Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Rowen Smithe and Mick Rutger are men that come with their own special brand of complications and impressive set of problems attached to each of them. Rowen Smithe wears his some complexities and special issues like clothing. But not all. Rowen’s other problems, like the voice in his head, are more deeply buried and waiting to come out.
Mick Rutger’s sunny disposition and impetuous manner is hiding a past that he hoped he had buried when Mick came to Mountain Shadows. Rowen Smithe, his neighbor and new love interest, has finally agreed to a dinner cooked by Mick and that is all he has been thinking about. But the dinner and its aftermath have left a wake of new problems for them both.
While Mick is weighing his next move and Rowen is doing his best to hide, an old enemy arrives at the campground. The winds of change are blowing strong. Who will be left standing after the storm has passed?
In Rowen Smithe, Havan Fellows has created a character that continues to surprise me with each new layer of his persona that comes to the surface in the Whispering Winds series. A cruel and dismissive voice in his head? Check. Self appointed guardian of the woods who will use any means at his disposal to keep all safe? Check. An overwhelming need to hide from all but a few? Check. Paranoid, competant, intelligent, and gorgeous. But is he sane? Hmmm. Not sure. He is the gift of a conundrum that keeps on giving. And boy, does he do that in spades here. Do I love this character? Indeed I do.
Havan Fellows has then paired him up with as unlikely a fellow as could be. I often think of Mick Rutger as a human Golden Retriever. Affable, good hearted, loyal, and fun to have around, Mick’s impetuous nature can get him into trouble. Handsome, quick to laugh, too quick to act, and an attention span that….squirrel…..that wanders. He is almost impossible to dislike even when you are sighing in dismay over something that he has done or said. And of all things to grab his attention, that would be the dark question mark of Mountain Shadows, Rowen Smithe. It’s a fascinating, unlikely, and perilous combination that has made this series a compulsive read for me in every way.
For the last two stories, Fellows has kept these two unlikely mates in a fight and flee sort of pattern. Mostly with Rowen fleeing. Whether it is into his cabin, into the woods or up his tree or all three combined, Mick has had to make the decision to follow when Rowen leads or pursue where Rowen has fled. It’s been funny, sad, and totally entertaining. But now a tentative peace has been obtained and Rowen has made the huge commitment to each food someone else has cooked and attend a dinner/date at Mick’s cabin that has been especially prepared for him. To understand just how big a decision that is for Rowen, you have to read the preceding stories. That’s how Blown Hard starts off and then quickly turns into something totally unexpected and sort of shocking when yet another dimension of Rowen is revealed to Mick and the reader. And neither of us was prepared for it.
Fellow’s narrative is concise, taut, and it flows quickly from start to finish, barely pausing for us to gasp at the shocks along the way. This is the darkest of all the stories to date and the most compelling to read.
This is a story of the perceived cracks in people’s characters that become exposed for the deep and camouflaged crevices they always were. And it’s not just Rowen’s flaws and elements of his character that are exposed here but some of Mick’s as well. This story is so well titled because Havan Fellows’s hard winds blow through the plot, scrapping away superficial notions and assumptions you have made about these people (and ones that they have made about each other) to leave something very fundamental and naked exposed at the end. It will leave you in a state of disbelief and in immediate need for more.
I need more. Much, much more. So will you. This (and the whole Pulp Friction 2014 author series) is a must read. But please, dont’ start here. Go running to the first book in the series. Grab it and prepare yourself for a wonderful rollercoaster ride of emotions, romance and explosive secrets! I have listed all the stories, all the authors and their interconnected series for 2014 below. Use it as a check list, don’t miss out on any of them.
Definitely one of ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords Highly Recommended Stories, and Series of the Year!
Cover art by Laura Harner. I love these covers and Laura Harner has done a beautiful job of branding not only the series and all the Pulp Friction 2014 Mountain Shadows interconnected series.
Buy Links: All Romance eBooks (ARe) Amazon 
Book Details:
ebook, First, 58 pages
Published June 15th 2014 by Appleton Publishing Avenue
ASINB00L02WUR8
edition languageEnglish
seriesPulp Friction 2014 #11, Whispering Winds
The Pulp Friction 2014 series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters, events and plot:
Round One:
Firestorm (Fighting Fire: 1)by Laura Harner
Cold Snap (In From the Cold: 1) by Lee Brazil
Blown Away (Whispering Winds: 1) by Havan Fellows
Higher Ground (Earthquake: 1) by TA Webb
Round Two:
Controlled Burn (Fighting Fire #2) by Laura Harner
Cold Comfort (In From the Cold #2) by Lee Brazil
Blown Kisses (Whispering Winds #2) by Havan Fellows
Moving Earth (Earthquake #2) by TA Webb
Round Three:
Backburn (Fighting Fire #3) by Laura Harner
Cold Feet (In From the Cold #3) by Lee Brazil
Blown Hard (Whispering Winds #3) by Havan Fellows
Tremors (Earthquake #3) by T.A. Webb
Round Four:
Flare-up (Fighting Fire #4) by Laura Harner
Out In The Cold (In From the Cold #4) by Lee Brazil
Blown Chance (Whispering Winds #4) by Havan Fellows
Aftershocks (Earthquake #4) by T.A. Webb
Round Five: to be released
Radiant Burn (Fighting Fire #5) by Laura Harner
Cold Day in Hell (In From the Cold #5) by Lee Brazil
Final Blow (Whispering Winds #5) by Havan Fellows
Terra Firma (Earthquake #5) by T.A. Webb
Sixth Book Series Finale Written by all the Authors
charactersFinn Lorensso
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 
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