A review by nelljustice
Born in Fire by K.F. Breene

5.0

This was a fun an engrossing book. There is no sex-alluding to the deed, yes. Following through, no. There is one spot of nudity, plenty of killing of witches and mages...and zombies but no graphic description of violence that leans into the horror category. The four letter "f" word was used a little bit, but it had to be done to make the character a dimensional and believable character. There was also no cliffhanger.
Can I just say that I was not expecting this kind of story? I was kind of expecting a heroine that's clingy and wishy washy attitude that amplifies to the damsel in distress when she falls into a vapid romance with a vampire that's going to save her. That's what I could get when I do no research, read no sample chapters and listen to no snippets from the narrator. Basically, I put my money down blindly. That's totally unusual for me. But I did it anyway. Me. Taking a chance. Write it in the history books.
What I got in this book, were characters that practically walked out of my earbuds to sit in the room with me. I gotta say, Reagan's contacts, clients, co-workers and neighbors are incredibly interesting folk.
When I grow up, I want to be just like Reagan Sommerset. She's not afraid of anything. She's confident, knows exactly what to do and can figure out a smart ass comeback in a blink of an eye. She's such a stand out character that I loved her every minute. Even in the most difficult and awkward of situations, she always has something sassy to say.
As I said, the writing was great - but the narrator....the narrator NAILED it. Her voice range was amazing. This book did not sound like it was being read-no, it sounded like it was being lived! Poole's inflection on frustrated, tired, sassy, bossy, hardass Reagan was golden. Then came the other characters that stood out. I could picture Reagan's neighbors and the mage duo like I'd known them forever. I don't know how Nicole Poole does it, but she can go from one character speech to another totally different character with a different accent and timbre at the drop of a hat. I was so impressed with this book, I had no other choice but to give it 5 stars. It was that good.