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A review by ccgwalt
High Heat by Annabeth Albert
4.0
4 stars for story
4.5 stars for narration by Iggy Toma
I really enjoyed this installment in Annabeth Albert's Hotshots series. In this book Garrick, who was seriously injured at the end of Burn Zone, is home trying to recover. He's still using a wheelchair or crutches to get around and is in intensive physical therapy, but plans on making it back to smoke jumping. An injured stray dog has him going to his next door neighbor's for help, and there he meets Rain, the neighbor's grandson spending the summer. They bond over helping the dog, and Garrick offers to help Rain get in shape to possibly join a hotshot crew in exchange for walking the dog regularly.
Most of the story is about Garrick and Rain getting to know each other, and the reader getting to know how Garrick is handling his slow recovery and the awkward interactions with well meaning friends. It's a sweet, emotional story and I was completely pulled into it. Most of the conflict was the Garrick being worried about holding Rain back, and him not being comfortable at least at first with the age gap. (Garrick is mid 30's and Rain is 23.) Albert handled the conflicts well and believably.
Iggy Toma does a great job with the narration. There were just a few times where I had to go back and listen to a few lines to get straight who was talking, but usually the voices for Garrick and Rain were clearly differentiated. Toma's timing and delivery were good and he got the emotional scenes just right. I look forward to Toma's narration of future Hotshots books. (less)
4.5 stars for narration by Iggy Toma
I really enjoyed this installment in Annabeth Albert's Hotshots series. In this book Garrick, who was seriously injured at the end of Burn Zone, is home trying to recover. He's still using a wheelchair or crutches to get around and is in intensive physical therapy, but plans on making it back to smoke jumping. An injured stray dog has him going to his next door neighbor's for help, and there he meets Rain, the neighbor's grandson spending the summer. They bond over helping the dog, and Garrick offers to help Rain get in shape to possibly join a hotshot crew in exchange for walking the dog regularly.
Most of the story is about Garrick and Rain getting to know each other, and the reader getting to know how Garrick is handling his slow recovery and the awkward interactions with well meaning friends. It's a sweet, emotional story and I was completely pulled into it. Most of the conflict was the Garrick being worried about holding Rain back, and him not being comfortable at least at first with the age gap. (Garrick is mid 30's and Rain is 23.) Albert handled the conflicts well and believably.
Iggy Toma does a great job with the narration. There were just a few times where I had to go back and listen to a few lines to get straight who was talking, but usually the voices for Garrick and Rain were clearly differentiated. Toma's timing and delivery were good and he got the emotional scenes just right. I look forward to Toma's narration of future Hotshots books. (less)