Fury on Fire

North has spent the past years of his life in prison: an ex-con who went down for a crime that was more than justified, he’s still reliving the nightmares of all he had seen and done. Getting past the walls he’s built around himself in his freedom has him gruff, monosyllabic, and finding ways to escape his own thoughts with every possible distraction. Hard work occupies his days, but his nights are filled with various women, lots of parties and plenty of attempts to forget.

Faith has struggled to move out from her family’s influence and protection, and into her own adult life. She’s open and friendly, and now everything seems to be falling into place for her, with a house just the way she likes it, and time that is her own. Until her new neighbor arrives, and with a grunt that may or may not have been “thank you” for her welcome to the neighborhood scones and a constant parade of different women screaming and panting late night, thinds were just perfect.

Of course Faith knows who North is – and she knows that her family would not be pleased to know he was her neighbor: let alone want to know she finds him intriguing and sexy, and wants to know more. That would send her family off the rails: she’s got no business being involved with (or near) the danger that is North.

I loved the way Jordan revealed North’s story and provided a look into his struggles with his guilt, remorse and adjusting to life as a free man with a felony conviction. His reluctance to get involved with Faith, or involve himself with anyone is clear to see, and his inability to trust in people or the world around him is clear to see, and understandable. He and his brother were justified in the beat down they delivered to the man who raped their cousin – neither wanted him dead – but everything snowballed and here we are. Like most people, North isn’t all good or all bad: he’s got his issues and his problems, but he’s trying to find a new way to survive. On the other hand, Faith, while a wonderful character, is a bit innocent and quick to connect and attach herself to North. If I had one issue with the story it is that most of North’s revelations were prior to meeting Faith face to face, and this didn’t give us that solid sense of a connection that was more than lust-fueled.

BUT make no mistake: that lust-fueled connection combined with North’s protective sense of chivalry combined to make one explosive and steamy time between the two of them. They do connect best, I think, in this book when they are alone and touching – when the sparks are like 4th of July fireworks and the only words need to be said are yes, more, and oh yes. And I do think that by the end of the story, I did find Faith’s instant-on switch to love show a bit of her innocence, but a piece of the surety with which she viewed North: knowing he was a good man, who made some bad choices and learned from them, the hard way.

Overall, I found the story hard to put down even as I had moments of wanting to smack them both occasionally. Insets and views to earlier events in the series were explained, and I never felt lost with references to those earlier events. In fact, I now need to go back and start this series from the beginning, the first I’ve read from Sophie Jordan from her contemporary work.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Faith finally has a town style home of her own, breaking away from living with her all cop family, it has been a hard-won independence. The only problem with her new abode is her neighbor’s rude ways and the crazy woman he brings home that scream on the other side of her bedroom wall.

North is an ex-con, the last thing he needs is his attraction to his neighbor. Driving Faith away seemed like a good plan, but when chemistry ensnares there really isn’t anything either one of them can do…

North is crude and just plan nasty as a neighbor, so I didn’t completely buy Faith’s interest.

Faith is interesting and complex with a strength and humor that was unexpected but quite enjoyable.

It’s a bad boy ex-con meets cop’s good girl daughter. Sparks fly, hearts break and uber alpha bad boy male must save the day.

In the end, I enjoyed the tale but felt the relationship was pushed into an insta-love. 3.5 stars

I received this ARC copy of Fury on Fire from Avon in exchange for a honest review.