarized by another best-selling romance writer, Janet Dailey. The practice came to light after a reader read Nora Roberts' "Sweet Revenge" and Janet Dailey's "Notorious" back-to-back; she noticed several similarities and posted the comparable passages on the Internet. Calling the plagiarism "mind rape," Eleanor sued Janet Daily. In 1997, Janet, admitted to repeatedly plagiarizing from Nora Roberts' work, and that both "Aspen Gold" and "Notorious" lifted heavily from Nora Roberts's work. Both of those novels were pulled from print after Janet's admission. She acknowledged the plagiarism and blamed it on a psychological disorder. In a settlement, Janet paid Eleanor an undisclosed sum, which Eleanor donated to the Literacy Volunteers of America.

A founding member of the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A.), she was the first inductee in the organization's Hall of Fame. She also is a member of several writers groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the (less)

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Quotes from Chasing Fire

“When somebody walks out, it leaves a hole in you. Some people fill it up, the good and the bad, and get on that way. Some people leave it open, maybe long enough to heal, maybe too long, picking at it now and then so it doesn't heal all the way.” — 24 people liked it

“[Everyone needs] a woman who'll listen, take your side, tell the truth - or not, as you need it. A woman you can count on, no matter what, and who'll love you no matter how much you screw up.” — 22 people liked it

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