Jumper

by Melanie Crowder

In a ripped-from-the-headlines story, nineteen-year-old Blair's passion for fighting fires lands her a spot with the Forest Service and sets her on a wilderness adventure that quickly turns catastrophic.

How far would you go to save yourself?

Blair Scott is in her second season as a wildland firefighter when the Forest Service puts out a call for an additional class of smokejumpers. She and her best friend Jason both apply, though neither expects to get in since they’re only nineteen. But it’s been a devastating fire season, and they are both accepted. But going to training camp is only the first step—everyone expects the teenage rookies will wash out in the first week. Blair has always been touchy about people telling her she isn’t good enough, so she begins taking unnecessary risks to prove herself. It doesn’t take long before everything spins out of control, leaving Blair struggling to cope.

A story of courage, self-knowledge, and ultimate triumph over the elements, Jumper is a dramatic wilderness adventure that explores what it takes to survive—in every sense of the word.

Genres: Young Adult, Adventure, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, LGBT

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2022

About the author

Melanie Crowder graduated in 2011 with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of JUMPER, MAZIE, THREE PENNIES, AN UNINTERRUPTED VIEW OF THE SKY, A NEARER MOON, AUDACITY, PARCHED, and THE LIGHTHOUSE BETWEEN THE WORLDS and A WAY BETWEEN WORLDS.

A West Coast girl at heart, Melanie now lives and writes in the beautiful state of Colorado.

Reviews

[Bookishrealm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh...this was such a disappointment. This is a prime example where adding rep for the idea of adding rep just doesn't go as planned. The premise is exciting and I won't lie and say that I wasn't intrigued by the idea of a smoke jumper who is not only queer, but also has diabetes. I will say for the sake of this review that I come from a long line of immediate family members that are diabetics; however, I am not diabetic and do implore you to check out the reviews from readers who are diabetic. Content Warnings: death on page

Jumper is a YA contemporary that follows Blair Scott as she enters her second season as a wildland firefighter. When more smoke jumpers are requested, Blair decides to apply with her best friend Jason. However, Blair has yet to reveal that she has diabetes because she feels the need to prove that she is just as capable as anyone else. This, unfortunately, gets Blair into a lot more trouble than expected.

The only thing that I genuinely enjoyed about this book was the descriptions about what it takes to be a smoke jumper and what happens when someone becomes a smoke jumper. Outside of that, this book was a huge problem. Not only did the queer rep (f/f) feel forced, but the descriptions of Blair being a diabetic appeared to lack any form of research. Once again, I'm simple going off of what I have experienced growing up around diabetics; however, I would check the reviews of those that actually have diabetes. In fact, there is an article where Crowder states that Blair was originally was supposed to have a rib injury, but then she was challenged by her editor to make it an "internal" challenge. I'm sorry....what?!? So, Blair only is a diabetic in the story because an editor wanted to change the direction of the story. That's exactly why this book reads so wrong in terms of the representation. You can't just pivot and use someone's disability to make the story more interesting. That shows a lack of regard and respect for those who do have diabetes.

Honestly, even outside of the representation issues that I have with this book, I didn't find it to be that impactful or interesting. The writing wasn't thrilling or interesting. I thought the pacing was off especially with a major event that happens toward the end of the book. Blair is hard to like as a character because she's not allowed to be human outside of her disability. This is why lived experiences are so important when writing novels of this nature or at least extensive and thorough research that includes sensitivity readers. I don't think Crowder or her editor could be so bothered to take any of this into consideration and it shows in the text. The idea of this being a fun and new topic explored in YA is completely and totally ruined by the lack of regard for the representation. I'm so disappointed because this was one that I was excited to check out.

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of the book was good, I liked learning more about people who fight forest fires but once the book was over I can not get over how selfish the main character was even when she was warned that what she was doing could put people at risk she kept on doing it and it wasn't until another person paid the ultimate price for her lack of common sense that she realized her mistake. A person's death should not be used as a "learning experience" , she knew what she was doing, she knew the risks but other people paid the price...Good plot, horrible main character. !

[Kassy Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, don't finish this one on your lunch break at work. I cried through probably the last fifth of the book and then had to come back from lunch late to take some time to compose myself.

