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A review by missdevo
Fake Flame by Adele Buck
4.0
Smoking hot love story with main characters over 30?! YES PLEASE!
Eva is a 41 year old English literature and p0p culture professor at Montgomery University. Sean is a 36 year old firefighter who is working his way through the classics in his down time. When he arrives on the truck dispatched to deal with a potential fire on the quad at the University, there's no fire, just a very pissed off woman at the end of her rope. Armed with an industrial can of roach spray and a pink Bic lighter, Eva has had it with her cheating ex's refusal to accept the break up, and is threatening to end yet another attempted grand gesture attempt to win her back with a homemade blow torch. Sparks fly right away, and with inspiration from a fellow romance reading firefighter, a plot to protect her with a fake dating scheme is born.
It seems too rare lately to find main characters over 30 with sexy stories. I love that these are fully formed adults with established lives that fall in love. He definitely falls first, and his desire to protect and take care of her is really sweet to me. There's an emotional maturity to their developing relationship that I really appreciated. Without revealing too much, the 3rd act drama is well developed and handled with sensitivity. It's a super realistic dilemma that plays out in a way that drew me further into the story instead of pulling me out. The spice is also really nice. It's sexy and sweet and dirty all at the right moments.
I feel the "fake dating" plot is abandoned pretty quickly once our characters have met each other. The suspense subplot that runs under the love story is ok, but lacks any real punch for me in terms of tension. I am way more invested in the dynamics of their budding relationship, than what's happening on that front. For me, there's more emotional tension between Eva and Sean to build on and make the resolution really payoff.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a hot story with emotional depth that centers around older characters. It's a quick enjoyable read with some nice sizzle.
Thanks to Netgalley, Harlequin, and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the ARC.
Eva is a 41 year old English literature and p0p culture professor at Montgomery University. Sean is a 36 year old firefighter who is working his way through the classics in his down time. When he arrives on the truck dispatched to deal with a potential fire on the quad at the University, there's no fire, just a very pissed off woman at the end of her rope. Armed with an industrial can of roach spray and a pink Bic lighter, Eva has had it with her cheating ex's refusal to accept the break up, and is threatening to end yet another attempted grand gesture attempt to win her back with a homemade blow torch. Sparks fly right away, and with inspiration from a fellow romance reading firefighter, a plot to protect her with a fake dating scheme is born.
It seems too rare lately to find main characters over 30 with sexy stories. I love that these are fully formed adults with established lives that fall in love. He definitely falls first, and his desire to protect and take care of her is really sweet to me. There's an emotional maturity to their developing relationship that I really appreciated. Without revealing too much, the 3rd act drama is well developed and handled with sensitivity. It's a super realistic dilemma that plays out in a way that drew me further into the story instead of pulling me out. The spice is also really nice. It's sexy and sweet and dirty all at the right moments.
I feel the "fake dating" plot is abandoned pretty quickly once our characters have met each other. The suspense subplot that runs under the love story is ok, but lacks any real punch for me in terms of tension. I am way more invested in the dynamics of their budding relationship, than what's happening on that front. For me, there's more emotional tension between Eva and Sean to build on and make the resolution really payoff.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a hot story with emotional depth that centers around older characters. It's a quick enjoyable read with some nice sizzle.
Thanks to Netgalley, Harlequin, and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the ARC.