Skip to content

Wildfire

Wildfire

A Novel
Contemporary RomanceRomance
Pages
448
Published
2023
Language
English

Synopsis

After the school year ends, Maple Hills student Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts share a single night together following a party, then go their separate ways before either learns much about the other. Weeks later they collide again as counselors at Honey Acres, the summer camp where they have both come to escape complicated families. Russ is trying to put distance between himself and a father whose gambling has shaped his whole life; Aurora is chasing the sense of belonging the camp once gave her. The problem is the rule both of them agreed to: counselors are forbidden from getting involved with each other, and breaking it means losing the jobs they each need. Stolen evenings and quiet detours keep their growing relationship hidden, but a summer is only so long, and the lives waiting back at Maple Hills are still there. The second book in the Maple Hills series, this is a forbidden, slow-simmering romance about two people working out what home and family mean to them while pretending, in front of everyone else, that there is nothing between them at all.

Prose complexity
2/10

Vibe

EmotionalSpicyLightheartedHopeful
Forbidden LoveForced ProximityWorkplace RomanceFound FamilyGrumpy Sunshine
Spice level
3.0 avg spice

Genres

Contemporary Romance Romance Romantic Comedy Contemporary Literature

About the author

H
Hannah Grace

Writing under a pen name from her home in Manchester, England, Hannah Grace is the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind the Maple Hills series of college sports romances. She did not set out to be a novelist: during the COVID-19 pandemic she began writing a romance about a figure skater and a hockey player largely as a distraction, and in August 2022 she self-published the result, Icebreaker, under an imprint named after her two dogs, Pig and Bear. The book found a large audience through...

Characters

Aurora RobertsProtagonist

A young woman returning to Honey Acres in search of belonging while coping with an absent, disapproving father.

Russ CallaghanProtagonist

A Maple Hills hockey player who works as a camp counselor to escape his father's gambling addiction.

Emilia BennettSupporting

Aurora's best friend and roommate of six years, who goes to Honey Acres with her for the summer and acts as her steady sounding board.

All characters in Wildfire

Frequently asked questions

  • Where does Wildfire take place?

    Most of the story unfolds at Honey Acres, a sleepaway summer camp, rather than on the Maple Hills campus. Russ and Aurora both take counselor jobs there to get away from difficult family situations for the summer.

  • Why is the relationship in Wildfire 'forbidden'?

    The camp forbids counselors from getting romantically involved with one another. If Russ and Aurora are caught, they could lose the jobs they each came to camp for, so they keep their relationship hidden through secret meetings.

  • How do Russ and Aurora first meet?

    They have a one-night stand after a party drinking game at the end of the school year, with Aurora leaving before Russ even learns her full name. They are then stunned to run into each other again as fellow counselors at Honey Acres.

  • What family struggles do the two leads face?

    Russ is trying to distance himself from a father with a gambling addiction and an enabling mother, while Aurora wrestles with feeling unwanted by her father. Their shared sense of not quite belonging at home draws them together.

  • How did Wildfire do on the bestseller lists?

    After Icebreaker's success led to a deal with Atria, Wildfire was a major release and debuted at No. 2 on the combined print and e-book bestseller list, confirming Hannah Grace as a chart-topping romance author.

  • Do I need to read Icebreaker before Wildfire?

    Not strictly. Wildfire centers on a new couple and stands on its own, but it shares the Maple Hills universe with Icebreaker and includes familiar faces, so reading in order adds context.

  • Do I need to read the previous book in the Maple Hills series to understand this story?

    This book functions as a standalone novel, so you can follow the plot without having read the first installment. While there are occasional references to the broader friend group and events from the series, they are not essential to understanding the central relationship between Russ and Aurora.

  • How does this book differ from the first book in the series?

    Unlike the first book which focuses on the competitive dynamics of figure skating and hockey at the university, this story shifts the setting entirely to a summer camp environment. The narrative centers on the personal growth of the two leads as they navigate their individual family struggles away from the college campus.

Read all 8 reviews