Fish out of Water by Katie Ruggle

Posted February 13, 2024 in review Tags: 3.5 Stars, grumpy/sunshine

Fish Out of Water by Katie Ruggle

Genres: Contemporary Romance
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also by this author: Hold Your Breath, Fan the Flames, Gone Too Deep, In Safe Hands, Run to Ground, On the Chase, Survive the Night, Through the Fire, Rocky Mountain Christmas Cowboy

Goodreads

Why date a mountain man? Because he knows how to pitch a tent.
When Dahlia Weathersby's sister disappears on what should have been a simple day hike, Dahlia immediately heads deep into the Colorado Rockies to find her. Knowing she'll never survive the mountains alone, she convinces the local hermit—adorably grouchy survival expert Winston Dane—to be her guide. All it takes is a good helping of Dahlia's charm…and just the teeniest bit of blackmail…before she's got all six-foot-something of him wrapped around her finger. But even with her very own mountain man in tow, things aren't going to be easy. There are:
Long hikes through gorgeous wilderness? Check.Bears? Check.A single shared sleeping bag? Check.Enough sparks to set the Rockies ablaze? Check, check, check.
With everything the wilderness has to throw at them, it'll take more than charm and some city girl ingenuity to make this trek anything but a disaster waiting to happen…and an adventure she'll never forget.

Fish Out of Water is a different type of book for Katie Ruggle. You still get her grumpy, mountain man hero, but in more of a rom-com type vibe. But, if rom-coms happened in a rugged wilderness hike up a mountain to find a lost sister. The wildness adventure if what made this book seem very much like Ruggle’s previous books, but it isn’t as suspenseful. Even Winston isn’t super grumpy or anything. Dahlia is bubbly and fun, and has that can-do attitude. While admirable, it kind of distracted from the fact her sister is missing and could be dead. She doesn’t really seem to take it seriously.

If you were a fan of her previous books, Fish Out of Water might not be a good pick for you. If you loved the suspense and intense moments in her previous books, you aren’t really getting that here. This is much more contemporary romance with a lighthearted vibe than romantic suspense. It is pretty spicy too! However, if you enjoy the lighthearted romance with some mystery, you could really enjoy this! I think some fans of Katie Ruggle will struggle with it because it is a departure from her previous books, but only in some aspects.