Home / News / For Readers / Review / RELEASE DAY REVIEW ​by Lorna: Consumed By Fire by Anne Stuart (@TheAnneStuart , @Mollykatie112)
RELEASE DAY REVIEW ​by Lorna: Consumed By Fire by Anne Stuart (@TheAnneStuart , @Mollykatie112)
Leave a Comment on RELEASE DAY REVIEW ​by Lorna: Consumed By Fire by Anne Stuart (@TheAnneStuart , @Mollykatie112)
Evangeline Morrissey remembers the last time she saw her husband: it was during their honeymoon, right before he stole her elderly aunt's earrings and abandoned her. Now, five years later, the enigmatic man who'd broken her heart and destroyed her trust is back. But she's not the same naive young woman who fell for him so easily.
Marrying Evangeline and letting her think he was nothing but a common thief had been James Bishop's plan all along. As an assassin for the Committee, a covert agency dedicated to stamping out international crime, he had no business even thinking about marriage. But it was the only way to protect Evangeline after she'd unwittingly wandered into his operation against a group of human traffickers, placing herself in grave danger. And now that James's vigilant watch over Evangeline's life has revealed to his enemies that she's his one true weakness, he must set out to have, to hold, and—above all—to protect his bride.
RELEASED TODAY!
KEEP READING FOR LORNA'S REVIEW!
by Anne Stuart
As far as I am concerned, when it comes to dark romantic suspense, the author to read is Anne Stuart, and she has all the awards to prove it after a very long writing career. If this book is any indication, she is nowhere near done writing top notch romantic suspense. This is the first book in this series, but it also is a spin off of her extremely popular and exciting Ice Series. I received a copy of this book from the publisher by way of Net Galley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Evangeline Morrissey is an American academic on sabbatical in Italy. She manages to stumble into a murder scene in a church, but has no idea anyone has died. The murderers are still there, and when she goes to leave, one of them, a very handsome and charming man, offers her a ride back to her hotel. Against her better judgement she accepts, and little does she know the odyssey her life will be from then on. All James Bishop is supposed to do is find out what she saw, and take care of the problem. Somehow he can't bring himself to kill her.
The characters were pretty much the total opposites of each other. While Evangeline's life has been full of education, and teaching college, his life is full of evil, and death-caused by himself. The reader finds out that he works for The Committee, a group that fights for good, against terrorism in all it's forms, including human trafficking. Evangeline, of course doesn't know this, so spends a good bit of the book upset.
What follows is a romance, one with some very dark moments, some heartbreak, lots of scorching hot sex scenes, plenty of suspense, and yes, even death. The sexual scenes aren't made up of gratuitous sex, or filler, each scene definitely just adds more layers to the story. It was refreshing that Evangeline isn't gorgeous, she's fairly attractive, but not what most romances feature. And James is the ultimate alpha male, one that has no intentions of involving a woman in his lifestyle. You know what they say about the best laid plans..
I found the premise to be fairly plausible, the pace fast-especially in the last part of the book, ended up loving the characters, enjoyed seeing James actually fall in love, and the suspense just elevated the story up another level.
I loved this book, and would recommend it to adult romance/suspense readers.
The review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I've been writing since the dawn of time. A child prodigy, I made my first professional sale to Jack and Jill Magazine at the age of 7, for which I received $25 (admittedly my father worked for the publisher). Since then I've written gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, historical romance, series romance — anything with sex and violence, love and redemption. I misbehave frequently, but somehow have managed to amass lots of glittering prizes, like NYT, PW and USA Today bestseller status, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Romance Writers of America, and a decent smattering of Romantic times and RITA awards.
I live on a lake in Northern Vermont with my incredibly fabulous husband. My two children have flown the coop, but the three cats do their best to keep us from being lonely.
In my spare time I quilt and play around with wearable art, and the rest of the time I write write write. Apparently women of a certain age get a rush of creativity, and I'm currently enjoying it. Too many stories to write, not enough hours in the day.
Anne StuartConsumed By FireLorna
Previous ArticleREVIEW by Trish: Pretty Dancer by Cora Graham (@grahamcora1)
Next ArticleRELEASE DAY SPOTLIGHT & DELETED CHAPTER EXCERPT: Taking Heart (Healing Harts #2) by T.J. Kline
RELEASE DAY REVIEW by Lorna: Shadow Play (Eve Duncan #19) by Iris Johansen (@Iris_Johansen,@Mollykatie112)
99c Ebook Alert! Check out A KILLER'S DAUGHTER by Jenna Kernan!
Preorder Alert! Check out this short excerpt from MOONLIGHTER by JC Jaye!