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A review by heabooknerd
Feel the Fire by Annabeth Albert
4.0
First of all, can I just say that Annabeth Albert never lets me down with her romances and FEEL THE FIRE was a great addition to the HOTSHOTS series. Tucker and Luis haven't seen each other in a long time and they've grown into different people. Luis has found a life in California and things were great until his partner, Mike, died a few years ago. Tucker has grown into realizing he's demisexual, comes out to his family, and is co-parenting his 17 year old twins with his ex-wife. Things are awkward at first when Luis and Tucker are reunited and they both want nothing more to ignore the other person even though attraction still exists between them.
What I loved in particular about their initial interactions is that these two sit down, hash out the past in a mature and adult way, and they each accept the blame they had in their teenage breakup. I love romances where the couple communicates about their problems, it's my catnip. The angst is fairly low in FEEL THE FIRE and is centered more on how they could possibly make a relationship work when Luis returns home. And I was a bit surprised how things ended up working out and I actually really liked how the compromises were made because I feel like it was very different compared to most romances featuring a parent.
Overall, this was a great read and I loved both Tucker and Luis. The way they care for each other was really sweet, especially the way Luis was always making sure he was respecting Tucker's desires as a demisexual man. Tucker's boys were also a lot of fun and it was great to see a divorced couple that still works together, especially considering the circumstances surrounding their marriage and divorce. There's a small side plot over an arsonist but it stays mostly in the background and is just used to bring Luis and Tucker together again in Oregon. I also loved seeing the previous couples again, especially Garrick and Rain who are my favorite.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Content Warning: References to homophobic parents, teenage pregnancy, death of a partner
What I loved in particular about their initial interactions is that these two sit down, hash out the past in a mature and adult way, and they each accept the blame they had in their teenage breakup. I love romances where the couple communicates about their problems, it's my catnip. The angst is fairly low in FEEL THE FIRE and is centered more on how they could possibly make a relationship work when Luis returns home. And I was a bit surprised how things ended up working out and I actually really liked how the compromises were made because I feel like it was very different compared to most romances featuring a parent.
Overall, this was a great read and I loved both Tucker and Luis. The way they care for each other was really sweet, especially the way Luis was always making sure he was respecting Tucker's desires as a demisexual man. Tucker's boys were also a lot of fun and it was great to see a divorced couple that still works together, especially considering the circumstances surrounding their marriage and divorce. There's a small side plot over an arsonist but it stays mostly in the background and is just used to bring Luis and Tucker together again in Oregon. I also loved seeing the previous couples again, especially Garrick and Rain who are my favorite.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Content Warning: References to homophobic parents, teenage pregnancy, death of a partner