Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

A lot of interesting parts but I struggled a bit with the sequencing and continuity of the plot.

The environment was a little bit new and refreshing to a degree. From the onset I was engaged and interested but as I progressed I wished for more depth to be developed in the initial relationship breakdown. Even when it came it seemed somewhat superficial. I still enjoyed the book but these are opportunities for improvement.

As the title suggests, this book is much like a wildfire. It’s unpredictable and burns hot. I never really knew which direction this novel was going to take, but I was happy to go on the journey. Draper done a wonderful job at bringing to life well thought out characters just trying to give love another go. Hope and healing are pivotal themes here, and both are covered beautifully. I look forward to future work from this author!

When volunteer firefighter gets hurt in a wildfire, her friend and fellow firefighter calls her emergency contact. Only problem is her emergency contact is her ex-girlfriend. Lost time and complicated pasts comes into play add some drama.
I really like this story. It's different from most of the lesbian stories, especially since it's a big part of it is first responders.
I'd definitely recommend this look to anyone who likes first responder stories and fiction with romance.

It took me a while to write a review about Wildfire, but I am going to rip the band aid off now. It's a debut, I think it's courageous in itself to put yourself out there. God knows I haven't done that. Unfortunately this one was not for me and I didn't finish, the writing style was not my cup of tea and the use of flashbacks was too much, causing me to lose track of things and generally not getting into the story. I'll just leave it at this, not a book I would recommend, but I see there are more positive reviews out there so if you remember it's hardly about wildfires, but more about an explanation of a breakup with lots of flashback and that would be right up your alley then please read and decide for yourself.

*** An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. ***

The timing for this book was unfortunately right on point. There are horrible wildfires burning in the western USA. Just to put it in perspective, the fires are so bad that even though I live all the way on the east coast, we keep getting breathing/air warnings here. I go outside and the air is filled with this hazy smoke and the smell is very strong. It’s odd that it doesn’t smell like a wood fire but more like an electrical fire –think wires burning and almost a burning plastic smell-. I’m so used to fresh mountain air that I keep getting a sore throat from being outside for more than a few minutes. My thoughts are with my fellow American’s out west who are really suffering.

I don’t like writing reviews like this so I would rather ramble on about other things, but that is not why people are reading this review. This book is a debut and I have a lot of respect for people that not only can write a book, but then have the courage to put it out for the world to like or criticize. I wish I could say different but this book was not for me one bit. I do want to say that I think the author can write, I just did not click with her writing choices both stylistic and story based.

The book started well. I read this for the women firefighters and that is what we get, unfortunately that did not last long. I think it was maybe 5% of the book was about fighting fires, where the rest was much more in the metaphorical sense. Had I known this I would have passed on reading this. There are not enough firefighting –women’s- books and I was excited for this concept, but this book really is not about that.

The best way I could describe what this book really is, is the anatomy of a break-up. This is about two women that don’t communicate, and what their life is like struggling in their relationship –in flashbacks- and post relationship’s end. Unfortunately, this is not what I want to read about and I found the story to be very slow and dry for my personal tastes.

The book has a mix of stylistic choices that just didn’t work for me. I was recently joking around with a few of my Goodreads friends and we decided that flashbacks need to come with a trigger warning, I’m starting to think that is true. They almost never work and they did not work here. They flash back to the rocky parts of the relationship, than jump forward, than forward even more, than even more… I think. I was completely lost in the timeline and spent much of the book scratching my head. It was not until the book actually said ‘present time’ that I finally stopped being lost. On top of that there were dream sequences that confused me even more. And finally, there was a story within the story that also bothered me. The characters are writers/teachers so we get to read a story that one character wrote. The problem is that it seemed like it went on forever. I don’t like stories, made-up song lyrics, and some made-up poetry in my romance books. This is a me thing, I’m sure plenty of readers won’t mind, but I think the overall problem was that the author was trying to do way too much. Putting in flashbacks, dreams, and a written story, well it’s all a lot.

There is one small mystery, if you could call it that. One character thinks a crime might have been committed. I normally love when little mysteries are thrown in but this didn’t work for me either. The character starts to investigate it but than just stops and tells no one for what I think is months later? I could be wrong, the timeline for the whole book was so confusing but this whole ‘mystery’ thing just rubbed me the wrong way.

I hate ripping on a debut book. It does not make me feel good but I have to be honest. I didn’t even go into how I could not connect with the characters or even really understand them as a couple. This book just did not fit with my personal tastes. I think this author can write, it’s just that her style and choices are not for me.

CW: devastating forest fires, hospitalization, anxiety surrounding past trauma

Thank you to NetGalley and Interlude Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

After a difficult breakup, a wildland firefighter (Jimena) and university professor (Sydney) have parted ways, but neither has moved on. When a life-threatening accident reunites them over a year later, they find themselves wondering if their love has a chance of being rekindled.

