After the Storm (Harlequin Large Print Super Romance, #1813) (Harlequin Super Romance, #1813) (The Texas Firefighters, #6)

by Amy Knupp

[Rowena]

This was a short story that didn’t take me very long to dig into. This story follows Nadia Hamlin and Penn Griffin. There’s a hurricane coming to town and everyone needs to evacuate. Nadia meant to evacuate with everyone else but she really had to do something at work so she figures, she has time. She’ll go really quick and then leave. Only that doesn’t happen because by the time she is ready to go, she’s thrown right into the thick of the storm. She has to call for help so she does and the very last person she wants to come and rescue her, comes.

Penn Griffin isn’t at all surprised that work has kept Nadia from evacuating the city like all other normal people. She’s a workaholic and he knew that after their disastrous date. In the midst of trying to get her to safety, Griffin is injured and it’s the kind of injury that is tough to shake. It’s the kind of injury that ends careers, his in particular and it’s very hard for him to stop being mad at Nadia about that.

Nadia feels like crap on a stick because her carelessness has cost Penn so much and the guilt is eating at her. She wants to help him in any way that she can but he keeps barking at her to stay away. Only, she can’t. She can’t stay away from him because 1) she holds herself responsible for what happened to him and 2) she’s attracted as all get out to him. Staying away just isn’t in the cards for her and she wants him to understand that. So she keeps showing up. She shows up to feed him and he yells at her. She shows up to help him and he yells at her…and yet, she keeps going back.

The sexual chemistry between Penn and Nadia is there for all to see and I liked seeing him thaw out. I loved seeing him come to terms with his future and I loved seeing him fall for Nadia. It wasn’t a hard story to get through because he really did blame Nadia for ending his career, even though he knew that it could have been anyone but he needed to be mad at someone and he was already mad at Nadia for running out on their only date the way that she did (for work of all things) so he held onto that anger and let it consume him until he was spent. And wanting nobody but Nadia.

Watching the two of them come to terms with their guilt, their grief and then their feelings for each other made for an entertaining read. I enjoyed getting to know them both and I enjoyed watching them fall. I’ve never read anything by this author before but you can bet the farm that this won’t be my last. I liked the story, the characters and was surprised at how in depth the story was for such a short story. I didn’t feel like the story was rushed or the romance was rushed. I thought it was a great story with charming characters and a hero that was freaking hot. I enjoyed the secondary romance between Coop and Penn’s sister (I’m drawing a blank on her name right now dangit) and I really liked that Penn was able to fix his issues with his Mom and that Nadia was able to work things out with her Mother and the hotel business.

Overall, this was an engaging story with characters that I came to love. I enjoyed it and would recommend this book to fans of contemporary romances and authors like Carly Phillips, Helenkay Dimon and Linda Howard