Second, stick with it until the end. For the first half of the book, I wasn't sure what all the hype was about. Yeah, it's pretty cool that she's a teenage, female wildfire fighter. And yeah, it's pretty badass that she does that in spite of having Type 1 diabetes. The smoke jumper training was interesting enough, but I was kind of like, "Where's the plot?"

Well, things escalated quickly. I knew from the beginning that we were headed for a disaster, and it arrived with a vengeance. The last part of the book was very emotional and very moving. I was rooting for Blair until the very end. I'm still getting a little teary thinking about it.

I'm not sure whether I like that it was on the short side, or if I think it could have used another 50-100 pages to develop some of the other characters some more. I think part of the problem is that I was listening to the audio on 1.5 speed, and she talks fast. I probably should have knocked the speed down, but I have a lot of books to finish in not a lot of time, so I didn't feel like I could.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. To athletic girls who feel like they've got something to prove. To those who just like outdoorsy adventure stories. To anyone who loves the rugged landscape of the Colorado/Montana western U.S. To those who like ability diverse stories. To those who like badass female protagonists. To those who love their best friends with a fierceness that's almost painful. To anyone who has ever dealt with grief.

Also, one last thought, where the heck were Blair's parents for the last part of the book??? Her aunt is amazing, but still.

[Sydney | sydneys.books]

f/f romance and type 1 diabetes rep!

[Kelly]

Blair was a great, prickly, determined, hard-headed, stubborn, and extremely driven main character who kept the story going. But the speed of Jason's death and how everyone got over it immediately and told her to get over it made me so disappointed because up until then, I was all-in in the story. That took me out completely . I did love the diabetes representation--I've had diabetes and know how much it limited me and it was only temporary--and thought the setting and Blair taking a non-traditional non-college career path after high school was refreshing. Give this one to readers who want adventure stories.

[Crowinator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story with a tragic but inspiring ending.

[Beth Gawlik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. As the mother of a type 1 diabetic, I am always on the lookout for books with diabetes representation. Once in awhile, I find a gem that gets it all or mostly right. More often than not I am disappointed by inaccuracies that could so easily have been prevented with more research and a sensitivity reader who actually has diabetes. Unfortunately this book was one that disappointed me. The author does get most of the terminology right, and Blair's treatment plan and tech are very up to date. But so many little details are mixed up, or wrong, or not explained well. Just as a for instance, the author seems to have no understanding of how paying for durable medical devices like insulin pumps work and the fact that just getting a prescription for one from a doctor does not automatically get you one. I could even let that one slide, if there weren't so many other errors. And that's really sad, because there's so much to love about this book. The writing is beautiful. The descriptions of the fires are evocative and really make you feel like you're there. Blair's emotional journey is believable, relatable, and well-plotted. But in the end I can't recommend the book because it's yet another piece of media that gets diabetes wrong. I don't expect everything a character with type 1 diabetes experiences to be the same as my daughter's experience. There are as many ways to experience diabetes are there are people with diabetes. However, I do expect what could happen to a diabetic in the situations Blair is put in to be portrayed accurately and this book doesn't do that.

[Libby Ames · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feeling on this book. I love the premise of a girl with type 1 diabetes fighting her way into the field of forest fire jumping. I learned a lot about fire fighting and the demands of the profession. The details on diabetes were questionable for me. Having a close friend with type 1 who has participated in Ironman Triathalons, I believe wholeheartedly in the strength of body and mind in spite of diabetes. However, Blair's experience and her insistance on hiding her condition did not feel believable to me. I know it added to the drama of the story, but I think it would have been more of a victory if she was open about her struggles.

Also, I struggled with Blair as a character. I wanted someone a little less myopic and whiny. However, for adventure readers who are less picky than I am, I would recommend this book.

[Maggie Hundshamer-Moshier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard for me to read although I really did enjoy it. I am all for people pushing their limits and following their dream, but to hide such a life altering condition like diabetes from a job where the main character literally puts everyone else’s life at risk is obscured. Her action or lack of them could literally kill others and in fact did. The premise is great and the story was good, but her hissy fits about things that were legit important were obnoxious and the fact that grown adults in her life allowed her reckless choices astounded me.

