Whitewater Rendezvous [Paperback]

Kim Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Danger, destiny, and romance on the river.A wilderness kayak adventure brings together two very different women—Chaz Herrick, a laid-back outdoorswoman, and Megan Maxwell, a workaholic news executive. As they battle the challenges of nature for survival, they discover that true love may be nothing at all like they imagined.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933110384
• ISBN-13: 978-1933110387
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Baldwin has published eleven novels and six short stories with Bold Strokes Books. Her latest release is High Impact, her third Alaskan adventure. Next up is Demons are Forever, the fifth book in the Elite Operatives Series, which comes out in March 2012. Her work has been translated into Dutch, Russian, and Spanish, and she narrated an audiobook version of her novel Breaking the Ice, available from dogearaudio.com

Breaking the Ice won a 2010 Independent Publisher Book Award, the Silver Medal in the Romance Category, and First Place, Contemporary Fiction in the 2011 Rainbow Awards for Excellence, awarded by the GLBT Chapter of the Romance Writers of America.It also won a 2010 Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Award. Missing Lynx was a 2011 Lambda Literary Award Finalist, won a 2010 Golden Crown Literary Society Award, two 2011 Lesbian Fiction Reader's Choice Awards, and Honorable Mention in the 2010 GLBT Rainbow Awards. Thief of Always won a 2010 Golden Crown Literary Society Award and two 2010 Lesbian Fiction Readers' Choice Awards.Three other novels have won Lesbian Fiction Readers' Choice Awards, five have been finalists for Golden Crown Literary Society Awards, and one was voted second Favorite International Fiction Book by Dutch readers. Kim is also a 2008 recipient of an Alice B. Readers Appreciation Award for her body of work.

After 20 years as a network news journalist, she returned to her home state of Michigan to live in a cabin in the woods, but she keeps her passport and camera handy to hit the road whenever possible.
You can find more information on her website: www.kimbaldwin.com
Contact her at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect romantic novel, July 2, 2006

By 

E. B. MULLIGAN "Bronwyn" (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whitewater Rendezvous (Paperback)

This is just what I was looking for in a romance. No crime, no dastardly characters, no life threatening illness to overcome.

Simply a beautiful love story.

Megan is 32, living in Chicago and working as the executive producer for a national news station. She has it all, terrific job, terrific friends, terrific health and a terrific sex life. The only thing missing is romantic love. Her heart was shattered 5 years earlier and she no longer has the desire for a relationship. She has become something of a workaholic but is very satisfied with what she has because she knows she can never be hurt again.

Chaz is a wilderness guide in the Alaskan summer and a professor during the academic year at the local college in Fairbanks. She is a super likable person and is probably everyone's best friend. She is passionate about the outdoors and loves her life. She has had plenty of girlfriends but never a relationship. It seems no one she has dated had created that spark.

The story begins with Meg and her 5 friends being guided by Chaz and the other guide, Sally, on a trip via kayak through the wilderness in June.

What makes this a page turner is the wonderful writing. The description of the landscape and the trip itself is so fascinating that you want to sign up for the next trip. The interplay between all 8 people on the trip makes this romance come alive. The chemistry between Chaz and Meg is apparent but Meg is running from the chance of any emotional entanglement and Chaz can't see the sense of getting involved briefly with someone who lives 3 time zones away.

The peril of both journeys (thru the wilderness and to find love) make this a great read.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautifully Sculpted Book, June 15, 2006

By 

P. Bigelow (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whitewater Rendezvous (Paperback)

Megan Maxwell is a workaholic. She is a VP of a news division of a television company. She is stressed to the max. When her friends in the Broadcast Broads group decide to go kayaking in Alaska for their annual vacation together, she reluctantly agrees to go. The trip will change her life. The group's guide Chaz Herrick teaches biology in Fairbanks during the winter and does guide duties in the summer. As with Megan, the trip with the Broadcast Broads will change her life.

Kim Baldwin has written a beautifully sculpted book. There is excitement, danger, and romance. She describes the scenery with loving detail (be prepared to feel the spray of the water on your face or so the author makes you believ), her characters are fully realized, and the romance charming. Her two protagonists are well-rounded individuals whom you want to know in real life.

Baldwin's characters must overcome Chaz's reluctance to be involved with a client, Megan's bitchiness because Chaz looks just like her ex, and, finally, distance - Alaska vs Illinois. How they make that trip is what makes this book one of the best in the genre.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vacillated...., July 5, 2006

By 

Bobbrun "lvsamystry" (OH USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Whitewater Rendezvous (Paperback)

Could not decide between 5 stars and 4 stars...I guess the romance part should garner 5, but, the believability is definitely 4. I found it hard to believe that the "tour"guide could have found something so incredibly edible (the "touree") after being on the trail for several days. Could also not put my brain around the fact that a very high paid executive would give up her life in the city for a life in the wilderness. Could I possibly be this much out of touch with life?