Fire on the Mountain (Mountain, #1) in Read with Pride Northwest

Aug 28, 2012 ttg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, reviews, challenge-read

3.5 stars - This was a pretty interesting adventure romance about Jake, fresh out of college but still deep in the closet, who signs up for a six-month stint as a forest ranger since he thinks being stuck in the woods watching out for fires will solve his problems of (not) dealing with being gay, especially since he’ll probably be partnered with some Grizzly Adams old man who he won’t be tempted by at all. But Fate says, “Think again!” and his partner is the young, experienced ranger Kurt, who i 3.5 stars - This was a pretty interesting adventure romance about Jake, fresh out of college but still deep in the closet, who signs up for a six-month stint as a forest ranger since he thinks being stuck in the woods watching out for fires will solve his problems of (not) dealing with being gay, especially since he’ll probably be partnered with some Grizzly Adams old man who he won’t be tempted by at all. But Fate says, “Think again!” and his partner is the young, experienced ranger Kurt, who is also super hot, and Jake is questioning his fool-proof plan, and wondering how long he can last until his secret is out.

What I liked: Knowing nothing about rangers and what they need to do to fight forest fires, I really dug all the information about Jake and Kurt’s work, and Singer does a great job here providing consistent details to set the scene and their actions, never forgetting what clothing they need, the supplies they have to carry, and what steps they take to protect the woods as well as themselves. It was neat to read about.

I also liked Jake and Kurt, and their slow evolution from colleagues to friends to lovers was nice to read. They’re also a good “equal partnership” couple where one isn’t falling into a set role, but they both support each other, protect each other, and are open and very willing to switch things up in the bedroom (or the outside, as things seems to be.)

What was harder for me: People have mentioned the slow pace before, and it is slow, but what worked less for me were some overall pacing issues and Jake’s over-ruminations.

For the pacing, there’s a big climatic fire about half-way through the story, which leads to things, and then there’s a slow unspooling as our MCs get together. The pacing never really picked up after the fire though, and I kept thinking that maybe something else exciting would happen, something “post-coitus,” but it didn’t, and the book (DSP’s release from this year) ends at a little over 80%. The rest of the book is a short story set two year’s prior that shows what led to Kurt joining the rangers. I wish there had been something else to help pick up the pacing—an action or event outside of the sex, which I was a little bored by, and the epilogue was nice, but very short and because it was coming around the 80% mark, I didn’t really realize it was the epilogue until it was over.

Jake’s ruminations also really slowed the pace down. That boy was a thinker, and he spun around on the same conflict and worry for a long time unless that was replaced by a new worry, and he thought about that for a while. Around the 30% mark, as he internally lamented about his attraction to Kurt and how he was worried that if Kurt found out about him, that he’s be rejected (or worse), I was left thinking, “Jake, sweetie, I’ve been with you the entire book. I fully 100% understand your core conflict. You don’t need to tell me about it again.” After the fire at the midway point, and he started to over-ruminate about his worries that related to that, I started to skim until the next action piece or dialogue. So, I wish some of the writing there had been tightened up.

So overall, I thought parts of this were really interesting, the fire part was especially riveting, and I wished more action scenes had been included to help keep the pacing up. I know this is the beginning of a series, and even though I had some issues with this book, I am interested in checking out the sequels, especially since I hear the recent sequel Blood on the Mountain is pretty exciting. My only hope is that Jake’s over-thinking mind might be tightened up a bit by then. ...more

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Aug 24, 2013 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it really liked it

Shelves: what-lgbtqia, what-male-protagonist, how-ebook, what-mm-read, what-suspense-thriller-action, what-uniforms-and-investigations, what-mm

3.5 rounded up because it was good enough to read the next one.

Happy ending? (view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 14, 2014 Elayne rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-bought-books

I thoroughly enjoyed this action adventure with romance and Hot men. didn't realise it was a series, but its on my To Buy list now. ...more

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Aug 27, 2010 Felicia (Ferishia) rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, kindle-format-ebook, m-m, contemporary, free-ebook, lgbt-romance, series, fireman, 01-mr-candy-pants, romance

This was a sexy sweet story of two young guys, Jake and Kurt, spending their summer as rangers patrolling the forest and helping to prevent or put out fires. They have to live out in the woods, in a cabin, with nothing but each other and nature for company. Jake and Kurt both are hoping the other is gay and receptive their advances but they both hesitate to find out. Then nature forces them into a situation where they finally reveal their feeling about the other.

Young, hot ranger firefighters! ...more

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