Sooooo... I'm still trying to figure out why it took me so long to read Consumed by Fire. I love Anne Stuart. I loved her Ice series and this is a spin-off from that. I love Stuart's anti-heroes. So what the heck held me back? I'm not sure. Maybe I was just afraid I wouldn't like it *as much*. Whatever the reason, looking back, it was lame. Because I really enjoyed this book.

James Bishop is trademark Stuart. He's bad; he's mean; he's a stone-cold killer; and he loves one woman and would do anything to protect her including hurt her. James lives in every shade of grey there is, sometimes being quite nice and other times practically living in black. He's hard and cold and ruthless and determined to finish what he started no matter the cost to himself. He's morally ambiguous at best. And I loved him. Because, day-um, who doesn't love a man who will sacrifice anything to protect the one he loves.

Ah, but then there's Evangeline. She's... nothing like James. She's sunlight and joy, bright colors and quirky clothes, laughter and pleasure. And in the wrong place at the wrong time. And because of that one mistake, she must die. Except James wants her, so he protects her at a cost so high both are still paying for it five years later. But the beauty is that Evangeline is also trademark Stuart, because she may be "good" but she is also capable of accepting and embracing and loving James as he is. She might be sunshine but she also knows how to be tough and hard and cruel and defend herself.

And when James has no choice but to protect Evangeline, he does it in spectacular fashion and in some incredibly sweet ways as well. With chemistry off the charts and an incredible surprise twist toward the end (with, as usual, an ambiguous piece to it), Consumed by Fire is aptly titled. I absolutely loved the ending.

While I enjoyed Stuart's Ice series I found this one a bit hard to get into.