Where There's Smoke Playing with Fire Burnin' for You Oh, the Weather Outside Is Frightful (Novella) Montana Fire Summer of Fire Trilogy 1
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WHERE THERE’S SMOKE The Montana Fire Series: Where There's Smoke Playing With Fire Burnin' For You Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful (novella) Montana Fire Summer of Fire Trilogy 1 WHERE THERE’S SMOKE Susan May Warren SDG PUBLISHING A division of Susan May Warren Fiction Minneapolis, MN Praise for Where There’s Smoke by Amazon.com readers The Montana Fire series is off to a thrilling start that will have you on the edge of your seat! The new Montana Fire summer series by Susan May Warren is off to a blazing hot start. Book one, Where There's Smoke, is the story of Blazin' Kate Burns, a smokejumper following in her fathers' footsteps, determined to prove she can make it in this male-domi- nated field and Jed Ransom, fire boss and her fathers' protégé who will stop at nothing to keep her safe, including resisting his love for her. The unique and original storyline begins with characters at odds with each other who are forced to work closely together while working out their personal differences and end up ultimately having to work out their bigger issues with God. In classic Warren style, what starts as an entertaining and thrilling read becomes not only an opportunity to contemplate Kate and Jed's choices, but the cat- alyst for their transformation as well. I love how Warren always brings the reader back to spiritual observations and insights. For those of us who are Susan May Warren fans, it was fun to see how she tied the much loved Christiansen series into this new one. Darek Christiansen was, for a time, on the same Jude County hotshot team with Jed Ransom as was Luke Alexander from the novella, You Don't Have to Be a Star. Playing With Fire, book two, features smoke jumper Conner Young, who was also in Warren's Team Hope series and Liza Beau- mont from the Christiansen and Deep Haven series. Burnin' for You, book three, features smoke jumper Reuben Marshall and pilot Gilly Priest. Terrific summer reading until Warrens' Mercy Falls, Montana search and rescue team adventure series begins with Wild Mon- tana Skies. Can hardly wait! ~Tracey book corner fan, Amazon.com reader A sizzling start to the series! This series is full of action and drama, like a hang-on-to-your- seat (or parachute, if you will), thrill ride from start to end. In the middle of the chaos, moments of slightly sizzling romance (while always remaining classy), deep emotion, and strong messages of faith unfold. "Complex" doesn't begin to describe the tangle of history be- tween Jed and Kate. It was established off page and opens this story with action and tension, with ties to fire and a mutual history, both deeply respectful of Jock Burns (Kate's dad). Susan works references to fire and parachuting all over the place, and it works so well! Like this quote: "He wasn't sure how he'd gone from standing at the edge of her world to an all-out dive into what he'd been quietly longing for his entire life, but he wasn't going to look up, see a possible tear in his canopy." (from chapter 7) Main theme/lesson: Learning to cling to faith, that God is al- ways to sustain you. ~Camera Courton, Amazon.com reader Susan May Warren Never Disappoints! Every time I see a new book by Susan May Warren, I absolutely MUST have it! I treasure her novels. She writes with an amazing depth and a true, powerful spiritual message. It's like sitting down and hearing a wonderful message at church! Blazin' Katie Burns is a legendary smokejumper, known for her courage and willingness to risk everything to get the job done. But she has a secret she won't admit to anyone.... Supervisor Jed Ransom commands the Jude County Smoke Jumpers with a reputation as a calm, level-headed leader. Kate is the only one who has ever gotten under his skin. But Jed has some issues, too. A raging wildfire in the mountains of Montana bring Kate and Jed together to train a new team of jumpers. They must now face the past they have been running from and the secrets that keep them apart. An arsonist goes after their team and they must face their deepest fears. This is the first book of the Montana Fire series and I am so happy there are three books! Susan May Warren has such a heart for God and it shows in the pages of her novels. She creates characters that nearly jump off the pages at the reader and dig deep into their heart. She takes you into the scenes, into the forest that is ablaze till you nearly feel that *you're* the one running from the wild fire that's threatening to take your life. I loved every single minute of this book, couldn't wait to finish it and now I can't wait for the next! ~Susan Snodgrass, Amazon.com reader Montana Fire Summer of Fire Trilogy Book One: Where’s There’s Smoke ISBN-13: 978-1-943935-13-0 Published by SDG Publishing 15100 Mckenzie Blvd. Minnetonka, MN 55345 Copyright © 2016 by Susan May Warren All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any simi- larity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental. Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations are also taken from the Holy Bible, New Internation- al Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. For more information about Susan May Warren, please access the author’s website at the following address: www.susanmaywarren.com. Published in the United States of America. For Your glory, Lord Prologue SHE’D COME THREE THOUSAND miles to burn to death. “Kate, if you don’t deploy right now, you’re going to die!” Kate Burns could hear Jed, his voice muffling around in the back of her brain, but the roar of the fire simply had her by the throat. Three-hundred-foot flame lengths chewing up the pristine Alaskan wilderness, torching Fraser firs, white pines, black spruce. The blaze candled along the tops of the birch trees, the fire storm churning up its own wind. It felt like that hand of God, reaching out to grab her in a paralyzing chokehold. It kept her brain from firing, from reacting to Jed’s words. From reaching for her shake-and-bake fire shelter, folded and tucked in the pocket of her jump pants. Because, what would it matter? They were in the green, a highly combustible area, and they’d bake to death under the thin tinfoil even if the fire didn’t scurry underneath and scorch them. And that vivid picture had her knees buckling. Her father would be so angry. “Kate!” Hands on her shoulders shook her, jerked her around. “Get your shelter on!” 10 SUSAN MAY WARREN Kate got a glimpse of Jed a second before he threw her to the ground. Face blackened, his eyes fierce, red bandanna pulled up over his nose. And balancing hard on a makeshift crutch she’d fashioned for him only hours before. He looked like she felt—wrung out, broken, and on the edge of unraveling. Except, he wasn’t standing still, waiting for the wall of flame to hit him. In fact, he had his shelter out, already un- furled, and now shook it over her. She fell to the ground, an old, dry riverbed, filled with gravel and rock, moss and brush. But, where he pushed her down, mostly sand and dirt. “Pin it down! Remember your training.” Training. Oh—the three years as a hotshot—a wildland firefighter—and her last six weeks with the Midnight Sun Smokejumpers where, two weeks ago, she’d passed her final exam. Don’t die. Her training boss said it as he’d handed her the Midnight Sun patch. Laughter. She’d grinned. Jed landed in the dirt next to her, having apparently yanked her shelter from her pocket. He wrestled with it in the superheated winds, his teeth gritted as he yanked it down to the earth. Pinning it there with hands, elbows, knees, feet. Except, in a flash that struck her in the heart, she knew the truth. She might not die, but Jed Ransom didn’t have a prayer of holding down all four corners, not to mention the edges, of his shelter. Not with his injured leg. Not with those bare hands. Kate threw off her shelter and, in a second, it caught the wind and flew—no turning back now. “What are you doing!” She didn’t answer him as she rolled herself under his Where There’s Smoke 11 tinfoil, grabbing a corner, drawing it over her. She clamped down her side with her hand, elbow, and leg. He caught on fast. Or maybe not as much as she’d hoped, because even as she nailed down the side with her limbs, he covered her upper body with his, protecting her. She felt the length of his body against her, his powerful arms, honed from chopping through the dense forest, digging fire line with his fire ax, aka Pulaski.