Burn For
Me
By Ilona
Andrews
Publisher:
Avon
As a
longtime fan of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels urban fantasy series,
I was excited to see that the husband-and-wife writing team were venturing into
paranormal romance. The Kate Daniels
books have strong romantic elements and great sexual tension, so I was
expecting the same, only more, here.
While I
enjoyed Burn for Me thoroughly, it
didn’t live up to that expectation.
First let’s look at the pluses. It’s
set in a world where science has triggered magical abilities, which have become
the key to social and political power. The
writing is crisp and clean, and the plot moves right along.
The cast
of characters is great. The heroine is
private investigator Nevada Baylor, who has a magical ability she has good
reason not to disclose. The hero, Connor
“Mad” Rogan, is a telekinetic of astounding ability, a military veteran who has
more or less withdrawn from the world until a family member in need pulls him
into the same case Nevada is pursuing.
Nevada
doesn’t want the case. She knows she
doesn’t have the magical mojo to stand up to a top-level magical arsonist, let
alone capture him alive. The corporation
who forced her to take the case knows it, too, but they don’t want to offend
the arsonist’s powerful, magical family by refusing. Assigning the job to someone with Nevada’s
excellent success rate will, even when she fails, get the corporation off the
hook. The fact that they own the
mortgage and the business name of Nevada’s agency, which supports her entire
family, gives them the leverage they need to force her onto the case. The fact that she’s unlikely to survive is,
as they see it, an unfortunate cost of doing business.
The
family includes a number of interesting characters, and they are as prone to
clash one minute and close ranks the next as any other family. They’re none to keen on seeing Rogan join the
mix because of his unfortunate first encounter with Nevada.
Rogan is
also pursuing the arsonist in an effort to save the man’s accomplice, Rogan’s
young cousin. He initially sees Nevada
as both a threat to his goal and a possible source of information. The attraction between them is immediate and
intense and, on Nevada’s side, unwelcome.
The sooner she sees the last of him, she believes, the better. But Rogan may be her key to surviving this
case, so she reluctantly joins forces with him.
The
mystery, the chase to capture the arsonist alive, and the push/pull between
Nevada and Rogan are all well done. So
what didn’t satisfy me about it? For
starters, Nevada and Rogan don’t meet until page 89 (out of 382). In an urban fantasy, that’s not a big
problem, but I don’t think readers expect the heroine and heroine to spend the
first 20-plus percent or so of a romance novel not only apart but not concerned
with each other or really aware of each other.
The
ending was satisfying, though readers who want one couple per book may not like
it as much. It’s clear that this is the
start of a series featuring Nevada and Rogan.
In
rating the book, I tried to take all of this into account. Burn
for Me skates the line between urban fantasy and paranormal romance with
very strong romantic elements but is, because of the way the story is
constructed, really a shade more urban fantasy than romance. If the label on
the spine said urban fantasy, I would give this book a 5. As a romance, because the balance of the plot
elements, I’d give it a 3. So I’ve
compromised with a 4.
~Nancy Northcott
A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories. Check out her terrific contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia.
A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories. Check out her terrific contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia.
I have heard of this author, but not read any of "her" books. I like the plot elements and don't mind a series.
ReplyDeleteWill be looking for this one to try Ilona Andrews out. Thanks for the review.