4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Smoke, but little fire, June 11, 2008
This review is from: Taking the Heat (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)
On the good side, there are some fun characters in here (Sophie's pretty neat, as are some of her co-workers). I enjoyed the milieu of a fire department---it was great to experience something all-new and interesting there. It was also fascinating having the difficulties of spouses and in dealing with a loved one's dangerous job brought to the page.
However, there were a lot of things that left me feeling rather annoyed with the book as well. Several of the guys came off repeatedly as petulant, sulky children. It got old fast, and made it hard to like them. It was also hard to believe that Liam was the uber-sweetheart everyone painted him as when, instead, there were a number of times when he came across as rude or selfish.
There are waaaay too many couples in this book working out (or failing to work out) their relationship problems, and too many characters in general. It got confusing. Also, with that many relationships flaring up the book got pretty depressing, which is not what most people are looking for when they pick up a romance. There are also too many point-of-view characters without enough differentiation between their voices.
I love it when I learn new things in the fiction I read, but I don't want to feel like I'm reading a documentary. Using research in fiction is great, but it wasn't incorporated into the narrative well enough here.
Finally, the plot with the arsonist was just... off, in a number of ways. The culprit was fairly obvious. It's also made painfully clear that the whole thing was little more than a plot device when the arsonist was caught and dealt with entirely off-screen and even the after-effects took up all of two pages at most.
This is the sort of book that I can't help feeling could have been a lot better than it was.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't bother with this one, June 10, 2008
This review is from: Taking the Heat (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)
I've read all Kathryn Shay's books and she is one of my favorite writers but this is one of the worst efforts I've seen since a debut author. Its corny, overly sentimental (the sterotypical Irish family singing "Danny Boy"!) and a couple with no chemistry. I think Shay should put an end to this series, she's obviously run out of ideas and one story reads pretty much like all those before it.
I knew this was going in the 'give away' bin after the first chapter.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable second chance at love romantic suspense thriller, May 6, 2008
This review is from: Taking the Heat (Berkley Sensation) (Paperback)
Three years ago Liam O'Neil's wife Kitty died leaving him to raise their young sons by himself; though he gets help from his caring beloved family. In New York he meets firefighter Sophie Tyler at his family owned Bailey's Irish Pub, and to his amazement and shock he is attracted to the beautiful strawberry blonde, Sophie reciprocates his allure.
However, with 9/11 still fresh after another anniversary, Liam fears dating Sophie because he rationalizes his sons could not cope with her dangerous occupation if something tragic should happen to her. Sophie has her own 9/11 memory that interferes with her seeing any man. Yet they begin seeing each other until a deadly serial arsonist sets booby-trapped fires to kill firefighters; Liam and Sophie begin to reconsider their relationship.
This is an enjoyable second chance at love romantic suspense thriller. The story line is action-packed in terms of the arsonist subplot and filled with angst re the relationship between Liam and Sophie. Although TAKING THE HEAT stands alone, with the O'Neil family playing major roles, reading the previous tales (see CLOSE TO YOU and SOMEONE TO BELIEVE) enhances the experience. Once again Kathryn Shay pays homage to the brave firefighters.
Harriet Klausner
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