Steam Yoga instructor Louise Pine is the ultimate caretaker. Everyone around her seems to have an emergency, but Lou hasn’t met a fire she couldn’t put out—until she’s faced with the hunky, bossy firefighter who crashes into her own backyard—and her life. No one tells Lou what to do, yet somehow the guy’s take-charge style makes her tingle . . . Simmer Phoenix “Nix” Jones is used to calling … “Nix” Jones is used to calling the shots, whether he’s dealing with his younger siblings or taking on a dangerous blaze. Luckily, the fire at Lou’s is a false alarm. But the heat the fit and feisty woman ignites is far from dying out . . .
Afterglow
As the sparks turn into 5-alarm passion, can two strong-willed people end up engulfed by love—or will they crash and burn?
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Great hot read between firefighter Nix and yoga instructor Lou. Louise has a lot of family drama in her life and that is how she meets hot firefighter Nix. Nix can’t keep Lou out of his head but the second time when he sees her the bossiness of his character is the cause that she turns him down. Fate intertwine her fingers again and when they meet next time sparks fly and they start a relationship. Nix characters almost ruin everything that they build together. Great read with a lot of family drama, hot bedroom scenes and two stubborn persons who get in the end their HEA.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgelly
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) This was the second book in this series however I started with this one, at the time I did not know that it was second book in the series but as I was reading I figured it out and no you do not have to start with the first book I am however going to go back and read it just so that I can appreciate it more. This is Louise and Nix’s book. Louise is a very nice person who unfortunately gets taken advantage of by her horrid family. At the time that she meet Nix she is taking care of her 4 year old nephew Junior, who calls the fire department when she is in her yard relaxing with a glass of wine and bonfire, he thinks they are burning. The fire department who is lead by Nix destroys her fence and Nix is captivated by Louise even though she is not the type of woman that he tends to go for, 1 she is nice, 2 she is thicker and many other traits. What kind of bugged me was how this love affair or their relationship happened, they went out on one date and he practically moved in. But all in all it was an entertaining read and I will pick up the next one, and we hopefully never hear about her horrible family again. Enjoy!
Louise is startled when her back gate is knocked down by a bunch of firefighters while she’s in her backyard trying to enjoy her fire pit along with some wine and chocolate. Her nephew had seen the fire and called 911. Oops. But it was pretty fortunate because she met Nix (Phoenix), the hot firefighter who lead the crash into her backyard. When Nix comes back to fix her gate the next day, Lou’s not exactly at her best, but Nix is still so smitten that he asks her out. Well…he doesn’t really ASK as much as demand, and it gets Lou’s back up. She’s not one to be bossed around, so no is her only answer to his command.
Thankfully fate has other things in mind for them, and their mutual friends invite them both to a barbecue. Maybe Nix can do things right this time because he still wants Lou and he knows she wants him, too. But can Lou submit to being bossed around in the bedroom, and keep her independence outside the bedroom?
I liked Taming Fire much more than I liked the other book I’ve read in this series, Melting Snow. Nix and Lou are a hot couple and the way they work through their issues as a couple makes for a very entertaining read. If you like hot firefighter romances with a bossy alpha and a sassy heroine, Taming Fire should definitely be on your TBR list.
A sizzling hot, fun, and quick read with plenty of intriguing points brought up, from charming characters and their dysfunctional families to the stress of loving a firefighter, and the dangers that lay within the job.
Louise Pine is a loyal, caring, kind, and hardworking woman. She has a big heart, dirty mouth, and a family that drives her mad. She is no prude, by any means, but she is not looking for a relationship at the moment, yet one has landed into her life and is not thinking about moving out.
Phoenix “Nix” Jones is a man who needs to be in control and in charge of everything affecting his life. He used to sleep around more than most, yet lately, he has felt the desire for settling down, finding the one, falling in love. He grew up as an only child for a single mom (despite what the blurb informs) and he is not used to sharing his life, the challenges of his job, or his home with anyone.
The chemistry between Nix and Louise is tangible, the detailed sex scenes proving the connection between them to be true. Nix’s interest and need of being in control, a little spanking, some toys, and ropes come clear yet it is done tastefully and the story doesn’t go too deep into the world of S/M.
I truly enjoyed the story, the characters easily won me over with their wit and charm. It is a delightfully sexy tale yet it has some serious points in the backstory that brought some ‘meat’ into the pages.
There’s absolutely nothing I didn’t like about the book, but all the possibilities to dig even deeper with the dysfunctional family issues, dangers to the firefighter’s job, Nix’s need for control, or even the conflict arising between Nix and Louise, were not taken advantage of and thus the scoring of four Spoons.
But it is great as it is; an entertaining, tantalizing, and engaging tale!
~ Four Spoons
The way Louise (Lou) and Nix meet in this story is beyond cute, and really sets up their personalities. We get to see Nix’s playful yet protective nature and Lou’s play by the rules with sass and spunk nature. So much fun.
I really, truly, deeply want to meet Lou’s family and give them a piece of my mind. Honestly, how Lou is such a wonderful person when her family is so oblivious to the fact that they are a bunch of greedy, lazy, self-absorbed, clueless people is beyond me. Lou has quite the backbone with people who aren’t family, probably from being taken advantage of by her family so much, so it was good to see her use that backbone with her mom and sister later in the story.
Such amazing chemistry between Nix and Lou. Not only their initial attraction and sexual chemistry. They seemed to be in synch in so many other facets of their lives. I adore the way Nix learned to take care of Louise while also letting her be a strong and independent woman. Speaking of her being independent and having a backbone, I absolutely love the grit Lou showed when the conflict between her and Nix presented itself. She may have been misreading some things, but she wasn’t going to be a doormat and I appreciated her strength of conviction.
