New Books

This will be my fourth entry for Naida's Romance Reading Challenge.

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts is another one of her gems.  I say this because her books are  mostly polished -the characters real and multi dimensional, the plot flawless and the background very well researched. This book, like most of her other books has a well researched background on the careers of her characters - this time the book is about fire jumpers. Fire jumpers are just like fire fighters except that their work involves jumping into the heart of the fire and killing it from the inside. It is serious, dangerous work and her two main characters - Rowan Tripp and Gulliver Curry seem to enjoy the hard dangerous job.

Like in all of her books, Roberts fills Chasing Fire with details that really brings the story's world to life. She shows how smoke jumping is a high stress, physical career where one mistake can mean death. Smoke jumpers have to carry everything they need when they head into a blaze: food, drink, equipment for putting out the fire, sleeping bags and they cannot go home until the fire is out. This can mean days or even weeks of digging, spraying, clearing bush and sometimes running from certain death. The isolation of the areas where they fight fires means that if a smoke jumper, or a team of smoke jumpers, gets stuck, they are often too far away to receive outside help. Roberts really makes the smoke jumpers' experiences multi-dimensional with firefighting lingo and such vivid scenes that readers will be able to feel the heat on their faces and smell burnt trees.

Like many of Roberts' heroines, Rowan Tripp is gutsy, hot-tempered, fiercely loyal and can drink like a man. In fact she behaves almost like a man, except for the fact that she loves perfumes, especially one that smells of peaches. Gulliver or Gull on the other hand is more romantic, is easy going and flexible, kisses well and is smart and respectful. In fact the perfect hero. And to add to all this macho image, he loves to read and is rich as well. Who wouldn't fall in love with such a hero? Well, Rowan for one didn't, or refused to. Brought up by a bachelor father (her mother ran away and later died), Rowan has few feminine traits and has a lot of relationship issues.

He's the type of man who can tell a woman he loves her in spite of her not giving an inch:"I care about you, Rowan. The you who's got a laugh like an Old West saloon girl, the you who picks out constellations in the night sky and smells like peaches. I care about that woman as much as I do the fearless, smart, tireless one who puts her life on the line every time the siren goes off." (sigh...)

The two however find that they are fast falling in love, although Rowan refuses to admit it. However when the crazy lady who is running around vandalizing the smoke jumper's equipment targets Rowan, Gulliver's laid-back attitude is finally shaken off and his protective inner self is revealed. Mean while there are two burnt bodies found in the forest fires and because of her altercation with the "crazy lady who had vandalised her room" Rowan becomes a suspect. There is plenty of action in this, novel, not less the romance, sexy action type. You get nose to nose with the forest fires - the details are amazingly real and indepth and if you still can't fall in love with Roberts, then you are a hardcore anti romance type.

Like all her books, this one is a keeper - you want it for yourself! I'd give it a 5!

This is not part of the review though I definitely want to say something about this particular writer. I've always enjoyed her books though I mostly loved her series - the Quinn Brothers, the Born In series, even her tryout of a fantasy cum vampire novel series starting with Valey of Silence and Dance of the Gods.However my absolute favourite is the Quinn Brothers series. Here she portrays 4 men - strong, responsible, charming. And their women are all strong women but not domineering. All with different careers - one is a cleaning lady - but her women are all very real and very down to earth.

At the hospital

We were supposed to go back to malacca that day. All I had to do was collect my mother in law from my brother in law's house and take her back to Melati.  She told me that she had a stomach ache but thinking it was one of her regular diaroeaa, thought it was okay. But suddenly on the highway her stomach cramps became worse and she started groaning in pain. I then made a split second decision and instead of going home, swerved to the Melawati town centre, where the Damai Service Hospital was. I rushed to the emergency counter and told them my mother in law was in the car and having stomach cramps.

