A Night by My Fire was originally in an anthology, if I recall correctly, and I think it was one about heroes, but don’t quote me on that. It’s been a while, and I’m feeling too damn lazy to pull up my Kindle and look. It’s not available anyway, so it’s neither here nor there. Anyhow, Addison has given it to us now, so Merry Christmas to us!
Here’s how our story goes. We open to a woman pulling a man out of the freezing water and saving his life. Oddly, he doesn’t seem all that cooperative when she tells him that he needs to get moving or freeze. He finally starts moving and cooperating when she tells him that he either comes with her now, or she’s going to leave him to freeze to death.
She takes him to her cabin, where we find out her name is River. River doesn’t care what the guy’s name is, but we know his name is Stephen, from when we see things from his POV.
I liked River the first time I read this story way back when, and I like her more now. She is really blunt, honest, and will tell you exactly what she thinks. She isn’t going to take anything from anyone, especially not the stranger who is only alive because she pulled him out of the freezing water and dragged him out of the freezing Alaskan winter before a blizzard hit and 589632457860 feet of snow fell.
One of the things I really like about River is that she isn’t afraid to argue with Stephen, even if he does scare her a little bit. In fact, not only does she argue with him, she often wins. She has a very sharp tongue, and she’s more than willing to keep it sharp on him. She’s also not afraid to give him a few home truths. I mean, he tries to tell her she’s not all that ladylike, and she was like, no shit, as well as pointing out that he’s basically a babe in the woods right now.
Stephen takes a hot minute to warm up to. He doesn’t have much of a personality in the first bit of the book, I think. He has this whole block in his head between what he thinks the world should look like and what his world currently looks like, and that blocks his personality. When he does start to emerge from his shell, he’s abrasive, but considering, I think that’s probably the best we’re going to get.
I would love, love, love, love, love more from this world.
Oh, that end. Damn.
OK, go check it out!
In Between the Pages 