Bea Reviews Stranded with the Mountain Man by Aislinn Kearns

Publisher: Aislinn Kearns
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 22nd, 2018 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Aislinn Kearns | Goodreads
* affiliate link; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through this link.

Blurb from goodreads:

Gia’s on the run…

Elijah lives a simple life on his mountain until he saves an injured woman from a crashed plane. He can’t abandon a woman in need, and soon will do whatever it takes to protect Gia, even if it costs him everything.

Gia is desperate and afraid. But when the kind—and sexy—mountain man takes her to his cabin, she thinks she might have finally found a safe place to hide. At least until she has to run again.

As Gia heals, she learns to love Elijah’s way of life, and maybe even Elijah himself. But her enemy is closer than she thinks, and he’ll stop at nothing to see her punished.

Pitted against a ruthless enemy and the wilderness itself, will Gia and Elijah survive to find their happily ever after?

My Thoughts:

I chat with Ms. Kearns on Twitter sometimes, and have read and enjoyed several of her books so I was excited about this book and happy to accept when she offered it for review.

Stranded and forced togetherness isn't my favorite trope but every now and then it works and this one did. Gia leaves her abusive but her plane crashes and Elijah, who sees the plane crash, finds her and takes her back to his cabin. She's injured, not severely but enough that she can't make the multi-day trip down the mountain to the town. Then a snow storm comes in and in the midst, a hidden threat to both their lives.

Elijah has been living on the mountain since he was a teenager, first with his father and then after his death, by himself. He lives a simple life, has few modern conveniences, has a variety of skills, and is rigid about his routine. He rarely interacts with other people and doesn't let anyone in. Elijah is strong, quiet, tender; he's a big man, the classic gentle giant. Then Gia comes along. Married young, she has finally worked up the courage to leave her abusive, criminal husband. She's both shy and outgoing, naive but smart. They challenge each other, emotionally and intellectually. Both of them need to learn to bend and compromise especially if they are going to have any chance of staying together.

Elijah is that rarity in romance (or at least in the ones I read), a virgin adult male. His chosen lifestyle hasn't given him much opportunity for sex or even romance. His virginity was believable. Gia hits all his buttons and she's attracted to him too. They resist at first but give in. Their scenes together were sweet and steamy. Note: Gia is still married to Ray so she is cheating on him; I know that's an issue for some readers.

Gia's husband Ray comes after her and the last part of the book is a harrowing tale of survival as he tracks them and Gia and Elijah try to outrun and outwit him in the middle of a snowstorm. There were some nail-biting scenes before we get to the end.

"Stranded with the Mountain Man"delivered action, mystery, romance, and humor. It was a page-turned with delightful characters. Go grab a copy!