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Midge (525 KP) rated Playing with Fire in Books

Jan 29, 2019  
Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire
Jen Talty | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Full of drama, romance and hot desire (2 more)
Good character development
Great plot
A Great, Spicy Romance Novella!
Wow, Jen Talty is straight into all of the action and keeps it coming with this thrilling romance novella, set in Lake George, New York. It is a delightful story that has a bit of everything, from drama and hot desire to tension and conflict, there is something for everyone.

I really like that, in the opening chapter, we are introduced to hot and sexy fire-fighter, Cade Nash. Next, we meet his gorgeous new neighbour, but Heather Holbrook is a dentist and Cade has a deep-rooted fear of dentists, dating back to a bad experience from his childhood. Cade loves to help people in their hour of need so when Heather’s car has a flat battery and she needs a jump-start, he is there to assist.

Heather has recently divorced and is trying to start over in her new neighbourhood. After leaving her abusive husband, she just wants a happy, quiet life. You could immediately sense that there was an intense physical attraction between Cade and Heather and one of the highlights of the book was following how they dealt with their emotionally-charged feelings for one another. After some problems with her ex-husband, Heather is forced to rely on Cade more than she would have chosen to, until he oversteps the mark, although his main goal was to protect her. Can Heather forgive him?

I thought both the plot and the character development were great and found the story-line to be very believable. The story is well-told, captivating and engaging. It held my interest right from the beginning and I found myself rooting for both Heather and Cade as they tried to deal with all of their conflicting emotions. This was a short, fast-paced read with plenty of action, some suspense and lots of lust and love. I enjoyed their instant attraction and the banter between them and I laughed-out-loud a few times while reading it. I thought the ending was very appropriate for this great novella.

I have been inspired to read more from Jen Talty and I highly recommend "Playing With Fire."

Thank you to Hidden Gems and the author, Jen Talty for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.
  
American Hippo (River of Teeth, #1-2)
American Hippo (River of Teeth, #1-2)
Sarah Gailey | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I actually read these volumes as separate books, so I have two separate reviews here.

River of Teeth (Part 1):
I somehow missed that this was a novella, every time I looked at it online. It wasn't until I checked it out from the library and was shocked at how small it was that I made that discovery. It was a welcome one, since I checked out seven other books that day, and finding something short was a relief!

And I AM SO GLAD I finally read this, because it's AMAZING. It opens on Winslow seducing a federal agent, and quickly moves to him gathering up a crew to drive feral hippos out of a marsh in Louisiana. I was expected a fun hippo-cowboy romp, and I got that - what I wasn't expected was strong, deadly women, a bisexual male hero, a nonbinary love interest, and hippo steeds. I don't know why hippo steeds didn't occur to me - it's not like they could wrangle hippos from atop horses! There is so much goodness packed into this little volume.

River of Teeth: short and sweet, action-packed with amazing characters and a fascinating, bizarre, but historical premise.

Taste of Marrow (Part 2):
Another quick novella, Taste of Marrow is the sequel to the bizarre alternate history novella River of Teeth. It picks up a few months after the ending of the first - people have had a chance to heal their injuries from the explosive ending of the first book, and hippos have begun to spread to previously safe waterways. The cast of this book consists of the surviving characters from the first, plus only one more semi-important character.

It's not quite as good as the first - no explosions and it's less of a rollercoaster - but there is some character development, and a deeper exploration of a few characters than we saw in the first book. I wish my library had the omnibus edition, because it includes two short stories set in the same world, and I'm very curious which aspects of the world she explored in those.

But this is a fun pair of books, very quick, easy reads, and it's just fun to say you're reading a book about hippos and cowboys!

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
Smolder (Underground Encounters #1)
Smolder (Underground Encounters #1)
Lisa Carlisle | 2012 | Erotica, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Smolder (Underground Encounters #1) by Lisa Carlisle
Smolder is the first book in the Underground Encounters series, and we start off this new series with a blast - quite literally! Nike, and her best friend Maya, are the only two firefighters where they work, and they both like 'alternative' music. So whenever they get some time off, they go to Vamps, the best 'alternative' club. Nike is a very shy person, which is often mistaken for her being bitchy. So when she sees the man she has been lusting after from the local rock-climbing club at Vamps, she stumbles over her words. Things move quickly between them, and the story really kicks in.

This is a fast-paced novella, and that really is my only complaint about this book! I would have loved to have known more. I loved Nike, and her common-sense, no-nonsense, approach to something that she seriously wasn't expecting. Michel is a perfect partner for her, a case of opposites attracting. With attraction, danger, lust, and supernaturals, this book was very well written, drawing the reader into the world without any trouble. There were no editing or grammatical errors that I noticed, and I thoroughly enjoyed this first novella. Looking forward to the next book in this series. Definitely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!