[Allyson Bogie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m giving this book five stars - not because it’s a brilliant feat of literary fiction or has perfect writing - but because it’s going to be such a great book to recommend for middle and high school. The story is super engaging, you learn without it being didactic, the main character is interesting and complicated, it doesn’t all tie up in a bow at the end, but it does have a good ending.

Definitely need to be sensitive about recommending this due to the role of wildfire, although no one’s house burns down or town is affected - it’s about the firefighters out in the forest and their experiences.

[MamaJerome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep. Loved everything about this book. Even though it was pretty predictable, it was well written, and I feel like I learned something about fire and jumpers.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides such a vivid portrayal of the world of wildland firefighting that it's almost impossible to believe that the author hasn't spent her entire adult life immersing herself first hand in the day-to-day work of this crucial and enormously challenging career. From the nitty-gritty (often very gritty!) technical details of the work itself to the depiction of the culture of firefighters and most of all to the passion those on the front lines share for this mission, Crowder delivers an unforgettable story of one young female wildfire fighter. In pursuit of her dream to be a fire jumper, Blair Scott drives herself too hard and has to live with the tragic aftermath of some of her choices. But just as green shoots poke through the soil of a scorched forest (as beautifully depicted in Crowder's exquisite prose), redemptive new life can come for Blair as well. Unforgettable.

[Kit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Approximately 25 years ago, when I was a teenager, I saw my first article about smoke jumpers. I was ona road trip to Yellowstone and the idea of someone jumping out of a plane to fight fire was captivating. I was in Yellowstone shortly after the fire in 1988, I've seen how quickly a fire can rip through the wilderness, and the devestation that it leaves in its wake. I've also studied land management, attended innumerable ranger talks about how you have to do your best to prepare with controled burns and cleaning out the underbrush when you can, about why fire is actually good for the forest, and why you have to be ready to protect the buildings and people if the fire rages to close. To say I've been interested in wilderness fires for decades sounds odd, but there's something about how the fires move and especially the people who choose to step in front of them and try to contain them, is interesting. So when I saw this book up for review I knew I had to grab it if I could. Jumper didn't disappoint at all.

Focusing primarily on Bianca, a girl fresh out of high school who has dreamed of being a smoke jumper for what seems like her whole life, and due to several factors she is getting her chance way earlier then anticipated. Is she ready? yes. She has prepared forever, but she also has one giant thing that can hold her back, and that is her diabetes. It's hard to manage and she knows she can't disclose it to her trainers because they will send her packing, so while she knows mentally she can do this thing, she also knows that at any moment her body might betray her.

The story starts towards the end, we know immediately that something has gone horrible wrong. Bianca seems like she's had a close call with a fire, she's being interrograted about something, and she's both angry and sad... but at the outset we have no idea what's happened. This was a GREAT intro, in my mind I immediately began thinking about what I thought the issue was, all throughout the story I felt the pieces coming together as Bianca made her way through her smoke jumper training with her best friend Jason and the other Rookies. I felt like the story was leading us one way as she dealt with other recruits, her trainers, and her disease. And then... then I was wrong. Whatever I thought was going to happen to land Bianca covered in smoke, angry and being questioned, was not even close to what actually happened and the story is so much better for it.

I'm not going to give the twist away, but it works just right. It hits you in the gut and then sets you up for everything that comes in the last part of the book perfectly.

What I like best about this book is that you can tell how much research went into it to make it feel real. The author's note at the back makes it clear that while its highly unlikely a teenager would ever make smoke jumper, everything else about the training and things that the smoke jumpers experience has been researches so that those aspects of the story are spot on. I love research, truly, so I always appreciate when you can tell an author put the work in to really nail it. All that care makes it so easy to fall into the story and be invested in where Bianca is and where she's going. I would read 100 more books following Bianca as she becomes the smoke jumper she always wanted to be.

[BookEater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss and Penguin Random House for an early copy!


What better book to read while on a rewatch of Chicago Fire?

Jumper will give you an insight into the lives of firefighters who have to deal with wildfires. That's something I barely knew anything about, as I live somewhere where wildfires are basically unheard of. I barely even knew smokejumpers were a thing – and believe me, I spent a lot of time Googling to match the descriptions to an actual picture!

