Publish Date: February 25, 2014
Kensington Books (Aphrodisia)
Sexy as sin and hot as hell, these firefighters smolder with passion and burn with desire. . .
“Fired Up” by Anne Marsh
Hannah Green watches for wildfires from an isolated fire tower in Sequoia National Park by day and radios Cajun firefighter Cole Henry at night to share carnal fantasies hot enough to start a forest fire. . .
“Sizzle” by Lynn LaFleur
When photojournalist Maysen Halliday arrives in Lanville to take calendar pictures of the sexiest firefighters in Texas, red hot Fire Chief Clay Spencer makes her want him for her own personal centerfold…
“Five-Alarm Masquerade” by Stacey Kennedy
With her home destroyed in a fire, Abby has only the muscular arms of a rock hard firefighter to hold her up and the dream of blazing hot nights of pure erotic pleasure to keep her going. . .
***
“Fired Up” by Anne Marsh: I’ve never seen a Cajun hero in a romance novel, so Cole provided a very welcome reprieve from the generic, mix-and-match protagonists in a lot of the novels I’ve read as of late. That accent, along with the sizzling chemistry between he and Hannah and the under appreciated phone sex angle, really made this story enjoyable for me, and I’m already planning to check out more of this lady’s books. I can’t really find any faults with this one – perfect pacing, tension, and character development.
“Sizzle” by Lynn LaFleur: This was my least favorite of the three. Clay was pretty bland; in stories this short, having a well-defined personality from the jump really counts, and he didn’t have it. I appreciate the fact that the author tried to subvert the big, bad, aggressive firefighter stereotype and create a character that was more romance-minded from the jump (makes the HEA much more believable, in my opinion, especially when they’ve only been together a week or so), Clay didn’t make me swoon. Even in the throes of passion, he seemed so stiff and formal. I also would’ve preferred more of an emphasis on his interaction with the fire squad rather than on his convenience store business (this IS a firefighting anthology, after all). It made the writing even more sluggish.
“Five-Alarm Masquerade” by Stacey Kennedy: Big kudos for the characters acknowledging the creepy stalker behavior rather than acting like it’s perfectly acceptable – that alone made this story worthwhile for me. And Gavin was the perfect mixture of alpha and beta. Overall, this was a really fun, light read for fighting the subzero temperatures and exams that have dominated my life this winter. 4/5 stars
I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
