Stupidest book ever.

So...I escape from a guy that kidnapped me from my apartment and accidentally run into his evil government counterpart--after escaping from him, what do I do? I go back to my apartment, call my dad and pass out from exhaustion.

bleh.

Playing With Fire is kind of like every kid's dream right? You go from being an ordinary person to a superhero because of some freak accident that no one would believe could happen in a million years. Yesterday all Belle could do was make a (bad) cup of coffee and then whammy! Some crazy kook gives her a mickey and she can control the four elements (in theory at least).

I'm telling you half my dreams began and/or ended that way as a teenager. And Rome? Well...not Rome exactly, but usually some sort of hunky guy also featured heavily in those dreams (except I was saving him, not him saving me!). So really one could say that not only does Showalter play to romance fantasies, but she plays to comic book romance fantasies.

Things aren't all peachy and perfect of course, Belle is put through a horrific physical ringer before her body settles down somewhat to the changes the formula wrought. There was also the distinct possibility that the hunk that was at her bedside was going to be her executioner. Oh and the kookie mad scientist really wasn't certain she'd live through the changes, so now not only does he want to know why, but a whole host of other people want to know why. And they're not afraid to do it postmortem quite frankly. This is all assuming that Belle doesn't set herself on fire, freeze to death, or drown herself somehow with her rapidly changing powers.

So really the deck is stacked so badly against Belle she should indenture herself to the house to pay off her debts.

Belle doesn't let any of this stop her though. She indulges in the occasional 'why me?!' routine, but for the most part she does what she has always done--she perseveres, finds a way to make it work for her and then work it, hard, until she gets the results she wants. Along the way she even finds that she was enjoying herself, felt like things were really clicking for her. I don't feel that Belle grew as a character in the book, but she grew as a person in the book (if that makes sense). By the end she isn't really any different then in the beginning character-wise, but as a person she understood some important truths and finally learned that they were what she should focus on.

My first time reading through, I was really not a Rome fan. I remember thinking he was such a jerk and really needed to learn a bedside manner. He also had to be one of the least sympathetic heroes I have read in any book whatsoever. If he didn't casually dismiss Belle's problems, he poked holes in them. On my re-read though, with the knowledge of why he was suck a stick in the mud a lot of the time, I understood him better and was able to concentrate more on the romance developing over time.

The book is from Belle first person POV, so we're only given a hint at the inner workings of the other characters. I would have liked to know more about Rome's daughter, Sunny (which I hope is explored in the sequel) and Lexis grew on me by the end of the novel. She wasn't such a bad lady, just stuck in a bad spot.

All in all this was a fun adventure that then and now has me anxiously waiting to read the second book (which thankfully I have for review, so I'm not sitting twiddling my thumbs like I was for 3 years when this book first came out...)! ( )

This is a weird mix of slapstick comedy that doesn't seem to take itself too seriously and a classic insta-lust PNR with a decent amount of UF plot.
The sometimes rapid switching between the slapstick humor and serious and dangerous situations gave me pretty hefty whiplash.

Beyond that, it's just a badly clichéed book full of worn stereotypes. I guess it's from 2006 so maybe it wasn't so trite then but it is definitively cheesy as hell. ( )

Woman gets super powers curtesy of scientist on the run, sparks fly between her and the man sent to 'neutralize' her
( )

Summary:

This book is about a 24 year old barista named Belle Jamison. She worked many different jobs to take care of her dad, who had a heart problem. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse at the cafe, a crazy scientist spiked her mocha latte. She got sick for a few days though she didn't know why. Later on, she found out she could control the four elements: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water by just thinking about it. A government agent, Rome Masters, was sent to neutralize Belle but he later realized that he's not the only one after her. Belle and Rome decide to team up to outrun the rogue agents on their trail and find a way to control her powers. The problem is that: the sparks Belle and Rome generate are even hotter than the ones flying from her eyes. Throughout their adventures together, they end up falling in love but Belle later on finds out that he has a daughter named Sunny that they have to protect. She was upset to find out that Rome had been married but Rome assured her that he was divorced.

Review:

Though I'm not a big fan of supernatural books, I really enjoyed reading this one. I mainly like romance books so this was a slight difference from the books I usually read. I decided to re-read the book again out of boredom. I would recommend this book to people who like romance, action and supernatural genres because it has a mix of all three ( )