There's one thing 19-year-old has always wanted, and that's becoming part of the smokejumpers, the elite force that gets parachuted in the middle of wildfires. Usually, there would be no way such a young woman would become a smokejumper, but in the middle of an awful wildfires season, Blair and her best friend, Jason, get to go to training camp.
And the painful training is just the first step...

Blair was someone I could very well visualise. A young woman who has a dream, and will let nothing or no one stop her. No matter that very few women are firefighters, and that the few chosen ones have to deal with criticism from their male colleagues – Blair knows what she wants, and she's absolutely not shy in doing everything she needs to get it.
Obviously (this is a novel, after all, bad stuff has to happen!), her determination will cause her more than a few issues...

Honestly, I very much enjoyed learning about smokejumpers – the stuff they use, the way they're trained, how they deal with fires. All the chapters that took place in the training camp were highly interesting, and you could feel the pressure Blair was putting on her shoulders.
I also really enjoyed the action scenes, where she had to fight fires with her firefighter colleagues – actually makes you feel the heat of a fire just reading it!

The parts that I found less enjoyable were the love interest scene. I won't spoil it too much, but it felt like representation that was just put there to add a bit more tension and that romantic aspect that works so well in other books. It didn't really bring anything to the book (except maybe at the very end) and just added some unnecessary (to me) scenes.

I also felt really let down by the end of the story. Things happen very quickly, in the space of maybe five chapters. It's reaaaaally hard to say more without spoiling the entire plot twist, but suffice it to say that such a big event deserved more than a few chapters. The issue was sort of dealt with very quickly, when it should have been life-changing.

I would absolutely recommend this book to teenagers (13+) who are obsessed with firefighters and want some easy action for their summer reading!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. I really liked the premise of the story, especially as a current resident of Montana who began reading this book in Missoula on a trip, and got to drive by a sign that said “Smokejumper Base”!

As a more visual learner, I struggled to picture a lot of the training and fire conditions and procedures that were described in the book. I feel like it could have benefited from illustrations to really bring out these elements. The interspersed fire rules and fire lookouts, etc. were interesting, but didn’t seem to add a lot to the flow or impact of the book.

In regards to Type 1 Diabetes, I appreciated seeing that representation, but as someone who knows so little about it, I’m definitely listening to all the other reviews by people who have such chronic condition.

I thought the book cover’s tag line - “How far would you go to save yourself?” was either a little misleading or could be interpreted different ways. After getting some into the book, I thought Blair might end up a situation where she had to pack out from a fire, but had used up most of her rations and had to make decisions that would impact her blood sugar significantly or something. But perhaps the author meant it to be about Blair saving herself in terms of her reputation?

Lastly, that death was a doozy, and just did not sit well with me in any sense. It was definitely an instant “wait, what?!” moment. To share at the end that there aren’t smokejumpers this young, but to take away one of their lives (in writing)…. I do appreciate the acknowledgment, however, that with climate change going the way it is and a a shortage of wildfire fighting crews, this could be a possibility in the very near future.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a 3.5? I ended up liking the book, but it took me a good three quarters to make that statement. I do like the format of the book. Examples from smokejumper manuals. Bits that read as if from a magazine article about how a fire starts with some careless action of a hiker somewhere. The glossaries sprinkled throughout. It all builds the story and the reader’s knowledge.

I liked the voice representation of a 19 yo, queer, tall, diabetic smokejumper. That’s not something you get on the regular. I appreciate that some have criticized how the diabetes was handled, but as someone who doesn’t know a whole lot about it I thought it was fine. I think it matches up with what I know: insulin levels must be regulated by insulin, food and activity. What came across is that this is a difficult dance especially for someone who wants to do something so physical.

I think what got me to really like Blair was the way Jason’s death was handled. I may not know about diabetes, but I know plenty about loss. Crowder did a good job of putting heartbreak on the page. And the healing that comes with time. For those of us lucky enough to heal enough to live again. The pain is always there. And I absolutely loved the line, “The only way to sit with grief like that is to live big and love big, just like he did.” That resonates with me and I’ve lost so many people. I try to live as much as I can for them, in honor of them.

