Thursday, April 23, 2015

Wicked Reads Reviews – A Walk Through Fire by Felice Stevens


Years after running away from an abusive foster family, Asher Davis still inwardly 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 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.

Add to Goodreads


Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca  ~  Loose Id



Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angie☆☆☆☆☆
I simply loved this book. Asher had a horrible life growing up and that life still haunts him to this day. Now he is a tough as nails attorney and a man who always gets who or what he wants. Drew is going through a divorce after not being married that long. Deciding to start a clinic for abused women and men and leave his medical practice Drew never imagined Asher would want to be a part of it. Asher is gay and always has been, Drew is straight, always has been. Or so he thought. Asher wants a one night stand to get Drew out of his head. The chemistry between Drew and Asher is off the charts. I loved watching them build a relationship. I laughed, I cried and I even got ticked. When Asher becomes a mentor to one abused boy you really get to see a side of him no one knows much about. The ending almost crushed me and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book in the series.

Characters: The characters were well written and believable.
Sex: Oh yeah
Religious: No
Would I recommend to others: Yes
More than one book in the series: Yes
Genre: M/M/Romance
Would I read more by this author: Yes


Erica☆☆☆☆
A Walk Through Fire was an entertaining read. Well-written, pacing and flow easy to read while keeping the reader engaged, and the dual-perspective was effortless.

This is romance at its finest. No insta-love nonsense. There was instant intrigue, lust, and curiosity. While bent slightly one-sided for one of the characters, we (the reader) is privy to both heroes' thoughts. The characters know each other for months, working on a community outreach project together, bringing them into close proximity as well as setting a foundation for their similar interests, lending to the realism of their attachment. (Showing versus telling writing). A solid yet painful backstory kept me interested page after page, as well as whetting my appetite for the side characters' stories.

My only complaint, the book slowed slightly towards the end with repeated scenes and inner monologue as a way to lengthen the journey, making me wish for the conclusion before it was met. Sometimes less is more. The story was strong, the characters were strong, the side characters were strong, we didn't need to rehash the push-pull, will they-won't they trope once the pair was a real couple, especially when it was just emotional distance at that point (which I didn't understand, as they told each other very deep, dark secrets, so it felt unnecessary and doth protest too much, causing the story to lose steam).

I was also put off by the fact that they would be in the middle of a fight or an emotional conversation and move onto sex within a paragraph- it wasn't hate-sex, angry-sex, or sad-sex, so it felt odd. The character would be having deep inner monologue-BAM -the other character was kneeling, dropping trou, or unzipping pants. Injecting sex took away the emotional connection that could have been forged in the moment, leaving unresolved issues to deal with in the next scene, which was my initial complaint.

BABY I won't explain why I put that in my review. If you read my reviews, you'll understand. If you read this after your read the book, you'll understand. It's just a pet peeve of mine. I'm not explaining why, as my pet peeve seems to infect those when I mention it.

Complaints aside, I was pleased and entertained, and look forward to more of this series.

Genre tags: Contemporary Romance | LBGTQ Gay Romance | Male/Male | Gay for you | Abuse and emotional trauma in the past | Dark content | Teenage Bullies | Sexual confusion | Slowly evolving love | Commitment phobic | Foster Care | Close-knit friends and family | Loners | Emotionally stunted | Emotionally needy |
Sexual content: Gay sex | Detailed yet not explicit | Hot yet not smut | Romance level, not erotic level |
Would I read more by this author: Book #2 is waiting for me on my Kindle


Also Available in the Through Hell and Back Series

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca  ~  Loose Id



Felice Stevens has always been a romantic at heart. She believes that while life is tough, there is always a happy ending just around the corner. She started reading traditional historical romances when she was a teenager, then life and law school got in the way. It wasn’t until she picked up a copy of Bertrice Small and became swept away to Queen Elizabeth’s court that her interest in romance novels became renewed.

But somewhere along the way, her tastes shifted. While she still enjoys a juicy Historical romance, she began experimenting with newer, more cutting edge genres and discovered the world of Male/Male romance. And once she picked up her first, she became so enamored of the authors, the character-driven stories and the overwhelming emotion of the books, she knew she wanted to write her own.

Felice lives in New York City with her husband and two children and hopefully soon a cat of her own. Her day begins with a lot of caffeine and ends with a glass or two of red wine. She practices law but daydreams of a time when she can sit by a beach somewhere and write beautiful stories of men falling in love. Although there is bound to be angst along the way, a Happily Ever After is always guaranteed. ~ Loose Id bio

Connect with Felice

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Google+  ~  Blog  ~  tsū


http://www.loose-id.com


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Walk Through Fire (Through Hell and Back #1) by Felice Stevens to read and review.

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