Customer Reviews

Wild Heat

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maya Jackson's father had been a firefighter. He was gone six months each year fighting wildfires. During those six months, Maya watched her mother worry for his safety. Her father eventually died due to years of breathing in the smoke. Tony, Maya's younger brother, followed their father's footsteps and also became a firefighter. When Tony dies in an apartment fire, Maya just knows it had to be arson. Yet everything points toward it simply being an accident. Maya is an arson investigator. Being related to Tony, Maya is not allowed to investigate Tony's fire. So Maya puts everything into solving the arson cases she is assigned.

When it is time for Maya to clean out Tony's apartment, she finally breaks down. For the first time ever, Maya walks into a bar and orders a drink. She ends up with not only drinks, but in the arms of the bartender. No names. No strings. Maya never thought she would see him again. But six months later Maya returns to the Lake Tahoe area to investigate the Desolation Wilderness Wildfire and comes face-to-face with him. He is Logan Cain, the leader of the elite Tahoe Pines Hotshot Crew, and her number one suspect.

Logan Cain and his Hotshot team are busy trying to contain a massive, out of control, wildfire. When he learns that evidence and witnesses point his way, he is furious. Fighting to put out fires is his life, not starting them. On suspension, unable to help fight the wildfire until his name is cleared, Logan begins helping Maya with her investigation. As their passion rekindles, more fires begin, and soon the two find a killer after them.

***** This story quickly caught my attention and took off at a sprint. It is the first in a new series about Hotshot Firefighters. If the rest are as good as this one, then the author has a winning series on her hands. Well written, intense, and full of suspense, this story blew my away. A very explosive story! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Hotshots or Hotshot Crew is an elite group of highly trained wildland firefighters. They respond to the largest, highest-priority fires. The hero of this story, Logan Cain, is a leader of one of these crews located in Tahoe Pines. He and his crew are in the middle of putting out a raging fire set by an arsonist. They think it's under control, but something goes terribly wrong.

The heroine, Maya Jackson, works for Cal Fire investigating arson. A few months ago, she'd lost her brother to a fire set by an arsonist. The two met in one night when Maya was at her lowest. After their encounter brief, she never expected to see the man again. Her mission then was to find the arsonist that killed her brother. It still is.

As fate would have it, an investigation sends her back to Tahoe Pines and the man she was to investigate is none other than Logan Cain. What was between them isn't over no matter how much Maya tries to deny it. When someone tries to kill her, she thinks it's the person who murdered her brother. The question is could that person be Logan?

Normally I don't warm up to a book that has a sex scene so soon into the story, but the way Maya was grieving, she wanted to forget. Her primary reason for going into the bar was to get wasted, but then she met Logan who was so handsome. The connection with him made her forget her pain and her loneliness. No sooner was it over, she realize the mistake and left. The scene was well done and not graphic. It's later, when the two get together again, the fire between them heats up to an explosive level with a couple of serious "whoa" moments.

What I enjoyed more was the action and suspense. I found myself racing through the book just to find out who the arsonist was. The story was seriously intense up until the arsonist was revealed. Simply said, I didn't buy it. Other than the ending, I thought this was a fantastic read. I look forward to more books written by Bella Andre!

Wild Heat by Bella Andre
Contemporary Suspense- April 28th, 2009
4 ½ Stars

Wild Heat by Bella Andre is the first book in her new series concerning the sexy firefighters of wildfires called Hotshots. I found it an exciting and compelling mystery which kept me guessing until the very end. This is the story of Logan Cain, the leader of the Tahoe Pine Hotshot Crew and Maya Jackson a dedicated arson investigator.

Maya is traumatized when her firefighter brother is murdered. When she goes to Tahoe to clean out his things she is grief stricken and lonely. Maya rashly goes to a nearby bar to drink away her sorrows. Inside is a sexy man that she is instantly attracted to and before she knows it they are hot and heavy, but Maya becomes frightened by her emotions. She stops before it gets too serious and runs away.

