Review: Wildfire and Roses by Hope Malory

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☆☆➹⁀☆ 4 stars ☆➹⁀☆☆

What It’s About:

Sparks fly when tenacious mountain climber Beasley McLemore meets hot smoke jumper Will Gregor on a search and rescue mission in Yosemite. Getting together, however, isn’t easy. Strong-willed Beasley is bent on building a thriving landscaping business back home in the foothills of the majestic Smoky Mountains. Busy working 24/7, she has no time or energy for a man in her life…she thinks.

Scorched by love in his past, Will is content to live near awe-inspiring Lake Tahoe where he saves lives and forests as a remote wildland firefighter. He doesn’t need a committed relationship complicating his dangerous lifestyle…he thinks.

Through life-changing events and a family mystery, each must question long held beliefs about work, love, and life. Looming over their blossoming love affair is the 2,400 miles separating their homes and livelihoods. Will love keep them together, or distance tear them apart?

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My Thoughts:

Wildfire and Roses is a sweet and relatively chaste romance from Hope Malory. I really appreciated the realism in Ms. Malory’s story. She provides readers with thoroughly developed main and secondary characters that readers can’t help but love. Ms. Malory has infused a bit of mystery and family drama into this contemporary romance as well.

The story takes place over the period of a year, and it covers a lot of ground in terms of Beasley’s family history and her astonishingly busy life. Unbeknownst to Beasley, her current situation presents to her a smilier challenge that was once faced by her beloved mother. Likewise, Will has to learn the same lesson that he is currently challenging his estranged father to figure out.

The main characters, Beasley McLemore and Will Gregor, meet when both volunteer to help with a wilderness search and rescue. To put it mildly, they don’t instantly fall in love. They both have relationship issues to work through. They are both protective of their heart and ego. They are both incredibly stubborn. Even though they both proclaim they are not interested in a relationship, the more these two new friends meet up, the more they find the other to be their ideal mate. Too bad they are both strongly ensconced in their lives on different sides of the continent. It takes a lot of loss and drama for these two to realize that a life without a loving, supportive partner is a hollow excuse for living.

I loved Beasley’s family. The siblings are incredibly close and supportive. The family mystery that is woven into the story is interesting, and it is tantamount to Beasley finally realizing what she needs to do to follow her late parents’ advice to “work hard and follow our dreams”. The mystery and circumstances surrounding Beasley’s business could have been explored a little more, but the light coverage of that situation didn’t impact the overall storytelling.

I really enjoyed the character development, the family drama, and the realistic relationship development. Ms. Malory’s debut novel, Wildfire and Roses, is a lovely book for anyone who enjoys a sweet romance.