She was groaning in pain. They carried her straight to the emergency room and a doctor was called. The doctor said it could be due to build up of acidic gases in her stomach leading to the cramps. Also she was a picky eater-  not liking everything that's supposed to be good for her, like milk, oats, unsweetened tea etc. And added to the number of medication she was taking every morning, it didnt help. She had pills for hyper tension, diabetes, liver problems and I don't know what else. All this while, as the doctor probed and poked, she was still groaning in pain. I asked the doctor - "Are you giving her something to relieve the pain?" "Yes," she said - and a fairly heavy dose too," said the doctor - an oldish lady with mannish manners, and a shock of dyed reddish hair, but a soft gentle voice, at odds with her appearance.

So my mother in law was admitted into the Damai Service Hospital that Friday afternoon and I had to relay the message to her various offspring. The first person to arrive was my husband, still in his office attire since he was supposed to have a meeting with some Health Ministry officials that afternoon. He cancelled the meeting however, to be with his mother. After some delay she was finally admitted to one of the rooms upstairs - small but complete with attached bathroom. The pain had not diminished, and she was still groaning in pain, clutching my hands like a child and saying, "It's painful Kat,... it's painful Kat..." all the while. I felt at a loss - what can one do in the face of so much pain? The nurse came in again and said she would give her one more jab of the pain killer and it was only after the jab, that she calmed down enough to sleep through.

She was kept in hospital for three days, and I stayed with her throughout. Well, at least I finished my book - Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts! Our plan of going back to Malacca was shelved and we all spent the weekend at the hospital instead. Well at least it wasn't anything serious - I mean nothing life threatening, though a gastritis problem can be quite painful I know. So much for our long Labour Day weekend plans!

Reflections

The wedding is over now and things are back to normal. Mulan my cat is convalescing - after her operation. Do cats take time to recuperate from operations? As I see it Mulan is swishing her way everywhere, as if that scar on her tummy is not there at all, but I worry, in case she overdoes it. I try to keep an eye out for her, to stop her if she attempts to jump on to the sink (her favourite place to sleep) or on to the window sill. I worry that her stitches will burst open. That did happen to one of my cats ( I think it was Moshu) who had to go back to the Animal Hospital and be warded and re-stitched! WE told the doctor to keep her at the hospital until she could be safely let out and roam again. Mulan looks to be just as active, though yesterday she was fairly quiet.

Among other things, I'm back to my reading (YES!) and I'm glad to say I've finished reading Nora Roberts' romantic thriller The Search and am now reading another of her books - Chasing Fire. I've always enjoyed Nora Roberts and these are just as good as her other books. In  The Search, we have a spunky heroine, Fiona Bristow, who was once the victim of a serial killer; the only difference is that Fiona managed to get away while his other victims didn't. At that time Fiona was still a university student. Eight years later Fiona is a successful dog trainer and also a member of a dog rescue team, based on an island in the Puget Sound, off the coast of Washington State. Although she would never forget the trauma of being kidnapped, tied and gagged in the trunk of a car and with the knowledge that the man was a serial killer who had already killed 12 young women - all just like her- Fiona believes that she has control of her life and the past is well behind her. She reckons without the coming of Simon Doyle, a successful wood artist who creates gorgeous furniture out of wood. Simon wants to send his dog for obedience training and thus the two meet. From the first meeting sparks seem to fly - and Simon, who is used to more beautiful women than Fiona, wonders why he is attracted to her.

Fiona on her part is drawn to the kindness she sees in him and his quiet strength. But then something else comes into the picture - a serial killer who is killing athletic  young women is again on the loose and his methods were exactly like the man who had once kidnapped Fiona, the man they called the "Red Scarf killer " or RSK2. Is he Perry, the original killer, now let loose or a copy cat? And he is coming nearer and nearer to where Fiona is. And his method is exactly the same - and Fiona is again attacked by her nightmares.

I've always loved Nora Roberts' writing style - her descriptions are detailed and alive and her characters real. Her love scenes are usually very passionate without going over board. A really wonderful read, one that you simply cannot put down. I'd give this a 4 star rating - there are still other books that deserve that 5 star.

I'll keep the review of Chasing Fire for next time. I'm still reading it and also three others:

• Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
• Water For Elephants  by Sara Gruen 
• 
• Thirteen Reasons Why  by Jay Asher

I got them at 30% discount from Borders yesterday!