Six months later Maya is back in Tahoe with a mission. She is determined to find her brother's killer and solve the wave of serious fires in the area. But to her surprise the primary suspect of arson is the same man she met at the local bar! Logan Cain is a firefighter and considered a hero. Maya knows that proving his guilt won't be easy especially since her attraction for him makes it extremely difficult for her to do her job.

Logan is shocked to discover Maya again. When he discovers she is investigating him, he is outraged. Her meddling only makes his job more complicated. But even as he realizes she isn't healthy for him, he can't seem to keep his hands off her or stop himself from helping her when her life is endangered. When Maya gets too close to someone he cares for he knows he has to make a choice between loyalty and love.

Bella Andre seamlessly mixes romance with complex characters that readers will come to love. Wild Heat is an exhilarating and gripping story of two souls who can't trust each other but are pulled together due to dangerous circumstances. They have to learn to trust each other and work together to figure out the real arsonist and the mystery behind the death of Maya's brother. This story is an excellent book for anyone who craves a steamy romantic thriller.

Reviewed by Mary and Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Logan Cain is a Wildland firefighter. Risking his life to put out forest fires during the roughest and toughest conditions has honed his skills as a warrior and a fireman. Getting suspended as a result of an anonymous call placing him at the scene of a deliberately started fire makes him furious. He has no choice but to follow the fire investigator's edict because to not do so would put the man Logan suspects of arson in danger. The fact that the woman, Maya Jackson, suspending him is the same woman he had a hot and heavy sexual interlude with six months ago doesn't make him feel any better. Logan will find out exactly why he is being set up and put a stop to it. He has no idea the means the true arsonist will resort to in order to get Logan put away - forever.

Maya Jackson is in emotional turmoil. Her beloved brother, Tony, was killed in a fire that was deliberately set and she vows that his death will not be in vain. The fact that evidence points to Logan Cain, the man who, even after six months she can't forget, weighs heavily on her. She has a job to do and falling in love with a suspected killer isn't one of them. It's a good thing her heart refuses to listen.

My heart ached for Maya's pain at losing her brother and I can't fault her for wanting to forget, if just for a moment. I felt, however, that Maya's use of Logan in a spur of the moment encounter shaped her. Logan, on the other hand was easier to figure out. He is loyal and protective. He is sexy and steadfast. To me, he is perfect.

Wild Heat scorches the ink off the pages of this book. Logan and Maya's love story isn't easy, but their love is real. Suspenseful, smoldering hot, and simply fabulous, Wild Heat is a stunning first installment with the second book, Hot as Sin, set to release in December. Don't miss Wild Heat - but be warned - you might need a fire extinguisher to cool yourself off while reading this brand new romantic and erotic thriller!

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Maya Jackson never lost control, but when her brother, Tony died in the line of duty fighting a structure fire, she was devastated. She couldn't believe he was gone at the young age of twenty-three, and in her desperation to forget, she picked up a stranger in a bar. She just wanted to lose herself in someone else, but when the time came she couldn't go through with her planned seduction. She took off running, and didn't think she would ever see her sexy stranger again until she came face to face with him as the suspect in her latest arson investigation.

She grew up with firefighters. Her father was highly decorated, but he was also was taken too early from their family. Maya wasn't a firefighter, but was as close to the profession as she could get in the form of an arson investigator that was forced to suspend one of the best firefighters she has ever seen. She hated what she was forced to do because she could just feel that someone was setting him up. Unfortunately the only thing that would save Logan was proof. It was killing Logan Cain as a wild land firefighter, to be so far from the action. He was supposed to protect his men and the people of his community, and while under suspension, was doing neither. He was also afraid that someone he loved was responsible for the fires, and was unsure what to do with his suspicions. Logan thought the best solution was to work with Maya to find the arsonist whomever it turns out to be.