There are some loose ends in this story, but it’s not a cliffhanger. Just a facet of the story that can continue to weave throughout the series since this is, after all, a series about firefighters. I enjoyed getting to see the progression of the other relationships that have already been told in this series and appreciated that Lou was added to the tight friendship between Winter and Jazz seamlessly.
One of the things I really respect about this author is the growth. I haven’t read her other series, but in this series I’ve seen her tighten up and hone her craft and I appreciate the work she’s putting into her stories and writing.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
This review can also be found at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/taming-fire-book-review/
Taming Fire was a sensational read. I did not want to put it down once I started. I truly love Louise and Nix together, their chemistry together is blistering hot. I instantly fell in love with them and all of the characters in Taming Fire. This is my first book by Leora Gonzales book and I am hooked.
What a fun and emotional ride this was. Here are two outspoken people both in need of something or someone who don’t realize it until they meet face to face.
I loved how the author brought these two people together. I loved the reaction that Louise had when she first meets Nix. She is both embarrassed by her outfit and her reaction to Nix, angry about the fence and confused as to what just happened. Once she found out it had to do with her nephew though, she dropped everything to make sure he was ok. To me, that spoke volumes on who Louise is as a person.
I have a love/I want to throat punch relationship with Nix. He is a very demanding man. He is like this in both his professional and personal life. The woman he is with before Louise know the score and really like it. Louise however isn’t too sure. A loved reading about the maturing of Nix from the start of the book till the end. He hadn’t had a relationship before so in the beginning he comes across very arrogant. Nix is at his best when he is communicating with Louise and being vulnerable.
I highly recommend this book.
This was okay for me. The writing flowed okay, but it did start to get hard to get through about half way through. I liked Lou for the most part. Her family was pretty crappy, and I was glad to see her start to stand up for herself, I just wish it would have happened sooner. Nix came off as a big jerk to begin with, and honestly it was hard to like him. I don’t mind the bossiness in the bedroom, but I’m not a fan of thinking everyone’s just going to do what you want because you say so. Also, I know that Nix and Maggie only have one outing, but it’s weird for me to see Lou going out with the same person her sister did. I was able to eventually put that out of my mind, and the ending was sweet. This was a first for me in this series, but I wasn’t lost at all. I would give this author another read.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.
Taming Fire in the second novel in the Braving the Heat series, but it is the first book I’ve read in this series as well as the first book I’ve read by this author, and to say I have mixed feelings about this novel is putting it mildly, but for the reasons which I’ll get to, I am giving it a 3-star rating.
The heroine in this novel is Louise (Lou) Pine, a somewhat overweight yoga instructor, and the person her many family members turn to when they need something from her, a babysitter, money, having her walk their dog–so she’s basically the family doormat, and when we meet her she’s two weeks’ into caring for her nephew, 4-year-old, Junior, while her brother, Junior’s single father, is in a rehab facility for his alcoholism, and Louise is happy to help her brother, especially since her mom and her siblings all refused to put themselves out for the little boy.
After a busy day, Junior has been put to bed and Louise is in her fenced backyard, enjoying a bottle of wine at her blazing fire pit, when suddenly sirens are blaring, and hunky firemen pour into her backyard, and knocking down her gate. Apparently, after visiting the firehouse for a safety lesson, Junior saw the fire and called 911 to report it. The sirens and crash scare Louise, who then spills her red wine all over herself. The hunkiest and first fireman into the backyard is Phoenix (Nix) Jones, who checks out Louise by opening her bathrobe because it looks like she’s bleeding, and gets an eyeful, and very sexy eyeful at that. When Nix tells her she’s going out with him the following night, she refuses, and Nix is dumbfounded.
Nix is what I’d call a manwhore, and he’s had sex with most of what he refers to as pole bunnies, sluts who hang around the firehouse and are happy to service the sexy firemen for no questions asked, no promises made, one-nighters. Nix can’t recall ever being turned down, and oh yes, he’s sexually dominant and always wants to be in control. To say I found him to be crass and vulgar is understating my feelings about him in this novel. I read quite a bit of erotica, and have no problem with dominant men who are into BDSM, but Nix and his references to women really an d their body parts, put me off, and no matter that he eventually somewhat redeems himself, I couldn’t forget his crassness.
However, I really got to like the heroine, Louise, who wasn’t afraid to tell him off and who didn’t like taking orders from him. I liked the fact that she was a kind and caring person with a good heart, but she was taken advantage of by her parents and her siblings from age 10. Well, she’s not 10 anymore and I enjoyed watching her finally begin to speak up for herself, both to Nix and to her family. Eventually she and Nix develop a friends with benefits relationship, a first for Nix, and again, what happens in the bedroom becomes quite frequent and quite graphic, and if BDSM is a turnoff for you, you may be offended by some of it. I wasn’t offended by the sex, but it’s hard to like a novel when you really dislike the hero, even if he somewhat redeems himself by the ending.
As I stated at the outset, this in the second novel in a series, but I had no trouble becoming acquainted with the cast of characters, who, except for Louise’s bitchy sister, Maggie, were all likable. There’s also an arsonist in town, who is occasionally mentioned, but we are given no clues as to his identity, and I’m assuming he’ll be apprehended in a later novel, but I do wish the author had given this reader a little more in the way of a plot that extended beyond Nix and Louise’s sexcapades, and her clueless, self-centered, and dysfunctional famil,y because in my opinion, there simply wasn’t enough of a plot to hold this story together.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.