This time out, I have the latest from Jayne Ann Krentz, Fired Up (Putnam), a book which kicks off a new trilogy within her Arcane Society series. In this one, Chloe Harper takes on Jack Winters's case: find a centuries-old lamp that has disappeared from his family, and which he desperately needs to stay alive. Legend has it that throughout the generations of Winters men, a few have been cursed with patriarch Nicholas Winters's multiple para-abilities which manifest at age thirty-six, and now Jack has developed a new ability, which means J&J will hunt him down to put a permanent end to his life if he can't stop it himself. But after the lamp is located, Jack will also need Chloe's dreamlight reading abilities to help him use it. Finding the lamp turns out to be the easy part. It's the using of it, and the other people hot on their trail that are the bigger issues. Oh, yeah, and the intense attraction Jack and Chloe share from the moment they meet that might get in the way of their mission. And maybe the Nightshade agents who seem to be dogging their footsteps almost from the start, and they have other plans for the lamp. I'm a huge Krentz fan, no matter which name is on her books, and this story kept me up way past my bedtime so I could find out how they worked things out. Chloe and Jack are terrific, as is Chloe's eccentric and not always above-board extended family in their appearances. I just keep wondering how long the people at Nightshade can manage to elude J&J. Not that I want this series to end, but just out of curiosity. This one gets a spot on my Krentz shelf (actually multiple shelves now), and has me waiting impatiently for the next installment in the trilogy. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for it. Amazing.
Until next time, happy reading!
