Tuesday, October 2, 2018

5 stars for Consumed (Firefighters #1) by JR Ward



Consumed (Book #1 of Firefighters series) By J.R. Ward

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series comes a brand-new novel about arson investigator, Ann Ashburn, who is consumed by her troubled past, her family’s scorched legacy, and her current case: chasing a deadly killer.


Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed...


By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer.

 

Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self.
 

Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again--until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze.
 

Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the county, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.
 

From the creator of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm.
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What I thought about Consumed

When I finish a book and the first thing I want to do is re-read it, that tells me a lot about how I should rate a book.  I breezed through Consumed in two days and when I got to the end, I just wanted to re-read that beginning and the ending again.  It is so good.

The story starts out with a fire -- one that turns dangerous for many of the firefighters in this book.  But for Anne, the consequences are serious and the even though the aftermath changes everything, she's still connected to the firefighters she worked with, especially Danny Maguire. He saved her life in the fire, but not without some serious changes for Anne.

I absolutely adored Anne.  She kicks some serious butt throughout the book. She has a lot to deal with -- starting with a firefighter legacy that stretches to her brother and deceased father.  She's also vulnerable most of all to Danny Maquire, but she's no pushover either.  

Danny Maquire-- all I had to hear was he is a dark haired, blue-eyed Irishman, which had me swooning.  His interactions with Anne are sometimes tense and mostly filled with some serious heat of the attraction kind. I love it when an author can communicate deep feelings in just a few pages, and JR Ward did not disappoint me.  I loved Danny and Anne together. Their pages together sizzled and I felt that same sort of rush about them that I felt about Wrath and Beth in the first BDB book, and that made me very happy.

There's a lot of world building going on in this book, with the introduction of many characters and relationships, mostly focused on Anne and her family.  There's some really nice scenes as Anne attempts to heal some sore spots with her mother and her brother.  

The main plot has to do with Anne investigating the fires happening at the warehouse district where she was injured.  There's a political component here that makes this very contemporary, and some really bad dudes that are still around at the end of the book, so I'm thinking this is a continuing story.   

There's a lot of suspense as Anne hones in on the firestarter and a seriously tense conclusion that had me turning the pages to see how it was all going to play out. While it felt a little rushed, I did like how everything was wrapped up at the end, even though it was a bittersweet ending for many reasons. 

Overall, I just loved this.  The pace was good for the most part, I loved Anne and Danny and it left me wanting more of this world. Great start to the series!

An ARC was provided for review.

J.R. Ward

J.R. Ward is the author of more than thirty novels, including those in her #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. There are more than fifteen million copies of her novels in print worldwide, and they have been published in twenty-six different countries around the world. She lives in the South with her family.

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