So overall, I’d lean to a four because I think this book could be a window for a lot of readers. It is way different and I am grateful for that for our teens.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smokejumpers in YA fiction! Excellent. I do not want this job (and I definitely don't want the training it entails), but my gosh. What a thing to do.

I don't know much about Blair's medical condition type 1 diabetes, but for Blair it's something that she has to manage constantly—and fighting wildland fires makes it all the harder.

The spoiler tag above is a minor spoiler, but let's discuss the real spoilers: Blair takes to the wild with her longtime best friend, Jason. They're both good at what they do—teenagers, but they've worked hard for this. And yet, Blair also knows that she's the biggest reason Jason is there; without her to look out for, he'd probably be playing football at a four-year college.

It doesn't take a psychic to guess, early on, that Jason will either die or be very badly injured, likely because of something to do with Blair (or, more specifically, Blair's diabetes). And I get it—when the stakes are your best friend, the person you care most about, the stakes are high. But...maybe I wouldn't have minded a little subversion of expectations here. Instead of Jason dying, why not another firefighter—in a way that both she and Jason both have to wrestle with? Or something that tears them apart emotionally, in a way that can't be repaired by the end of the book... It's not that it's badly done as it is (it's well done, and certainly there were facets that I didn't expect), but when the climax is exactly the climax I know is coming, even if the precise details aren't clear ahead of time, I tend to wonder about ways to take the ending and twist it.

[Nandita Khurana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn I was a bit disappointed, due to the fact I studied emergency management for the past 4 years and actually had instances where I analysed the work smoke jumpers do.

So when I heard that there was a YA novel about smoke jumpers and within my area of study I brought the book on pre-order and waited for it. Just to realise that it was nothing I expected.

Blair I had a love and hate relationship with her character, at first I was happy that she was both physically and mentally strong.
Overall the fire characterisations where gorgeous it made me feel like I was watching a nacional geographic documentary or the manuals I read during my degree.

Then the weird part for me was how fast everyone got over Jason’s death. I would have loved if there was a longer time skip where Blair has matured and is an experienced smoke jumper. Just to see that everything is ok with her it kind of ended on a depressing solemn note that I kept asking myself if she truly is ok and just wanting to give her a hug, I do wish she ended up with someone else beside Watters.

Anyway no hate I do wish that YA authors wrote books within the emergency sector, my 17 year old self would have been so happy.

[Victoria B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The firefighting/smokejumping aspect was interesting, but I really did not care for the MC. She was arrogant, cocky, entitled, selfish, antisocial...it was off-putting. While her best friend was constantly putting her and her safety first, she was taking unnecessary risks to hide her illness & "prove" herself and showed little regard for him or his safety (in practice; in her head she seemed concerned but if she truly was, she wouldn't have been so careless with her condition or taking so many risks to prove her worth at his expense).

Quote where I began to strongly dislike her:
Jason snorts. "They're desperate. It's the only explanation."
"Speak for yourself." I may be young, but I deserve this, no matter what anybody thinks.
She's a teenage temporary hire who believes she deserves an elite position. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Like, it's great that she's confident, but she doesn't deserve anything yet...it's not like she's worked for this for years.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost DNFed, but I pushed through. The plot was predictable, and the writing was decent, but a lot of the dialogue came across as unnatural, but what really chapped my hide was the main character, Blair, and her "unnecessary risks." I mean, it's one thing to put yourself at risk, but when your actions endanger others, you're being selfish and immature. Of course, Blair is only 19, so maybe that's Crowder's point. My low rating is due to the overwhelming stupidity and stubbornness that Blair displays throughout the book, but there's also a part of me that sees the cautionary tale Crowder is trying to tell. I guess because I've seen other authors (Shusterman in Roxy or McGinnis in Heroine) spin cautionary tales and tap my empathy rather than my anger, I'm reluctant to rate this one highly. But, I'm open to debate. What's your take on this one?

[Kry Tiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blair has just scored a spot in a smokejumpers course with her best friend, Jason. All her life, she's only ever wanted to be a wildland firefighter. She has always been determined to never let anything stop her or get in her way, even her diabetes. With the help of Jason, she's always been able to manage. But when things go horribly wrong, Blair is forced into a position she's been trying so hard to avoid.