I tried to like this book, and I gave up around 42%. It's not necessarily bad, but the writing style is so cringey. The author writes in third person omniscient, but doesn't focus on any one character long enough for you to get a real feel for them. It also feels like the characters think they're better than you, especially Sydney. I also felt like the author was forcing a lot - like emphasizing that one character didn't care about sexual orientation, just hard work. It felt unnecessary. The plot itself is a good idea, but the execution wasn't for me. I read that the author worked on this book, put it down for years, and then picked it back up during COVID, and you can tell. It doesn't feel recent or updated. It might be for someone else, but it wasn't for me.

There were so many things that drew me to this book:

- a second chance romance
- a lesbian/queer romance
- and a book about female firefighters?!?

I signed up and kept my fingers crossed!! And I was excited to have my first accepted NetGalley ARCs!

Jimena “Mena” Mendoza teaches Spanish and is a seasonal wildland firefighter in Arizona. We meet her in the midst of clearing a break to divert a fire. At this time, she is trying to recover from heartbreak after her relationship with Sydney Foster fails. Dr. Foster is a professor who specializes in Anthropological and Cultural Studies in Maryland. The book spends time laying out their relationship - it's rise, it's fall and why it fell and how they try to work their way back to each other.

Unfortunately, for me, Toni Draper's "Wildfire" did not meet my expectations. I wanted to like this read so badly. I wanted to connect and be immersed in this world. And it was a clearly well-researched world. Draper's in-depth writing about the various topics - firefighting, history, cultures - I appreciated it greatly! However, the constant time jumping and the multiple POVs made it difficult for me to keep up and keep invested.

I loved the juxtaposition of fighting these incredible and terrifying fires alongside the emotional turmoil of a relationship where both individuals are working through so many issues. It just became difficult for me to connect and empathize with Syd or Mena.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars

I have to admit I struggled with this one mainly because I couldn't connect with either main character and that blows because i really wanted to like this.
It's not usual we get main characters in "traditionally male jobs" and that part the author nailed it in the story but for me that was pretty much it because I didn't felt the romance was well developed or it felt too forced.
I also didn't liked the ending but I get why it ended like that.
I still can see why some people will like this even tho it was clearly not a match for me.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Wildfire is Toni Draper‘s debut novel and it is a second chance romance.

I liked reading about Mena’s job as a firefighter - I don’t think there are many books in which we get a female working in this line of duty and I found it to be both interesting and important to be talked about.

I also enjoyed seeing the support Mena received throughout the story from different people like Alex, Isa and Officer Peña, their love and acceptance made me smile.

On the other hand, I struggled to connect with Sydney and some of her actions annoyed me a little. I liked that she seeked professional help to resolve some of her issues, but at the same time I felt she wasn’t being honest with her therapist or herself and the story dragged a little because of it.

Overall, this was a fine lgbtq+ second chance romance, but it left me wanting a bit more depth in the story.

✨Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Interlude Press for an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.✨

Pub date: 7/27 🗓
This review will be posted on my Instagram account closer to pub date: @bm.bookish.girl

As the title suggest this book is like a Wildfire, hard to predict where it is going next and I don't think it is all that positive in this case.

I'd say this is a second-chance romance, something I usually like, but how this is told it is hard to keep up. Several times I lost track of where we were in the story and how it all relates. At least the first half of the book is flashbacks, I think, I am not even 100% sure because the timeline is confusing. You get to read about both Mena's and Sydney's sides of why it all fell apart. After this we move on to the mains reconnecting and discovering how they got together the first time around and now again. Still I am very much lost here. We jump so much I just can't keep up. Obviously, this book is meant to be emotional, but for me, it just ends up being all over the place and not being able to connect with it.

I would have really loved to say I loved this book about female firefighters as I think there aren't enough of those out there, but I would be lying. The parts of the book I enjoyed were the fire fighting, but it's just too disjointed for me to be able to tell you what this book really is about and what emotions it should convey. I am just confused and I didn't enjoy this read. I do enjoy the cover, it's beautiful

Nice summer read. I loved the strong characters and the setting - Mena is a wildfire firefighter - which gave the story a good basis and subplot.

If you're a fan of the "second chance at love" trope, this is the book for you. Very compelling story.

Thanks Netgalley for a arc copy of this book for a honest review..  


Wild Fire was a 4 star read. What I liked most this story women firefighters I hardly see stories like that.  I enjoyed reading about Mena  and Sydney story. 




