Fire by T.G. Ayer

Normal people sneak out to a party and have fun. Maya Rao ends the evening by incinerating the guy who attacks her. 

Nik Lucas, sexy, new in town and totally forbidden, happens to walk in on her. Normal guys would run for the hills. Nik knows a whole lot more than he's telling.

Maya doesn't believe the gods are real, doesn't waste her time with mere mythology. But when gods, demons and hellhounds become the new normal and wielding fire becomes her new skill, she must decide what it is she really believes. 

Can Maya accept that normal is something she will never be because it isn't normal to be ...

The Hand of Kali.

My Thoughts

Before I begin, I would like to thank Innovative Online Book Tours for this fabulous book. I received this book for free for a review. 

Well, I have to say that the character and the plot development is excellent. I love Maya's spunk and the mysterious Nik.

Although this book was good, it just wasn't for me. There was just nothing that was particularly wrong with it, but it just wasn't my taste.

All of the great elements were there, great characters and great plot development, but I just didn't dig it. Maybe if I break this down a little better, I'll be able to see what it was.

Characters: Like I said earlier, love the teen angst and the spunk of Maya. And she's not a typical white female kickbutt character. I love how her culture as an Indian-American comes into play into the paranormal plot.

Love Nik and his mysterious nature. I kinda figured out what was going on between Nik and Maya, but it was still interesting to learn more and more about this character as it continued on.

Dialogue: This is where I had an issue with the book. Especially with the parents. They talked as stiff as a cardboard. 

Think about all of the stereotypical responses parents give typical spit fire teens, and you will know what I'm talking about. I couldn't stand the fact that they were so stiff with the language they were using.

And the crucial part of this is: All parents are different. All children are different. To tell me that these parents are the same type of parents down the street is doing them an injustice. To give Maya and Nik such depth but skimp out on the parents makes me feel like the author was lazy or just plain ol' tired of all of the effort she gave to all of the other characters and just said, "Screw it" to the parents.

I feel slightly cheated that she did that. 

Plot: Like I said, plot development was excellent. No complaints here. The character led the plot forward and that's how it should be. Well paced, well structured and well executed. Nothing I could ask for more in this arena.

Setting: Love how the setting and the culture came into play with the plot. It's like the author took all of the literary elements and strung them together to the Indian culture which is just so what I've been waiting for from other others in the paranormal genre.

If you've been a follower since the beginning, you will know that I've been begging for an author to tie in minority roots to the paranormal genre for years. And I'm so thankful that somebody did. 

Anyway . . . :)

Historical Context: I know, I had to throw it in there for a loop! :) 

Anyway, I got a bit lost in the Indian culture and the religion. I think the author made it accessible, but I still got a little lost since there are so many different gods and different powers associated with each. I had no idea they had an underworld and a god to boot. 

But I really think that if I tried a bit harder and flipped back from time to time, I think I would get it. I wasn't lost enough not to get back my footing, but I thought I would mention it just in case. If you're going to buy it, then you need to make sure you know what you're going in to. Just my honest opinion.

Ending: Ended with a bow on top. Couldn't be happier.

Overall: I would definitely recommend this book to people, like me, who are just waiting for a minority character to explore the Indian paranormal mindset.

It's your choice.

Just because it didn't suit me just right, doesn't mean it won't for you! I love practically everything about this book, it just didn't fit my personal taste. 

Anyway, I highly recommend this book for paranormal romance lovers. Check it out. Read it and thank me later. :)