One of the things I like about reading Janine Amesta’s books is the character work. There’s always a why behind her characters and their actions. I wouldn’t be surprised if the starting point for her books is wondering how two characters got into the situation they are in. I think I noticed it more with this read because River, one of the main characters in Love in the Time of Wildfires, is a wildlife behaviorist. She notices how people behave. She clocks her grumpy neighbor, Logan, quickly and disarms him with the friendliest fuck you I’ve read in a long time.
Love in the Time of Wildfires is a grumpy/sunshine romance, but it also matters why and how Logan is grumpy and River is sunshiny. Which gets back to Amesta’s character work. Logan is a grump because some people are grumps, but also because he is a wildland firefighter. His reality is dealing with the consequences of climate change while the people and institutions who should be supporting him are angrily in denial, or happy to give him a plaque, but not a raise. His response is to shut himself down, which sounds reasonable to me. River is a sunshine because she sees beauty in the world and she likes people. She also uses her sunny personality to distract and deescalate. When she and Logan first meet, he’s ready to yell at someone and she smiles while metaphorically whacking him on the nose and getting him to behave.
None of the big world problems (climate change, the healthcare system, anti science propaganda) are solved at the end of the book. However, Logan and River have fallen in love and are tackling the problems that are within their power together.
I received this as an advance reader copy from the author. For transparency I need to say that I have bullied Janine Amesta into being my online friend. She is one of the kindest people you’ll find on the internet and a wildly talented artist. My review has been entirely honest, though unbiased simply isn’t possible.
