BURNING UP (Flirting with Fire #1) by Jennifer Blackwood-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: May 8, 2018

Unemployed schoolteacher Erin Jenkins is back in Portland, the town she hasn’t called home for more than a decade. It’s not the way she wants to spend her last days of summer: in between jobs and avoiding her mother’s snooping by escaping to the ice-cream aisle. But when the opportunity arises for her to accompany her brother’s best friend—her lifetime crush—to a wedding, summer gets a whole lot more interesting.

Firefighter and single dad Jake Bennett has built a nice, safe wall around his heart—no romance, no getting burned. That doesn’t mean he’s ruling out a fling. Considering Erin’s visit is temporary, they’re the perfect fit for a scorching no-strings one-night stand. Or two. Or five. Until the worst thing happens: Erin and Jake are feeling more. Damn that four-letter word.

Now their hearts are on the line, and when their smoldering summer comes to a close, it’s going to be harder than ever to put out the fire.

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REVIEW: BURNING UP is the first instalment in Jennifer Blackwood’s contemporary, adult FLIRTING WITH FIRE romance series. This is middle-school teacher Erin Jenkins, and fire fighter/ single dad Jake Bennett’s story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Jake and Erin) BURNING UP follows the building relationship between middle-school teacher Erin Jenkins, and fire fighter/ single dad Jake Bennett. Erin Jenkins is home for the summer holidays having lost her teaching position in California to attrition and a lack of school board funding. Hoping to find something quick, Erin heads home to Portland in an effort to reconnect with family and friends, never thinking about the potential of falling in love. Enter her brother’s best friend and fellow fire fighter Jake Bennett. An offer of Jake’s plus-one for his sister’s wedding slowly begins to blur the lines between friendship and more. What ensues is the building romance and love between Jake and Erin, and the potential fall-out as Erin’s time in Portland comes to an end.

Erin Jenkins has no plans to stay in her hometown of Portland Oregon. Her life and friends are back in California but her heart will soon belong to a man whose just as lost as our story line heroine. Jake Bennett has been a single father for close to thirteen years, and has never crossed the line by bringing home a woman or fallen in love. Reconnecting with his best friend’s sister found our hero losing his heart to a reluctant Erin Jenkins.

Erin has lusted after Jake Bennett for most of her life but Jake was off limits in more ways than one. With her time in Portland coming to an end Erin hopes to find a new teaching position far from her family and the man with whom she has fallen in love. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text although the palpable sexual energy is more or less absent between our leading couple.

We are introduced to Jake’s fellow fire fighters: Erin’s brother Reese Jenkins, and rookie Cole ‘Hollywood’ Gibson; Erin’s sister Andie and their eccentric mother; as well as Jake’s daughter Bailey, and Erin’s best friends Madison and Sloan.

BURNING UP is a sweet story that introduces the players in the author’s FLIRTING WITH FIRE series. The best friend’s little sister conflict was limited-more of a worry than anything else. There are some funny moments in the hotel at Jake’s sister’s wedding including a family of raccoons who have taken up residence in our heroine’s room. The premise is fun and spicy but predictable; the romance is captivating and emotional; the characters are sassy and energetic.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy