There is nothing I enjoy more then an indomitable, intelligent heroine. The opening chapter of RiverTime proves that Casey Lord has the right stuff in matters of survival, even though her senses do go out the window sometimes when she has to cope with Jack Raines.

Casey Lord’s boyfriend, Reed, has been pressuring her to get married, and taking a much needed respite to the Grand Canyon doesn’t quite work out like she planned. While river rafting on the Colorado River, a flash flood seizes her raft, pulling her down the river and away from her group. Luckily before drowning becomes an actuality, the raft is grounded on a sandbar. Casey is not completely unprepared. Last year as a joke a fellow student gave her the book, The Worst Case Scenario: A Guide to Survival, but Casey, always the academician, read it in its entirety. As she is scouting out shelter, she is horrified to see a body in the water. Working frantically, she pulls the man to shore, and determines that he is suffering from hypothermia. Choosing mouth to mouth air exchange over skin to skin contact to warm him up, Casey is astonished, when the unconscious man kisses her back.

Jack Raines, after his dunk in the river, recovers but instead of being grateful, just acts petulant. He is out of his element here. After all, beautiful women tend to pursue, but Casey isn’t. At first he assumes she is just playing hard to get, but soon believes that she doesn’t really know who he is. Being around her is like a breath of fresh air, and he wants to do the right thing. However as the days stretch out, and he spends more time with Casey, the temptation becomes too much to handle. Ten days later they are rescued, but the time spent together has altered them both. Nevertheless, many obstacles keep them apart.

While the plot device of the heroine and hero being stranded together is not new, I enjoyed Ms. Renzi’s take on it. She has a very appealing way of describing the surroundings and basic survival techniques. Although, I do have to say that I am not capable of believing that hypothermia can be treated by blowing air into a breathing person’s lungs since most people would instinctively fight the breath. Still, it made for a amusing set up.

I really enjoyed this author’s style of writing as she effectively integrates humor and sensuality. The heroine is engaging with her book learning and lack of guile. The hero is provocative and seductive, and the secondary characters are interesting. Most of the relationship building is done in the beginning, with the conflict starting after the rescue. For me, this resulted in a sluggish middle but the book pacing did pick up soon after, and recapture my attention. While I wasn’t particularly fond of the rebound action that the heroine takes, it is an effective conflict. There is a mystery, but it is easy to figure out who is the antagonist. While some plot devices didn’t quite work for me, the author’s talented writing overcame my qualms resulting in an enjoyable read. Both the hero and heroine have some legal issues which are skillfully handled and though this is somewhat spoilerish, I did want to mention it, since some readers are more sensitive to this sort of thing than others.

If you enjoy discovering new authors as much as I did, then RiverTime should be on your list of books to buy. I plan on checking out future works by this author.