Title: A Walk Through Fire
Author: Felice Stevens
Publisher: Loose Id
Pages/Word Count: 239 pages
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Blurb: Years after running away from an abusive foster family, Asher Davis still struggles with the guilt of leaving his foster brothers behind. He’s climbed to unimaginable heights as a ruthless, high-powered attorney, creating a life of power and control. He takes whatever and whoever he wants.
Blaming himself for the death of his parents, Dr. Drew Klein retreats into a shell of loneliness, merely going through the motions of life. After a disastrous, short-lived marriage, Drew decides to leave his lucrative medical practice to set up a clinic for abused young men and women. The decision has more repercussions than Drew could ever imagine when the dark and sensual Ash Davis volunteers to help.
Although Drew isn’t gay, Ash is inexplicably drawn to him. He vows to simply bed him and forget him like he’s done with every other man. However, Drew’s sweet and caring nature and unexpected passion both stun and frighten Ash, who questions his right to any happiness at all. And when Ash befriends an abused young man who unwittingly draws the clinic into danger, threatening Drew’s safety and that of his beloved grandmother, Ash discovers that there is nothing he won’t sacrifice to protect the love he never thought he’d find.
Review: So, I discovered this awesome gem of an author with her debut book, Rescued. For a debut, it was pretty damn perfect: great characters, adorable pit bulls, and a good solid story. Well, when I heard she had A Walk Through Fire coming out, I was excited, and then I read the blurb and I was like, gimme this book now.
A Walk Through Fire is a very different book then Rescued, but it does have similarities. Both have characters that are broken; A Walk Through Fire’s Ash is more than broken, he’s shattered, and at first doesn’t seem quite repairable or redeemable. Okay, so bluntly, Ash is a class A asshole and manwhore. Since Ash is a high power lawyer handling a messy divorce, the asshole part serves him well. Drew, on the other hand, is a really laid back, easy going guy who’s kind of let his younger sister, Rachel, and his best friend, Jordan, direct his life.
While Ash is instantly drawn to Drew, the same can’t be said for Drew, at first. Drew appears to be straight, or is he? At first he seems to be freaked out by his attraction to Ash, then he wavers, and then he jumps in feet first and falls into bed with Ash. The story develops from there, with Drew and Ash in a push-pull type of relationship. Drew is willing to see where things go, and Ash is saying he’s not a forever kind of man/don’t expect that out of him, etc.
There are a lot of very hot, steamy smexy man moments in this book. There are also quite a few sweet, smooshy, lovely moments between Ash and Drew. Finally, though, Drew finds his feet and tells everyone to deal with him as he is, or f**k off. In a little better terms than that, of course. The storyline is well written and moves at a steady pace that keeps the characters at the forefront. There is some action in this story, but there’s also a lot of inner, and between character, dialogue. All of which is essential to this story.
A Walk Through Fire is a very strong lead off into what looks to be a new series for Felice Stevens. I cannot wait to see which character(s) she chooses to feature next. I will give a bit of a twofold warning, as one of the characters was abused as a child and is still a cutter, and I know that’s a trigger for some readers. There is also another character suffering abuse which does not occur on screen. These scenes are minimal but are an impact to both the characters and the storyline.
I really enjoyed this story as it took me through a gamut of emotions toward the main and secondary characters. I recommend this book for those who like characters that skirt that line of being irredeemable, and characters who learn to stand up for themselves and for what/who makes them complete.
You can buy A Walk Through Fire here:
