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Up Close and Dangerous
A Novel
440 pages
A gripping blend of wilderness survival and simmering romance where the elements are just as dangerous as the undeniable attraction.
What it feels like
This is a high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled reading experience that plunges you straight into the unforgiving wilderness. The atmosphere is rugged and intensely isolated, creating the perfect pressure cooker for a forced-proximity romance. As the characters battle freezing temperatures, starvation, and the looming threat of a saboteur, the narrative maintains a propulsive, breathless momentum. The prose is visceral and pragmatic, grounding the reader in the gritty realities of survival while letting the romantic tension simmer and eventually boil over. It feels like a classic, gritty romantic suspense that delivers equal parts danger and desire. Readers who devour stories of capable people pushed to their absolute limits, finding both inner strength and fierce, undeniable love in the darkest of circumstances, will be completely captivated.
- Mood
- rugged
- isolated
- tense
- steamy
- Tone
- suspenseful
- pragmatic
- gritty
- romantic
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- forced proximity · survival against the elements · trust and betrayal · finding strength in vulnerability
- The writing
- Direct and sensory-rich, the writing balances the gritty, visceral details of wilderness survival with the simmering heat of romantic tension.
- The arc
- The journey moves from stark isolation and mutual suspicion to fierce reliance and undeniable, life-saving passion.
- Who it's for
- Fans of high-stakes romantic suspense who crave forced-proximity tropes and capable characters battling both nature and unseen enemies.
Content notes
- plane crash
- wilderness survival
- attempted murder
- gun violence
- peril and starvation
About the book
A mysterious plane crash... a dangerous trek through the Idaho wilderness... a smoldering attraction... and a deadly game of cat and mouse. In her latest tour de force of romantic suspense, author Linda Howard blends these elements into a gripping story that will keep readers breathless - and leave them begging for more. For in Linda Howard's world, trust can be a weapon, a kiss can be a threat, and intimacy can be deadly.
Bailey Wingate's scheming adult stepchildren are surprised when their father's will leaves Bailey in control of their fortune, and war ensues. A year later, while flying from Seattle to Denver in a small plane, Bailey nearly dies herself when the engine sputters - and then fails.
Cam Justice, her sexy Texan pilot, manages to crash-land the aircraft. Stranded in the wilderness, and struggling to douse her feelings for the ruggedly handsome man by her side, Bailey begins to wonder whether this was a mere accident. Sure enough, upon her return to civilization Bailey's suspicions mount: Who tampered with their plane? Who's trying to reunite Bailey and her husband in the afterlife? Trusting her life - and heart - to Cam, Bailey must outwit a killer who will stop at nothing to finish the job.
Description from Open Library.
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