Review: When Embers Ignite by Sharon Landis

When Embers Ignite: The Mended Hearts Collection 2 by Sharon Landis

Kindle Edition, 1, 177 pages
My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Published November 4th 2014 by Self Published on Amazon.com


Description: Trace Reynolds, a firefighter with a trouble past, isn't looking for a committed relationship. With his heart broken and bruised, too many times, he is only interested in a friendly fun long distance thing with no strings attached. He meets Ellie Waters, a fun, confident, beauty with commitment issues of her own, It seems like a match made in Heaven. When Ellie learns about Trace's tendency to defy death not only in his career but in his leisure time activities, she wonders if this is someone she wants to get involved with even casually.

Will having a couple of near death experiences of her own change her mind? Will Trace stick around long enough to save her or will she have to depend on someone else?

My Review:  This is Book 2 in the series, but it definitely stands alone. I had a love/hate relationship with this book. There were moments when I was completely caught up in the story and loved the characters and other times when the characters had me totally frustrated. Yes, this is a character driven story.


Trace and Ellie have a few things in common--they've both had hard/bad relationships in their pasts, they have a mutual attraction to one another, and they both seem to run from things. They're different in some ways as well--Ellie wants to be in love and feel secure, but Trace wants a relationship with no strings attached. He's confident, she's insecure; he's brave and has a crazy job as a firefighter, and she's more cautious; he's a player who isn't ready to settle down, and she wants commitment.

I did enjoy the big picture of the story because it had all the right ingredients to be enjoyable--suspense, clean romance, adventure, drama, and fun. There was a great plot twist near the end. I liked the characters, for the most part, but they were sure stubborn and infuriating. It was fun watching them mature. One note--Trace and Ellie had moments where they were both sweet, but at other times, they would change in the blink of an eye and become completely opposite. I would have liked to see either more consistency or to see a more gradual change.

Overall, this is a nice read and I'm enjoying the author's growth with each book.

 

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