Wednesday, August 21, 2013

TORCH by Cambria Hebert

TORCH (Take It Off Series) by Cambria Hebert
Published: August 13th, 2013

My rating: 4 of 5

Katie Parks finds herself with nothing left but the singed clothes on her back. The life that she has spent the last seven years building, gone. Her house, her belongings, her clothes are nothing but ashes and she would be too, if not for the firefighter who pulled her out of the flames in the nick of time.

Holt Arkain has been checking up on Katie since he was able to rescue her from her burning house. He feels drawn to her and when she needs a place to stay and has nowhere to go, he steps in. The fire on her house was arson and someone is out to hurt Katie, he is not about to let her off on her own.

Katie is not used to being taken care of and struggles to retain her independence, but eventually concedes that with a stalker on the loose who obviously means her harm, she is safer with Holt around. Her heart may not be so safe......

Holt's heart is already gone, he is barely hanging on to his control, but his priority has to be to keep Katie safe first.

****

Hook, line and sinker!!!

The fantastic suspenseful opening sequence pulled me right into the story and held me captive until the very end. No slow introductions here, you are literally thrown right into the fire!

Once I found myself firmly pulled in, the secondary romantic plot starts smoldering away.....and it's sweet, but you know in can flare up at any moment into another kind of inferno.

Katie is a perfect heroine, independent and toughened by her difficult (young) history, and yet with an innocence that belies her steel core. She gets a chance to show both her innocence and her steel resolve in this story.

Holt is incredibly responsible, restrained and considerate for a 24-year old. Wiser than his years and with a protective streak a mile wide, he is able to guide Katie out of some tight spots.....quite literally.

The combination of the two was electric, the contrast made for some great dialogue and the chemistry ended up explosive!

In the end the story's final moments were a little too 'fairy tale' for me, but on the whole, it didn't detract from the quality of the book too much. Besides, some people love fairy tales.......

A strong, stimulating, seductive and fiery read!!!

**ARC courtesy of NetGalley in return for an honest review.**

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