Playing With Fire by Gena Showalter

Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Belle Jamison is quite the heroine in this superhero-themed paranormal romance. She’s very ordinary, a working stiff like most of us. Sailing from menial job to menial job (keeping none very long), with good intentions. She wants to take care of her ailing dad who sacrificed so much for her. One day, she literally runs into a mad scientist who doses her with a special formula in her mocha latte. A formula that makes her able to harness all the elements: earth, wind, fire, air and water. That puts her on the map for two vying supernatural agencies, one bad and one that works to protect the world from scrims (supernatural criminals). She meets super-sexy PSI agent Rome, and sparks fly, literally. Rome is sexy and lights a fire in Belle’s heart, but she can’t afford to let her libido make decisions for her now. Rome might be hot for her body, but his priorities are elsewhere. Can suddenly super Belle save herself, and maybe even the world?

This was a fun book. I love superheroes, and I liked the idea that Belle started out so normal. She has been fired from most of her jobs, she doesn’t have the best temper, and her luck with men is so-so. But deep down, Belle finds her destiny, and that’s not something you can run from. Along with the fun superhero elements, there is sexy, sizzling romance between Belle and Rome. Rome has some interesting secret powers of his own, and that was fun to discover. I also liked Tanner, the young man who Belle befriends, who turns out to have some abilities of his own. The superpower scenes are exciting, well-written, and often very funny. I could visualize this as a movie very easily.

This is classic Gena Showalter: fun, flirty, hilarious, and sexy paranormal romance, with a kickbutt heroine that you can’t help loving, even in all her snarkiness. I definitely recommend this book to readers who like superheroes, and want a tough (and mouthy) lead female who gets to do a whole lot of the saving and buttkicking herself.


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