Summer of Fire (Yellowstone series)

Actual events are frequently used as the backdrop of fiction. In this novel the wildfires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988 are the driving force for the adventures told.

Clare Chance is a firefighter from Houston who volunteers to help fight the inferno that Yellowstone has become. Because of her background she is set the task of training the soldiers that are sent by the Army to assist. The battles of the characters against the fires and their inner demons makes for good reading.

This was the first book that I read that was a Freebie from Barnes&Noble's Free book Friday. I have to admit that I was pleasant surprised at the quality of the writing and story. It was the first in a series set in Yellowstone. I hope to see these show more characters again though from reviews of the other books n the series, they don't appear prominent. show less

A Summer of Fire by Linda Jacobs was set in Yellowstone National Park during the major 1988 wildfires epidemic. The story followed Clare Chance, a female firefighter as she helps deal with these fires while dealing with the craziness of her own life.

In short, not that impressed with the book. Clare winds up in a weird love triangle, she got loads of undeserved special treatment and was just downright annoying the entire book. I finished the book, but in all honesty, it wasn’t worth it. Good thing I got it for free.

My interest in this book is it's seemingly well-researched account of the 1988 fires at Yellowstone National Park. The story is told through a female firefighter, a helicopter pilot, and a field biologist, all fictional, and all with psychological baggage. Clear almost from the start is that it could also be classified as a romance novel, not at all my usual taste. I was able to overlook this aspect, and even to be slightly amused by it, because I was absorbed by the magnitude of the wildfire events and the efforts to control their spread.

This was a story that moved at a snail's pace. A story full of details. The characters were true-to-life and their emotions were believable. I would seek out this author again if I was in the mood for true-to-life story, set in Yellowstone Park country.