A man who lives on the edge - #paranormalromance #romanticsuspense #giveaway @Sloan_McBride

 

Hello, I’m Sloan McBride, a paranormal and suspense romance writer. Today, I’d like to do a character profile for one of my favorite characters – Tom MacKenzie. He is the hero in my book Dangerous Heat, a romantic suspense with paranormal elements. Dangerous Heat is Book 1 in my Men of Fire Trilogy.

When I create my characters, I like to give them the type of vocations that I’m interested in and would enjoy researching. In Tom’s case, he is a smokejumper. If you aren’t familiar with smokejumpers they are an elite group of firefighters. When I penned my book there were approximately 450 active jumpers. Today there are only 270 active smokejumpers in the world.

I’m sure you’ve probably heard the term Hot Shots. Those are a different group of firefighters who they call in first when there are wildfires raging across any continent or land mass. The Hot Shots come in and dig trenches and clear trees and brush that feed the fires, hoping to extinguish the fuel source before it goes too far. I actually spoke with one of the Hot Shots a few years ago when me and the family were vacationing in Colorado during the fire season. The smokejumpers get called in if the fires aren’t contained or are too big. The Lower 48 as the United States are commonly called (minus Alaska and Hawaii) use them often when wildfires break out in states like California, Montana, Colorado and Utah. The most recent being the Gulch Fire on March 12, 2022 in California.

This elite group interested me. I wanted to find out what makes a person parachute into a flaming wildfire and enjoy it. Thus my desire to learn more sent me to research smokejumpers.

To some they are daredevils, defiant of the rules other firemen must follow, to others they are brave, heroes who save the lives no others dare. These are the stories of three such men—Tom, Tony and Matt—the elite of the elite—Smokejumpers.

Thomas “Wolf” MacKenzie — High risk doesn’t worry this sexy smokejumper. He lives on the edge. A guilt-ridden past pushes him to be brazen and bold, but a mistake could cost him his life.

A cocky street kid growing up, protective, fireman. He meets Whitney and bribes her brother to bring him home to meet her. He loves her. On the night Whitney graduates from college, Tom proposes and they make love. When he gets home, his house is on fire with his mother and brother still inside. He can’t save them. Tom tries to cope, but the guilt eats him alive. He leaves town, leaving a note for Whitney that she’s better off without him.

Blurb

The onset of fire season should be the hottest thing about interviewing smokejumpers for Whitney Storm—until she sees Tom MacKenzie. He set her heart aflame ten years ago, then disappeared. As an emapth who doesn’t need emotional turmoil, this six-foot tall dark and dangerous memory has no place in her life.

As a smokejumper, Tom’s job keeps him face to face with danger and he thought he knew how to handle heat. But the uncontrolled burn whenever he’s near Whitney is hotter than he remembers. He’s ready to face the past and make amends. She’s made it clear she wants nothing to do with him.

A killer’s greedy obsession threatens everything.

Buy Link (Universal link with all the retailers)

https://books2read.com/u/4AzAqb

Sound appealing? Leave me a comment; I’ll give away two free copies to randomly selected readers.

About the Author

Sloan McBride is a multi-published author whose books have been reviewed and featured in RT Book Reviews. She is a romance author who leans toward the paranormal, adding suspense, and mixing in mythology with her Time Walker Series. She dances through the Highlands, making merry with the clans in The Talisman Trilogy, and turns up the heat in the crazy world of smokejumpers in the Men of Fire Trilogy.