Kristie J’s review of Tempting Fate (Colorado High Country, Book 4) by Pamela Clare
Contemporary Romance published by Amazon Digital Services 28 Jun 17
I have been reading Ms. Clare’s books from the very beginning, back to 2003 when Sweet Release was first published, and I have every book she’s written since then. I try my very best to be objective when doing a review, but when it comes to Pamela Clare, I can’t be. So read this review knowing a lot of personal feelings are involved. I’ve met her and call her a friend and she is one of the best people I’ve ever met. So this is influenced with a great deal of fondness for Pamela colouring it.
Naomi Archer is our heroine. She’s on vacation, up in the mountains of Colorado when she is approached by a couple of guys she can tell right off the bat are not to be trusted. Turns out she was right when they attack her. She manages to get away but is shot and wounded. She is discovered by Chaska Belacourt when he and his sister are out for a walk with a wolf they have kind of adopted. The wolf senses something is wrong and takes off, leading them to a wounded Naomi. Chaska calls in the Search and Rescue team he’s part of and they manage to get her out and to the hospital, where she has to undergo surgery due to a broken leg suffered while being chased. It turns out she will be ‘out of commission,’ so to speak, for a while, and Winona, his sister, invites Naomi to stay with them until she is mobile. Sparks fly like crazy between Chaska and Naomi, and the more they get to know each other, the deeper their feelings grow.
I was enchanted by this book. We briefly met both Chaska and Winona is the first book in this series, and, of course, now I’m going to have to go back and reread it, though I remember thinking at the time that I hoped the author had a book planned for Chaska. Talk about a yummy hero – well, yummy. While he’s living quite the modern life, he’s a high-powered and successful engineer, and he still has deep ties to his roots as a Lakota warrior, albeit somewhat reluctantly. As already mentioned, he also works with the Search and Rescue group, some of whom already have a book and some will in the future, I’m willing to bet. He’s everything great about a hero. He’s patient with Naomi, he’s understanding, he’s attentive and funny and total sex on a stick. He reminds me a bit of my favourite hero, Nicholas Kenleigh from Ride the Fire, one of Ms. Clare’s historicals, and, man oh man, do I love that book. So that is a major point getter in this book.
Naomi has a sad history. She was abandoned at birth and adopted by a cult-like family where she was allowed no freedoms whatsoever. She escaped them when they arranged a marriage to a much older man. Because of this, there is a naiveté about her. The overwhelming feeling one gets about Naomi is lonely. She is blown away by not only Chaska and Winona taking her under their wings, but, in fact, the whole town of Scarlet Springs pitches in to take care of her. She’s never known this kindness before. She seems to have some indigenous features, not unlike Chaska and Winona, but since she was abandoned at birth, she is not connected to any kind of family history. Because of this and because family is so important to Chaska, he takes it upon himself to see if he can find out anything about her roots.
She’s quite an innocent when it comes to guys, but she’s Very Taken with Chaska, and it’s sweet watching them fall in love with each other. They work so well as a couple falling in love and finding so much in common.
Something I really appreciate about Ms. Clare’s contemporaries and RS in particular is how well she writes what she knows. She was an investigative reporter for years, so her I-Team series is so genuine. And she’s a native of Colorado, so her Colorado High Country books also ring very true. She knows whereof she writes.
This is not a Romantic Suspense, but rather a contemporary, and since this is the more the mood I’m in these days, this worked out quite well.
So there you have it, my tried-not-to-be-biased review of Tempting Fate. It’s my favourite in this series so far, and there are some other characters I’m looking forward to. And it’s nice to see some crossover characters from her I-Team series.
Grade: B+
Summary:
A woman with no roots…
Naomi fled the cult-like nightmare of her childhood and learned to rely on one person—herself. Her resourcefulness keeps her alive during a catastrophe in the mountains, but it’s no help at all when it comes to Chaska Belcourt, the sexy EMT who saves her life. Raised to feel shame about her body and sex, she is putty in Chaska’s hands as he strips away her armor, exposing the vulnerable woman beneath, awakening desires in her that she’d been taught to ignore.
A kiss that changes everything…
Chaska Belcourt grew up on the reservation, the son of a hereditary Sun Dance chief. He left all of that behind for a new life in Colorado as an engineer with an aerospace firm and a member of the elite Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. He doesn’t share his sister’s belief that fate led him to find Naomi. But from the first moment their lips touch, he can’t get enough of her.
A love that transforms…
As the passion between them turns into something more, Chaska is forced to admit that his sister is right. There’s no other way to explain the depth of his feelings for Naomi—or the fact that he and his people might hold the key to unraveling the mysteries of her past. But she will have to learn to trust again before the two of them can find the answers she needs—and claim this once-in-a-lifetime love.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
