Karen Barnett is a new author for me but she will go on my list of authors to read and recommend. This is part of a series but the stories are meant to stand alone. They are a series because of the setting which is one of our great National Parks.
Ms. Barnett does a great job setting a scene and describing the views. You can almost hear, feel, and smell as well as visualize the surroundings. It is spectacular and I've never been. It is on my bucket list, however. But I digress. The story of an avant-garde artist and a Park Ranger Guide meeting and falling in love, though quite unusual, is very romantic. Clark Johnson is every woman's rugged hero even as he is a man of faith. Olivia has many flaws but don't we all. She slowly sheds her facade and the woman underneath is a sweet and trusting soul who needs a champion.
Olivia has come to Yosemite on contract for Scenic Magazine to paint scenes of Yosemite National Park. She doesn't really want to come but she has two sisters to support and get to college. She has a dark secret in her past that still haunts her--her father has murdered in this very park.
Clark Johnson is the guide the Magazine has contracted to show her around Yosemite. He knows the park almost better than anyone as he came here to escape his own dark past. Clark is a former Pastor who lost his church due to false accusations. He has an opportunity to become an official Park Ranger but feels God may have other plans.
As the relationship between Clark and Olivia heats up, they encounter many obstacles. The rich husband of the couple who accompanied her on her assignment accosts Olivia; and when she refuses his advances, he destroys some of Olivia's paintings. Later someone she trusted kidnaps her and plans her demise. Will Clark get to her in time?
This is an excellent book that I highly recommend especially to those who enjoy books of faith and romance combined. Thanks to Waterbrook and Multnomah for allowing me to read Where the Fire Falls through Netgalley.
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