While looking for a criminal of the worst kind, Logan and Maya were fighting an intense attraction to each other. As attracted as they were to each other, she wouldn't let her guard down enough to be with him. She couldn't risk another heartbreaking loss because she wasn't sure she would recover. As they get closer to identifying the arsonist, the danger to Maya and Logan escalates. It is then that Logan realizes he might have to sacrifice everything to keep his love safe.

This is a very intense and emotional read! The action that the firefighters see will keep you on the edge of your seat, and the heat that burns between Logan and Maya is always simmering in the air. This is one you won't want to miss!

I really can't fault this book. I thought it was really good. However, it was a little disappointing in the sex department. In most Bella Andre book, there is a lot of sex and usually very good sex. In this book, you have to wait until almost page 200 for the first sex scene and it just didn't have the same naughtiness factor that her scenes usually do.

I really hope that this is not a preview to more 'serious" novels. I will be very disappointed if it is. I won't mind so much if Bella Andre puts out one "serious" book and one "naughty" book and rotate. Her books are a guilty pleasure and I would really hate to lose that.

Her fan base is built on those who have liked her other books, I hope she and her publishers keep that in mind. I won't stop reading her but I would probably stop buying her if her books are more "romantic suspense" then "erotic romance."

Dena

I enjoyed this story to the Max. The author certainly did her research on wildfire fire fighters. The description of the events were vivid and well written. The love scences were good but the suspense was just as strong as the romance. This story had a great balance. Pick it up and enjoy the heat.

Happy reading!!!

OMG I loved this book. I was so in to the story. When I thought i figured out who set the fires, I was provided wrong. I was so surprised to find out who it was. The ending was really good.

I've been a fan of Bella Andre and have read quite a few of her books. This book was a bit different from the other books I have read, but it was still good. This book involved a little bit of action, drama, suspense and steamy romance. Story is about Logan, who is a wildlife firefighter up in the Sierras and Maya, who is a arson investigator. Story begins when Maya needs to go to the Sierras to pack up her brother's belongings. Her brother was also a "hotshot" as they call them. Maya was beyond herself grieving her brother's death. She runs into a bar to try to get drunk and forget the pain. Instead, he runs into a very sexy and attactive guy behind the bar. Logan was at the bar waiting for her friend when Maya ran in and asked for a drink. One thing led to another and they both began to kiss and soon got hot and heavy at the bar. That was the last time they saw each other until she has to come back to investigate a wildfire and her suspect turned out to be the man she had an "encounter" with at the bar.

Story moves fast, there are lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing. They spend time together and they get to know each other more. The more they know of each other, the more they like each other. You could see then falling in love, but Maya would never give her heart to another firefighter.

Fun book. Lots of drama, a bit of suspense and some steamy romance! Excellent combination, overall good read.

This story is the first in a series about the Hot Shot Firefighters. Logan is the deliciously, hot firefighter in this tale that is working as a bartender this particular day when in walks Maya, an arson investigator. The bar isn't opened for business yet but Maya is in a different mindset; grief has overcome her from the death of her younger brother Tony, and she tries to escape it. Upon entering the bar, she meets Logan... and what happens next is so hot. She takes all her grief out on Logan which ignites the pages with her seduction of passion... just for this one time with no names, no strings, no ever seeing each other again, and then she leaves.

Six months later Logan and Maya reunite but only because Maya is investigating an arsonist in the area and Logan is the Chief Firefighter in charge of putting the massive wildfires out. Unbeknownst to Maya, when she does come face-to-face with Logan, she is disoriented in the fact that the man she seduced 6-months earlier is a firefighter, and he is the prime suspect in the investigation. It will be from here on that their explosive passion reignites. And it will not end any time soon, until you've read the last page.

I really enjoyed the characters and the careers the author has written for Maya and Logan because it makes the story so much more tantalizing. The action and suspense coupled with the explosive passionate relationship between the two makes for one compelling, well written story. Highly recommend!