Unique read. I did enjoy it, but I know nothing about firefighters and the depths they have to go through in order to make the team. This book helps you realize that it's not only about putting out fires, it's about working in a team, knowing you can't do everything on your own, and to know your limits. There's no need to risk it all when you can control so much.

[Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a topic that I don't see covered in YA almost ever. About a girl who decides to become a smoke jumper to help fight wildfires. And she has type 1 diabetes and is interested in women! We are here for that representation. I actually didn't a lot about the way that people fight wildfires, either, so that whole aspect of the book was interesting.

Outside of that, the main plot wasn't super original, and it was a bit predictable. But I think this book would be a great recommendation for teens that are reluctant readers. It's fast-paced with a lot of action, and there's a bit of a survival aspect to it as well. Not a bad overall read!

[Lavabearian (Jessica) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first boom I have ever read about smoke jumpers, but as we have cousins who have done this for years here in Oregon/Idaho, I found the details to be accurate to stories they have shared about the intensity of their trainings and the adrenaline rush of the jump. I also have two type 1 diabetics in the family and the way Blair seems ashamed of it, I am sure is also accurate in some cases, but luckily for us, our two family members want the extra eyes on them when we hike/camp/play outside. I am also writing this as Oakridge Oregon is once again closed for blazing fires with fingers crossed that the wind dies down for containment purposes.

[Bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so bad: a female wildfire firefighter with loft goals and aspirations AND had type 1 Diabetes to maintain through tall the physicality of her job?? Sounds amazing! Especially as I’m a female first response.The repetition, however, overshadowed anything this book could’ve become. We get it, you’re a young female, you have to prove yourself, I’ve BEEN there. But at what cost? Like, damn, open your eyes. It’s not YOU versus everyone but your best friend. That kind of community is tight knit, you have to be to do that job. Sure there’s your typically male chauvinism, but not EVERYONE is like that. I’m mad at how much I wanted to like this book 😭

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blair is a diabetic and feels she has to prove she is stronger especially hiding her diabetes. Jason her best friend is a Jumper like Blair mainly to protect Blair, they get recruited for Jumper Training and make it to the end. Blair has a diabetic episode and Jason forces her back to the safe zone, on the way Jason dies. Blair’s diabetes is exposed and quite being a Jumper, it is her love interest that wakes her up to being a Jumper and moving on from grief to being a Jumper for Jason. I loved it very interesting to learn about being a Jumper. It was fast paced but not overwhelming highly recommended.

[Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a quick read perfect for summer.
More than once I almost put it down because while the author clearly made an effort to research wildland fire and included things like terminology and standard firefighting orders between chapters, it was just not realistic enough for a reader who's actually worked in fire. I also kept thinking the interludes would have something to do with the next chapter, but they were mostly odd bonus material. Jumper isn't exactly a light read, but it could be a LOT more intense and for those without fire experience is an engaging story. The last third of the book resonated with me a lot more and it's worth checking out if you like rescue stories.

[Kristina Brownell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The audiobook narrator was great, as were the descriptions of what it takes to be a smoke jumper. I enjoyed learning about that, but there was something about this book that just didn’t feel right. Maybe the main character’s stubbornness that leads to tragic consequences? Or maybe how her aunt took the place of her parents? Or maybe it just felt too contrived to have this diabetic, lesbian young adult woman trying to make it in a “man’s world “. All I do know is that I didn’t like it very much.

[LPMS Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this young-adult book has so much potential with a kick-butt protagonist who adds voice to the LGBTQIA+ and diabetic (type-one) communities, the overall story falls short when it comes to character likability and plot predictability - both elements that tend to lose reader interest and focus.

Readers will learn a lot about smokejumping and the bravery of wildland firefighting, which is so relevant to life in the American West today, but those crucial elements may not outweigh the painful conclusion of Blair's story.

[Riley Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Want a bland novel with a main character who is so desperate to prove herself that she causes issues for everyone around her? You got her then, and that's Blair. Also, want a book on repeat for about 250 pages? Here you go. Train, complain, worry about her diabetes, and proving herself. That's it. That's the whole book, save for the end.

The only redeeming qualities of this book was the surrounding concepts of the main character being gay and a diabetic. Both were tackled well enough. Everything else is meh.

I wouldn't recommend this unless you're starving for something to read.