AGAINST THE WILD by Kat Martin takes place in one of the most fascinating states I've ever visited Alaska. There is something so earthy and real about a place that faces the most horrific winters but looks forward to amazingly beautiful summers. Kat Martin is the master of setting the stage and with Alaska as her background AGAINST THE WILD was just a joy to read. In addition Martin is a romantic at heart and once again she treats us to a warm delightful love story filled with unmistakable images of the joy of falling in love. There is even a bit of a mysterious haunting thrown in for good measure. AGAINST THE WILD plays all the elements of Alaska like a virtuoso. Bravo.

Well here's the scoop Dylan Brodie knows something good when he sees it. He fell in love with the lodge he purchased with the intent of building a business guiding visitors on fishing expeditions. And he also knew this would be a wonderful place to raise Emily his 8 year old.

Lane Bishop was recruited to help remodel this lodge. Her business was actually in California but Dylan had dangled a unique and very interesting job working within such a rural setting. Lane was busy convincing herself that her decision to accept this assignment was to settle a debt but that was her sensible side speaking. Her emotional side knew better.

Dylan and Lane had connected before for a very brief time. Perhaps this would finally put an end to an attraction that was a definite dead end. Along for the ride is Finn Lane's huge wolfhound who immediately attracts Emily's attention. Dylan hopes having a pet, even a short term one, will bring Emily around -- anything that can help Emily find her voice Dylan would wholeheartedly embrace.

Creaking staircases, uninhabited rocking chairs, chills in the air are the stuff hauntings are made of. But Dylan is committed to making his lodge into a vacation destination and so feeding into any legends is just plain counterproductive. This lodge with Lane's help is going to be a fashionably rustic fashion plate in what is decidedly a remote area of Alaska. Dylan has undying confidence in Lane's ability to do the job. Just as he can't hide the fact that Lane lights a spark that he felt long dead.

Kat Martin makes me smile -- it's just that simple. In AGAINST THE WILD we are treated to a magnificent panorama of Mother Nature at her best. The underdeveloped country is the backdrop for a beautiful love story. Along the way Martin teaches us the ways of the locals including the Indians indigenes to the area. Anyone who has an appetite for some really unique history will gobble up this latest installment in Martin's Brodies books.

Book Summary

Alaska - Where the men are as bold and untamed as America's last wilderness

It's been three years since Lane Bishop tragically lost her fiancé, and she's finally ready to risk her heart on someone else. The hot look in Dylan Brodie's eyes says he's going to be that man.

But when Lane flies to the remote 1930's fishing lodge to help him renovate, she discovers a little girl who won't speak, eerie legends and strange sounds in the night. And when she investigates the history of the lodge, she uncovers a legacy of injustice and murder.

As danger stalks his daughter and the woman he is coming to love, Dylan must risk everything to uncover the shocking truth.

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