Fish Out of Water – ARC review

Fish Out of Water
by Katie Ruggle
Release Date: February 13, 2024
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Number of Pages: 326
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Contemporary Romance/Suspense
Ages 15 and up
CW: kidnapping, drugs,
sexual harassment
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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.

The Rocky Mountains get unBEARably hot in Katie Ruggle’s brand-new romance packed with adventure, action, tall dark & scruffy heroes, and a sense of quirky humor that will be your next perfect escape.

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Finally! A new book from an author I love. Unless I’m missing something, she hasn’t published a book since 2019. While I wasn’t a fan of the single POV, I still greatly enjoyed this book.

Dahlia is such a joy! I wouldn’t quite characterize her as a “sunshine”, but she is hopeful and funny and witty. Her mind goes a mile a minute in so many interesting directions. On the other hand, Winston is steady and thinks long and hard before he speaks…if he even speaks at all. Their chemistry is amazing and I couldn’t get enough of them together.

Honestly, Winston is the star of this show. He is the biggest cinnamon roll but, as Dahlia notes, he’s a stealth cinnamon roll. He cannot help but press stealth kisses to Dahlia’s head, blurt out compliments when he didn’t even mean to speak, and do anything to see Dahlia smile. He’s growly and bossy and a natural alpha while also being tenderhearted and intuitive to Dahlia’s needs. Seriously, this man made me swoon.

I’m so happy to see this author publishing again.

4.5 stars

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**