Blue Ridge Mountain Escape by Loretta Eidson

Blue Ridge Mountain Escape
by Loretta Eidson

ISBN-13: 9781335468376
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Inspirational Mountain Rescue
Released: June 27, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
A peaceful vacation is what Haley Gordon needs to put her troubles behind her. Instead, she finds herself fighting for her life against a raging forest fire. Forest Service firefighter Kendall Simpson vows to protect Haley—although he has questions about her story. But with the firestorm out of control and escaped convicts on the mountain, can Haley and Kendall survive?


My Review:
Blue Ridge Mountain Escape is a Christian romantic suspense novel. It started with forest firefighters going into a burning area at the start of the blaze to evacuate people. Haley and Kendall got separated from his group and were forced to flee in front of the fire. Even though the front edge of the fire is where efforts would be made to stop the fire, more than two days pass without signs that anyone is fighting the fire--no fire breaks, no airplanes dropping fire retardant or water, no smoke jumpers. Nothing but the fire, wild animals, and escaped convicts trapped in the same area as them. Suspenseful, yes, but not realistic. I've read an autobiography by a smoke jumper, and many details in this book just weren't realistic. In fact, Kendall seemed to deliberately leave safer areas just so they could get stuck running from flames right behind them (except at night, when they somehow always had time to rest).

Anyway. Haley's sworn off men, yet she kept flirting with Kendall. They're in imminent danger, and she's thinking how romantic it would be--just like in a movie--if Kendall would stop and kiss her. She played the perfect damsel-in-distress and repeatedly needed to be rescued by Kendall. He finally told her that he'd like to get to know her after they survive this fire, but right now he really needed to focus on getting them out alive, not on flirting. She's crushed--rejected!--but, no, he lead me on! Um, no, girl, he didn't and he made a valid point. When Kendall finally did kiss her, she felt like she 'belonged.' On the other hand, Kendall also thought kissing in the middle of dangerous situations sounded romantic, so maybe they're a good match after all.

Haley asked God to send help and thanked Him when it arrived, and she tried to reach out to her criminal cousin to get him to change. Yet the bits about the criminals also didn't make a lot of sense. Everyone kept saying the escaped convicts would kill Kendall and Haley because they could identify them. Um, everyone already knew who they were and the general area they were in. Then Kendall and Haley asked the men their plans if they do escape, the convicts promptly confessed their plans, and now the men really did have a reason to kill them. Brilliant! Author, kudos for giving the two main characters issues to deal with and the slow, steady winning over of Haley's cousin, but I just couldn't take the story serious it was so unrealistic. There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.