Fired Up (Thorndike Basic) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jayne Ann Krentz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2009 | Series: Thorndike Basic

More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsession-fueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Both men are driven to control their psychic abilities, and their decisions have reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations. Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts—just the beginning, he believes, of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can’t do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the talent to read the lamp’s dreamlight. Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talent for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but a sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both. Danger surrounds them, and it doesn’t take long for Chloe to pick up the trail of the missing lamp. And as she and Jack draw closer to it, the raw power that dwells within it threatens to sweep them into a hurricane of psychic power.

--This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Catherine Coulter and Jayne Ann Krentz: Author One-on-One
In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Catherine Coulter and Jayne Ann Krentz and asked them to interview each other.

Catherine Coulter is a New York Times bestselling author and her books include Whiplash, Knockout, and The Beginning. Read on to see Catherine Coulter's questions for Jayne Ann Krentz, or turn the tables to see what Krentz asked Coulter.

Catherine: Tell me how you developed the Arcane Society. Was it a flash, then you fleshed it out?

Jayne: One way or another, I’ve been working toward the Arcane Society novels my entire career. They combine three elements I have always loved to work with: romance, suspense, and a strong psychic vibe. When I look back, I can see that romance and suspense were always at the core of my stories. As for the psychic stuff, I injected that whenever I thought I could get away with it. Now I’ve got it all in the Arcane books. I am one very happy camper.

Catherine: Tell me about how you came up with the “Curtain” and the worlds of St. Helens and Harmony—green quartz cities and the catacombs. What an amazing imagination you have.

Jayne: These are the futuristic romances that I write under my Jayne Castle name. They involve the same three elements that I love most—romance, suspense, and the psychic thing—but because they are set against a futuristic landscape I get to make up all the rules. The Curtain was my way of explaining how the worlds in these books were colonized by humans. By the way, it was while writing my first futuristic romances that I realized I might be able to write historical romance. That was when I fired up my Amanda Quick career. If you look at the core stories, you can see that there are a lot of similarities between the Jayne Castle books and the Amanda Quick books. Except for the dust bunnies, of course.

Catherine: Speaking of dust bunnies—I love them all—Araminta, Elvis, Max—how did you think of them? Did they, as most characters do, name themselves?

Jayne: All I can tell you is that those dust bunnies sure seemed like a good idea at the time. But the little suckers have taken over the books. It’s like writing cat books. Once you stick cats into books you can’t get rid of them. Same with dust bunnies.

Catherine: I remember you were considering a pseudonym a while back and asked me what I thought. If I remember correctly, I was very much against it since I loved your books. I didn’t think you should change your name, and I’d heard horror stories about published authors who did that, but you went ahead and chose Amanda Quick. And what happened? Horror stories? I don’t think so—you hit the New York Times list right off. (I don’t believe you’ve ever again asked my opinion on anything.) How did all this come about?

Jayne: Nonsense, Catherine, of course I always seek out your advice! But as far as pen names, I assure you I did have a plan. The idea was to see which of my three worlds worked best: the Jayne Ann Krentz contemporaries, the Amanda Quick historicals, or the Jayne Castle futuristics. I intended to pick the one that clicked with readers and drop the other two. I never expected all three to attract an audience, but that is what happened. I am absolutely thrilled, because having these three fictional landscapes keeps me excited as an author. I never get bored. When I come out of one world I am ready to plunge into a different one. I realize that people can’t remember three pen names, but I’m hoping they will remember the word "Arcane.”

(Photo of Catherine Coulter © Charles Bush)
(Photo of Jayne Ann Krentz © Sigrid Estrada)

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In Krentz's paranormal Arcane Society series, she bounces from contemporary romantic thriller (Running Hot) to steampunk historicals (Perfect Poison, as Amanda Quick). This trilogy kickoff concerns the present-day descendents of Nicholas Winters and Sylvester Jones, magic-obsessed 17th century rivals locked in a generation-spanning struggle. In Seattle, paranormal PI Chloe Harper is hired by financier Jack Winters to find the Burning Lamp his ancestor Nicholas created. Unrealistic whiz-bang action follows, including otherworldly powers that Winters must learn to control and a romance that may unleash an ancient curse, occasionally interrupted by psychic mobsters who also pursue the lamp. Arcane Society fans will be thrilled with the brand-new intrigue, but newcomers will need to read earlier books to understand Krentz's world. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 567 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410420868
• ISBN-13: 978-1410420862
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,285,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of over 50 New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense, often with a psychic and paranormal twist, in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 35 million copies of her books in print.