 


Happy Reading 📚

Lisa

Okay, I noticed a lot of folks liked this book way more than I did. I think it is a solid romance, but it does have the problem of being billed more as a second chance at love romance, with most of the action happening when the two leads re-unite. It is that - to a degree. Most of the story first half of the book is flashbacks to both Jemena's and Sydney's side of their story. It was a little confusing, seeing as it doesn't really feel like they want to reconnect, which I know they do, as opposed to not knowing how to restart their relationship. The ending is way too vague for me, mostly because it doesn't feel like the two got anywhere. I understand that it was meant to be bittersweet, and perhaps a little hopeful, but it just didn't land for me. It doesn't help that there was a small mystery thrown in to show Jemena's growth as a character, but that just felt haphazard, and the bad guy was pretty obvious from the beginning.

That said, it is obviously just packed with a ton of emotion, and there were times where I felt for these two very flawed women. They had a typical whirlwind romance, with them not really getting to know the other. And the thing that finally broke them was something that could have been discussed at the beginning but simply wasn't because they were caught up in their emotions, and because Sydney has some massive issues that she didn't know about until after Mena left. I actually didn't mind that about their relationship - usually the break up because of one partner being too in the closet is not carried out well, but this one is, because I believed they were too caught up in each other to really talk about their relationship, on top of the issues Sydney had that really wasn't aware of. I loved that about the book, but I wish the rest of their story was handled better.

This is a debut novel, which does explain some of the problems with some of the disjointed feeling of the story. I enjoyed parts of the book, and thought it was solid overall, especially as a drama, but it lost me in too many places.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wildfire. The title elicits a feeling of being out of control and all encompassing at the same time. This is not how I would describe this debut novel by Toni Draper. The story is about a second chance at love. It is a slow and methodical telling of two women who fell in love then fell apart in order to grow and become better versions of themselves. These women are both introverts who live in their heads with very little outward emotional responses to the world around them.
Jimena Mendoza is a Spanish teacher for the school year and a volunteer wildfire fighter in the hot summer months in Arizona. Dr Sydney Foster is a university professor in Maryland who is also a successful novelist. The fire fighting scenes are well written and add excitement to the novels premise. However for me that is where my interest ended. I could not find any emotional attachment to the main characters. Reading other reviews I understand I am an outlier. I just could not find a flow to the writing. It is extremely rare that I have to force myself to finish a book. Obviously this book was just not for me.

If I had written this book as my first published novel I would be ecstatic and doing a jig down the high street.

Now down to the serious stuff. I found the back and forth a little confusing at first but as you get deeper into the story and getting to know the characters it all slotted into place. Its also kind of interesting because you get to see all sides of the situation from different characters point of view. We all have our own experiences and challenges which form who we are and who we become. I feel the author gave us the opportunity to see all sides of the same issues and their individual struggles.

Also, it's like two mysteries rolled into one. The first being the relationship and the second being the job. I cant tell you too much or it will give it away. But when you read it it becomes a really compelling story.

Yes, I would recommend this book I really enjoyed it.

Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/54579041

I struggled to get into this writer's style. There were odd transitions between POV's and tense. There was also quite a lot of internal monologue. I did appreciate giving a focus to female firefighters. It did seem like the characters were well developed and the writer has a gift with prose/description- there was just so much of it. I felt like I was chewing through scenery. Just not a great read for me.

*ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Wildfire is a beautiful story of second chances after tragedy strikes and what you would do if you only had one more chance at making things right.

Jimena "Mena" Mendoza has had her heartbroken and after such a thing you can either lay down and let the pain overtake you or you can move on as best as you can. Mena is moving on; she is a language teacher as well as a wildland firefighter. After an accident lands her in the hospital the last person, she thought she would ever see again was Sydney but that is exactly who she sees when she opens her eyes.

Sydney Foster might have her own set of issues that causes her to pull away from her own happiness but the minute she gets the call that Mena is in the hospital she is on a plane headed towards the woman she let leave her life. Dealing with the trauma from your past can leave you with a variety of problems that will alter your present and disturb your future. After seeing Mena in the hospital Sydney knows that if she ever wants another chance with her, she will have to tackle the fears that stem from her past.

This was a beautiful story of second chance love which isn't always a hit for me. Sometimes it is too overdone, or it is the same story over and over. That is not however the case with Toni Draper's debut novel. The research she put into the characters as well as their backstories shines through on the pages and will have you aching to comfort both Mena & Syd in different ways. I look forward to seeing what other stories Toni Draper comes out with in the future because if Wildfire is any indication then we are in store for some wonderful things from her.

I loved this story following a female wildfire firefighter. The WLW love story was beautiful and I loved the friendship and relationship between Isa and Mena. It was a great summer read and I highly recommend it.

Beautiful story. From the scenery, to the friendships, to the love, this book transports the reader into someone else's time and place. Mena is a sympathetic character and rooting for her is easy. I hope this debut novel is only the first we'll see from T. Draper.