Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Used to drought conditions, the people of Copper Creek, Texas are not prepared for the torrential downpour that has Davis creek overflowing its banks. Returning to the station, deputy Alexander James Bridgerton, AKA Bridge, sees a strange jeep parked where no vehicle should be. Upon investigating, Bridge discovers that the jeep belongs to former resident, Doug Jones. Both guys have certainly grown up and as they appraise each other, it becomes obvious that they are interested in each other.
Doug, a certified lifeguard and endurance swimmer, offers to help the local authorities with the flood efforts and soon the men are assigned to search part of the flooded valley for survivors. As the flood waters rise, so does the sexual tension between the two men, but can anything come of their attraction when Copper Creek is slowly disappearing under water?
Nothing brings a community together like a natural disaster and I have found that many people love the concept of floods, tornados, hurricanes, and the like as long as they don’t have to live through the chaos.
I must say that Dease did a very good job creating Copper Creek and its inhabitants. Bridge and Doug were great characters, with enough of a past to allow us to overlook their “insta-love.” Both guys were solid, three dimensional, and, if do say so myself, sounded really hot. But what really did it for me in terms of the characters were the many secondary characters who were also well thought out and executed, providing depth to the story without overpowering the main storyline.
Although this was a contemporary story, the world building was critical to the plot and characters, and here is another area that Dease addressed exceptionally well. I felt that I had a good lay of the land, and could visualize the town as it succumbed to the flood waters, feeling that slight bit of empathy for the residents and their losses.
So, I am a big fan of continuity, and I noticed a few areas that did to make sense to me. First, if the power was out the night before, how did it just go out the day after? Also, if Bridge was supposed to get home at 6:00 pm, how did he end up patrolling all night and getting home at 8:00 am? From all other indicators, his family would not have allowed him to over do it. Another problem that caught my eye was the whole “rescue on Shady lane,” which did not add enough to the overall story and felt like unneccesary extra action, wasted, and to be honest, slightly confusing because of that.
Overall, this is a decent story, worth reading even with the issues that I came across,. I think I will investigate other stories in the Storming Love: Flood series since I am a big fan of short stories and novellas.