Building on the success of her DREAMLIGHT TRILOGY in 2010, Jayne is now focused on writing the LOOKING GLASS TRILOGY. This series will follow the Quicksilver Mirror (a paranormal artifact) through all three of Jayne's worlds covering a time span of several hundred years.

The first LOOKING GLASS book, IN TOO DEEP, will feature Fallon Jones, a recurring character from Jayne's contemporary ARCANE SOCIETY series of novels.

When she's not writing, Jayne can be found at her favorite social networking site posting messages to her fans.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as hot and fired up as some of her other Arcane books, January 3, 2010

By 

Deborah Verlen "Deborah" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy (Arcane Society, No. 7) (Hardcover)

I love many of Jayne Ann Krentz's books, but this is not one of them. It features the hero Jack Winters, a descendant of the renegade psychic Nicholas Winters who's descendnts Jones and Jones have been monitoring to make sure they do not use their psychic gifts for harm. When descendants reach their mid-thirties they sometimes pick up a second gift and descend into madness. Jack has now discovered a second psychic gift that he hopes will be eradicated via the Burning Lamp. First, however, Jack has to find the lamp. He turns to Chloe Harper, a private investigator, with a family background of psychics. Her ability is as a sensitive to dreamlight and its psychic imprints. She finds the lamp for Jack and together they end up battling some evil followers of Nightshade.

While I found the story a bit laborious in terms of trying to remember what went on with Arcane, J&J, and the various legends alluded to in previous books, the story did flow. We also get a more indepth look at Fallon Jones who has appeared in most of the Arcane-based books. I am assuming his story will be out soon too. Ms. Krentz does a good job of fleshing out her psychic aspects of her stories and her characters stay "in character" in terms of their abilities.

I struggled with whether to give the book three or four stars. I don't really care for Krentz's deeper journeys into the psychic realm, but do like her writing style. It is my understanding this is the first of a trilogy with the second book going back to the Victorian era (not sure if it is under Krentz or Amanda Quick) and the last set in the future (again not sure if it will be a Krentz or a Castle book). Personally I wish Krentz would write a few more books like Trust Me and Absolutely, Positively rather than focus on the paranormal.

A good read if you like Krentz and the paranormal. An okay read if you like Krentz, but don't care for the paranormal aspects.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just a bit flat..., January 5, 2010

By 

Sheila Dayton (Rockford, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy (Arcane Society, No. 7) (Hardcover)

Let me preface my comments by saying I am a huge fan of Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle...and in the really old days...Stephanie James (dating myself there!) I just did a quick inventory of my bookshelf and stopped counting at 90 of her books. What has always amazed me about Ms. Krentz is the huge variety in the story lines and (perhaps with the exception of the Stephanie James books) their originality, freshness and just plain sizzle...and not just in the steamy bits. It boggles the mind to think how one person has so many unique stories inside her, and how she can just reach out and suck her readers right into the pages of the book. Her characters just sparkle. So...anyway...you get the picture...I love her books.

But I've got to say about this one -- not so much. I won't summarize the plot, as most of the other reviewers have already more than covered that waterfront. And while the story line on Fired Up is fair enough...the book as a whole just lacks the zippiness of her usual style. Even the "steamy bits" were more lukewarm than steamy. The characters seemed to lack depth -- and I found myself thinking about previous books, story lines...the laundry...all kinds of things when I was reading it. And usually with Ms. Krentz's books, I am so totally immersed in the story that the house could be falling down around my ears and I'm oblivious.

Not to say that I wouldn't have bought this one anyway...but it made me a bit sad...having put it on pre-order in June of last year, I was really looking forward to it. I guess I'll l keep my fingers crossed for the second in this trilogy, and hope that maybe it will pick up there.

And to the reviewer who drove 2 hours and paid 20 bucks...well gee...since you could have had it delivered to your house by Amazon for less than that, inclusive of shipping, I guess you do regret it...

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not Krentz's usual style, January 3, 2010

By 

PamelaJ (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy (Arcane Society, No. 7) (Hardcover)

I agree, this book definitely isn't in JAK's usual style. However, having said that, if you are a fan, you will have to read it and the subsequent 2 books that will soon be available. Considering all of the wonderful books she has entertained me w/over the years, I have to stay loyal. I took a break from re-reading Light in Shadow (Zoe and Ethan Truax) to read Fired Up. I wanted to ditch Fired Up and go back to Light in Shadow! But I persevered. Neither Jack nor Chloe are anything like her usual characters. I'm sure there's a lot of pressure from her publisher to push out books. Not every book can be a winner...