Cam Stirling is a stunt woman and she’s with a crew filming a Neanderthalish action flick in Wyoming (I think it was Wyoming). But the crew has inadvertently wandered off government land onto private ranching lands and Luthor (Thor) Devlin is none too happy about that. However, he is pretty intrigued by this daring stunt woman who works with such large, exotic animals such as an elephant (who plays a woolly mammoth) and a tiger (who plays a sabertooth!). Eventually Thor and his ranch hands have their hands full between the movie people and the yearly summer influx of teens to the ranch. Add to it that there have been some horse and cattle wrestlers in the area stealing livestock.

If you read my blog regularly, then you know that contemporary romance is not my usual cup of tea, but I keep trying it here and there. I listened to another book, Designing Woman, by the same author some time ago and found it clever. So I gave this one a try. Both Cam and Thor are characters with flaws and concerns and real personalities. They have been shaped by their families and the lives they have chosen. Cam is no swooning, vapid love interest. She’s there to do her job and she comes from a long line of stunt women. She feels no need to show off or take risks. She’s a professional. She also happens to be in quite good shape, which Thor has noticed. Thor comes from a ranching family and grew up an only kid. His crew is his extended family and the land means much to him.

There’s plenty of romance in this book with the two main characters getting to know each other. There’s flirtations and stolen kisses and secret rendezvouses. It’s sweet. Even though this genre is my least favorite, I still found myself chuckling a time or two at the initial blundering attempts to get to know each other. Late in the book, we do get a few sex scenes (hooray!) and they are steamy without being spicy.

Of course, the two lovers have to have at least one misunderstanding and that happens too. Thor grew up primarily in a man’s world without too many women doing a “man’s” job. So you might guess how the little spat came about. Essentially, Thor needed to grow up a bit. While I totally agreed with that assessment, we don’t see such a significant flaw with Cam, and hence, we don’t see her making a significant change in her life to accommodate the relationship. In that regard, the giving was mostly on Thor’s side. I would have liked to see Cam have to realize something big about herself and make some sort of change as this would have added further depth to her character. Overall, it wasn’t a bad little romance. I liked the stunts and the animals. The action scene near the end with the wrestlers was great and was probably my favorite scene in the entire book.

I received a copy of this book from the author at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Destiny Landon and Lee James split up the female and male roles. In the beginning, it clearly sounded like they recorded at different times and maybe even different sound booths. But the production gets smoother pretty quickly and soon they had a narration that sounded like two people having an actual conversation. Landon had a great voice for Cam – confident, sexy, professional. James was great for Thor having a rugged cowboy voice that reminded me a bit of Sam Elliott (whose voice will always be cowboy sexy). There were very few female roles for Landon to play (the main actress and a waitress) and she did them both well. I especially liked her somewhat snooty voice for the actress. There were plenty of male roles for James to show off his voice talents. I liked all the different cowboy voices and especially his screaming director voice. ( )

I read this as an eBook for the Nook. There are 437 pages to this novel. ( )

The book opens with Luthor (Thor) Devlin, a ranch owner, trying to steady the nerves of his friends, who--along with us readers--are whipped into a frenzy at finding the tracks of some strange wildbeasts. Incredibly, a wooly mammoth with curved ivory tusks and a saber toothed tiger come rising out of knee-deep fog, right there in formidable landscape in the middle of Montana. And to top things off, he spots what seems to him as a naked, bronzed bodied female savage, whom he intuitively sees as a perfect match to the hero in him: a damsel in distress.

Cam is anything but. Wearing the scent of a skillfully blended perfume that drifts on the breeze, she makes the haze of prehistoric world evaporate from Thor's imagination. No, this is real. Camilla Stirling--Cam for short--is a stuntwoman on a movie set.

The author, Elaine Raco Chase, gave a lot of thought to the choice of names. Thor (with echoes right out of Norse Mythology) and Devlin (which means fierce courage, and sounds like a devil.) He is a strong counterpart to this woman, who is a daredevil herself. But while his name, as well as his lines of dialogue, suggest a link to a primal world, and to the aura of the old west, her name suggests quite the opposite. Her full name Camilla suggests warrior maiden (in Virgil's Aeneid)--but in its modified form, Cam, it is sleek and modern, as she lives in the world of cameras, snapshots, and illusions. So the story brings together more than simply two characters: it brings two worlds to a clash, which heightens the attraction between them, and enriches the romance.

This is the Taming of the Shrew turned inside out on a prehistoric stage set.
Five stars. ( )

Again, Elaine Raco chase creates dialogue that repeatedly reinforces my belief that hers is some of the best I have read (or heard). With a remastered story that was originally published in 1987, there are some elements that feel dated, but really – what doesn’t in this ever-changing world? People haven’t evolved dramatically, and their need to find love and fulfillment with a partner is a constant, no matter the year. Both of these characters are dimensional people – not all good or all bad, they come with baggage and aren’t afraid to show it.

The heroine, Cam, is rough and tough, independent and comes from a family of daredevils who hide that trait by becoming masters of their game – stunt performers. Thor is a bit of an old-school cowboy, with a Dudley-Do-Right protecting his Nell at every step. When the two worlds collide, and Thor realizes that Cam is not a damsel in distress needing to be saved, it rankles.

Finding the two discover a common ground, and realize that they are good together, despite the frequent dust ups about danger is a great listen. There is humor, snark and gorgeous descriptions that place you in the wilds of Montana, with the never fail to amuse stops in the action. There is steam, there is swearing, and most of all – this is a feel good book, that will have you laughing and smiling throughout.

The narration was really good, although there were several times when it felt as if the two narrators were stepping on each other’s lines. The conversation in Elaine Raco Chase’s books is so well crafted that it’s not necessary to adjust the pacing; there is time to breathe and still not lose the context or emotional impact of the words. A clever story with just enough heat to feel contemporary but not a purely erotic romance, this is one that is a good introduction to this author’s works and a great listen for an afternoon or two.

I received a copy of the audiobook from the author for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.
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