Burning Up

Paranormal romance author Marsh (His Dark Bond) explores the alpha-male-rich world of smoke jumpers in her pulse-pounding first contemporary romantic thriller. Firefighter and smoke-jumper Jack Donovan returns to Strong, the tiny eastern California hamlet where he spent his teenage years, at the request of his adoptive mother: suspicious fires are occurring, and the town doesn’t have the resources to deal with them. Lily Cortez, Jack’s onetime love interest, has also returned to Strong, leaving a high-powered advertising job in San Francisco after being stalked by a firebug. Lily buys a local lavender farm and tries to start her life over. When her stalker finds her, Jack and his adoptive brothers immediately move to protect Lily, and Lily and Jack quickly reconnect. Marsh leads readers through a hair-raising series of events on her way to the shocking but appropriate ending. Agent: Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency. (Nov.)