Fire Baptized (edition 2012)

Nope.

This book was an odd choice to fall into my hands, since I'm not usually reader of the genres that I feel this book falls into: fantasy, romance, or murder mystery (outside of a good ole Sherlock story). It's kind of ridiculous that I don't read much of those three genres, since that leaves out a huge number of books. But the world in this book sounded so inventive, that is what I had to read it for. The habitat is basically a city in a cage with bars going thousands of feet high to keep in supernatural species -- separate from humans. The supernaturals are everything from vampires, shifters, witches, fairies, etc. Though the purebloods are shunned from the human society, the mixbreed supernaturals are shunned even within the habitat. The main character, Lanore, is a mixbreed. Her father was a powerful demon -- she is a pyromancer. She has to choose between two unique guys: one a shifter, a were-cheetah that she has known from childhood. The other is a mysterious mixbreed who has a jeweled tattoo of wings on his back (details like this are the best part of the book). And someone starts to gruesomely murder the supernaturals. It sounds out there -- the book tries to be a bit realistic, like having the supernaturals exist because of experiments that humans did in the 1970s, or the Supreme Court deciding how many decades vampires get to "live". Because of the romancey aspect of the book, it did remind me of Twilight. I don't know much about Twilight except that the girl has to choose between a wolf and a vampire, so I'm not sure how far to compare it to Twilight. It is a bit suspicious that there are mainly witches, vampires, and were-animals, but it's not like Twilight has a patent on everything supernatural. But it also reminded me of one of my favorite shows, for obvious reasons: Supernatural -- which is why I may have read this book in the first place. If anything, this book should be read for its inventiveness. Maybe I'm lacking in other fantasy reading to really compare, but it is an interesting world. I would have liked less romance and more world building. ( )

I loved this book, it kept me entertained and dying for Lanore to solve the crimes. We have a classy heroine despite her status in this civilisation, fearless, determined and I guess what many young women would strive to be like (forgetting the Mixbreed, of course). We have the hot heroes to help her and the right mix of seedy bad'uns as well as the downright nasty and evil in both sexes. Along the course of the story, we meet a few killers or potential killers who could easily be the perpetrator, and as each victim keeps appearing we are left wondering - which is exactly what a good crime story is all about - the is it/isn't it factor. I can't wait to read more of this series. ( )

I have to say that this book was very real written. It's super refreshing when you open a book and it's written really smartly. I enjoyed reading the book, and the descriptions were really spot on, I could paint a picture in my own head about what was going on.

I have to say that Lanore is a pretty unique character, she's definitely her own girl, and I think if you lined her up next too characters from other books she would definitely stand out in her own right. She doesn't take crap from anyone, but she's also a really good friend. She's the kind of person you would want to have in your corner. Lanore has some really complex relationships throughout the book, especially with the men in her life. She has this whole triangle thing going on, and there is a lot of history to go behind it. I had a hard time trying to choose which guy I wanted her to end up with. I think that's a pretty impressive feat by the author. In most love triangle situations, sometimes I like both guys (as was the case with this book), but oftentimes it's super easy for me to choose the guy I want the girl to end up with, it's visceral, my gut instinct telling me which one I like more. I didn't have that with this book, I was genuinely torn.

If I had to pick the one thing I didn't enjoy as much as the other elements it would have to be the level of violence. For me it just wasn't my thing. Now in no way did the book have violence just for violence sake, there was always a reason that the author painted, but for me I prefer books that are more character driven with a little less violence in them. I will say that I think the violence in the book helped keep the pacing level up higher, which I enjoyed.

I think if you are looking for a unique take on the genre you should certainly give this book a try. There is a lot of action, some romance, and generally a little bit of everything, so I think just about anyone could find some elements within this book that they enjoy. ( )

Fire Baptized is an urban fantasy romance that takes place in a alternate world where humans have forced supernaturals to live in caged cities. Lanore is a mixbreed, a second-class citizen even among the other supernaturals. She is trying to go to college, and not to use her power to create fire. She witnesses a murder and comes to the attention of a murderer who is killing other supernaturals. With the help of her ex-boyfriend Meshack and Zulu, the leader of the Mixbreed liberation group, she tries to discover who the murderer is before she becomes the next victim.

The author has created an interesting new urban fantasy world. I enjoyed the character of Lanore as well as the two men in her life. There was quite a lot of humour and clever dialogue. The mystery was well developed and there was the right amount of action and suspense. The romance was nice as well but didn't overwhelm the other elements of the plot. I was left wanting to spend more time in this world and find out what happens to these characters. ( )