Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances
Wedding photographer Sloane Michaels might spend most of her year running after brides, but she lives for the six weeks each spring she chases tornadoes instead. When the prestigious magazine Nature Shots announces a cover contest, Sloane knows that winning could be the chance she needs to break up with taffeta for good and establish herself in landscape photography.
The last thing she needs is a distraction in the form of reckless “Wild Wes” Talbot. A legend among storm chasers, he’s been Sloane’s close, personal frenemy for the last decade and is the man to beat for the cover contest.
Sloane isn’t surprised when Wes gets in an accident that jeopardizes his season. But with an active weather pattern emerging, she doubles down on her need to beat Wes fair and square, and begrudgingly invites him to join her for the remainder of the season.
As they race through hail, high winds, and stormy skies, Sloane realizes that Wes might be more than the rich, flirty, Texas wildcard she thought she knew — and that the feelings blooming between them are more charged and dangerous than the storms they’re chasing.
Review: Thank you to Berkley & NetGalley for an ARC!
Two storm chasers fall for each other while racing after tornados?? Sign me up. This gave me all the Twister nostalgia. The tension in this book - both atmospherically and between the characters - kept me reading late into the night.
File this book under things that I could never do in real life but find thrilling in print. There was something so intoxicating about imagining the characters zooming off after various tornadoes to get the best shot. It worked so well that Sloane is a wedding photographer, both in terms of explaining how she can arrange time to spend 6 weeks chasing storms, but also her interest in capturing the storms through photos. I loved that Wes has clearly always had a thing for her, but she refuses to acknowledge it and holds him at arm's length for so long.
I love how Wes takes care of her. I love the fellow storm chasers who give them a hard time when they get together and the sense of community they have overall within the storm chasing community. I loved the sexy photoshoot scene. I love how Wes helps her put her guard down and she helps him feel more worthy of love. Love the inside joke they have about the too-small hotel showers for Wes's 6'4" frame.
It was also so cool to learn that the author is a storm chaser herself!! She brings personal experience to her description of being on the road in pursuit of these tornados and it showed through the vivid descriptions of the terrain, the sky, and the storm chasing community.
Despite how quickly I devoured this, I did keep wondering, if I subtracted the storm chaser content, would I still like this story and these characters as well? I do like their love story and chemistry, but it is truly the tornado activity that makes this book unique and why I am still giving it 4 stars.
There is also an incident near the end of the book, where Wes interferes in something that is important to Sloane that I found nearly unforgivable. I know everybody makes mistakes but DANG WES, why you gotta be like that?? He is always described as a wild card and a risk taker so in some ways his impetuous action made sense, but I was still disappointed in him.
Finally, I wanted more information on Wes's background than we ever got. I didn't think he was as fleshed out as Sloane. We learn about her career, her ambitions, her family and the toxic relationship she has with her mother. Wes's career is less clearly defined. We know he is big on social media and has a large platform and brand deals. We know his dad is rough on him. But we never really get a ton of insight on either his job or his family.
Also, trying to suspend my disbelief that this people who are exclusively eating at diners and gas station food while sitting in a car all day and crashing at hotels can somehow be such supreme specimens of physical perfection. Like what!! I would have cheeto dust and rolls by the end of the day, but they're all sexy and fit still.
Stars: 4
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