Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Burnin’ For You & Where There’s Smoke

AUTHOR: Jamie Lynn Miller

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 198 Pages

BLURB:

Lucas Taylor is a New York City fireman at Station 127, dedicated to his job, even though it has brought him heartrending tragedy – the loss of his lover, Ryan, in an explosion.

Evan Singer is the new guy in town, a paramedic transferred into Station 127 and he sets his eyes on Lucas from the get-go.

Neither knowing who the other is, their first meeting is a night of passion and desire that awakens something inside Lucas he never thought he’d feel again.

But when Lucas discovers that Evan is a paramedic, it all comes crashing down. For despite the feelings he has for Evan, Lucas has vowed to never again get involved with someone on the job, after losing Ryan to it.

Can Evan convince Lucas to open up his heart and take a chance on love again, despite who Evan is?

Includes the sequel – Where There’s Smoke!

Things turn explosive at the FDNY when a young man Lucas rescues from a fire becomes an obsessed stalker, and Evan’s altercation with a victim’s husband threatens to end his career.

REVIEW:

This review covers both, Burnin’ For You and Where There’s Smoke. The two stories were previously released as separate books but have been rereleased as a combined edition.

Burnin’ For You begins with what was supposed to be a one night stand. New York firefighter Lucas is in a bar, drowning his sorrows, on the one year anniversary of the death of his boyfriend, Ryan. Ryan, who was also a firefighter, was killed in an explosion and since then Lucas has been struggling to get through each day. When he catches the attention of a hot younger man he’s drunk enough to get past the guilt of touching someone else and they leave the bar together. Despite Lucas’s best attempts to close his eyes and pretend he’s with Ryan (which was a totally shitty thing to do btw) the man he’s in bed with captures his attention enough that he’s very aware that it is Evan he’s with, not Ryan. And even though they never break his no kissing rule what was suppose to be no more than a one off casual hookup ends in several not so casual “encounters”, an exchange of phone numbers, a phone call and a cautious decision to “see where this goes”.

However, all Lucas’s plans of finally-maybe-possibly moving on with his life go to shit when he arrives at work on Monday morning to discover the new firefighter paramedic they’ve been waiting for is none other than Evan. The thought of again losing someone he cares about to the dangerous job they do is too much for Lucas and he tells Evan it was all a mistake and he’s not interested.

I think I’ve mentioned before that when I’m going to review a book I usually scribble notes or highlight as I read. Well, at this point of the story I picked up my pen and scrawled across my page of notes in big bold frustrated letters – WHY DOESN’T LUKE JUST EXPLAIN TO EVAN. LUKE IS BEING A DICK!!! But then, it was as though the author knew what we would all be whining about, and I figure she had a good laugh at us (in my musings she did anyway) because suddenly Lucas was explaining to Evan why he was afraid to start dating him. And yeah, maybe one of his friends prompted him to do it but he also (get this) admitted he was wrong to just ignore Evan. That little scene right there was one big tick in the positives column.

In fact, the positives column saw much more action than the negative, that’s for certain. There were very few things that I didn’t like about this book. Although, the number of times that Evan was referred to as “the younger man” really became annoying. I’ve read plenty of reviews in the past that have commented on descriptions like that bothering the reader but this is the first time I got what they were saying. And I know that I used that word too at the beginning of my review but I’m claiming no fault because it’s just completely stuck in my head now. If someone asked me to describe Evan I’d say – well he’s a younger man.

The second story is a continuation of the first. It sees the two men building on their relationship as they continue to work at the same firehouse, facing the dangerous job together. And my, what danger there is! Swear to god, these men nearly get killed so often it’s almost like a work of fiction! But seriously, while the danger and action is obviously exaggerated, I mean who wants to read about the men going out to put out dumpster fires, the action they see as firefighters is what makes this book a standout for me. How often do we pick up a book about firemen and apart from some scenes in a firehouse the most that happens is some off page call outs? This book is packed with actual fires and other emergencies. There are buildings collapsing, firemen falling through rooftops, people being carried out of burning buildings and explosions. And that’s just for the firefighters. The paramedics get their share of action too. I was so damn excited I just wanted to scream, “We’ve got one!” a la Ghostbusters and ring that fire alarm myself.

The second story is, it think, the better half of the book and I was very pleasantly surprised at how every time trouble arose, and I was expecting Evan or Lucas to do something stupidly annoying, they instead turned to each other and looked to the other for support. And the one time Evan didn’t, he apologized and they talked it through. Which just made me love these guys more. With all the action going on around the two men, there was really no need to add extra drama to their relationship.

The ending of the book was quite abrupt. That’s my only real complaint. So much so that I actually wondered if I was somehow missing part of the file and maybe there was an epilogue that I just didn’t receive. But to be honest, that could have just been my issue and nobody else will think the same way. The story wasn’t left unfinished. The men get their happy ending and the drama is all wrapped up. It’s not like it’s a cliffhanger or anything. Maybe it was just me not wanting it to end?

I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone who enjoys reading about sexy firemen. Oh, and they are sexy. I forgot to mention how hot the sex is didn’t I? And the no kiss rule? Well, that annoyed me a bit at first, but it just means that the first time they do kiss, it’s extra special.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

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