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FEEL THE FIRE - Adrianne Byrd Harlequin Kimani/Arabesque November 2007 |
SYNOPSIS: In this stunning sequel to "The Beautiful Ones," business mogul Jonas Hinton has learned to stay clear of gorgeous women and the heartbreak they bring. But a chance meeting with confident, sexy attorney Toni Wright stirs a longing he tries to deny.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE |4+| Susan Plummer
REVIEW: Living with love can be scary but try living
without, as noted author Adrianne Byrd portrays in yet another keeper,
FEEL THE FIRE.
As singer Eric Benet says in his song, “love don’t love me,” so it seems
love doesn’t love entrepreneur Jonas Hinton. On the day he is to wed the
love of his life she confesses to loving someone else. Needless to say,
he is devastated. A year later and still reeling from her betrayal he
meets sassy attorney Toni Wright. Toni is the type of woman who knows
what she wants and she wants Jonas but he’s not biting at her bait so
she decides to move. After all, there are plenty of other fishes in the
sea. Many months pass and their paths cross again. This time Jonas is
ready to start something with Toni. There is one problem; she is now
dating his brother. Once again it seems Jonas cannot catch a break. As
luck would have it, his brother graciously bows out after learning that
Jonas met Toni first. Both Toni and Jonas being commitment phobic,
decide on a no-strings-attached relationship but neither counted on
their heart strings becoming so attached it becomes a slow death when
they part ways. It seems only an act of God or maybe a couple of
meddling brothers can get these two estranged lovebirds to FEEL THE
FIRE they are both missing.
Ms. Byrd’s plot is artfully executed with the first sentence evoking a
need -- a need to see what’s next. The use of multiple characters to
tell the story is a great idea and makes it that much more interesting.
Fast, fast, is the only way to describe the pacing of this book because
it is reads easily and is thoroughly entertaining.
Ms. Byrd’s characters never cease to move me. She has truly mastered the
art of constructing characters that float off the pages and into our
minds. Alas into our hearts. I was aching for Jonas when he was aching
over his seeming unending bad luck with love. I wanted to cry for Toni
when Jonas broke her heart and threw her out his house. Several other
characters including Sterling, Quentin, Alyssa and a host of others are
no less masterfully crafted and each earns a special place in my memory.
Set mainly in Atlanta, the novel does not particularly mention many
local landmarks but there is a true sense of these characters being
regular folks living and loving in big cities just like myself or anyone
else. They are all very relatable. To comment on the dialogue in a word,
juicy. The verbal foreplay between Toni and Jonas is sure to stimulate.
I had a really good time with FEEL THE FIRE and hope this is not
the end but just another chapter in the life of the Hinton brothers. In
true form, Ms. Byrd has delivered another treat for all Byrd Watchers.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 20th January 2008