AGAINST THE FIRE by Kat Martin

Raines of Wild Canyon Book 2
Publisher: MIRA
Date published: January 25th, 2011
ISBN: 978-0778329305
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Ebook ARC
Reviewed by Dawn
Obtained by Publisher via Netgalley


Gabriel Raines is determined to find out who is setting fires on his real estate development. He knows it could be any number of ex-employees or enemies but the police seem determined to pin it on a teen named Angel Ramirez, a troubled youth who used to set fires when he was younger. What Gabe doesn’t expect is that Angel has a staunch supporter in Mattie Baker, a volunteer at the local Family Abuse center. Both Mattie and Gabe are stubborn but as they fight to clear Angel, someone is getting closer in destroying Gabe and his business. Can Gabe and Mattie find out who the arsonist is before it’s too late?

AGAINST THE FIRE is one fast paced, full out adrenaline ride from start to finish. Kat Martin is a master in creating complex, emotional stories that take you on a roller coaster of emotions with a few twists to keep you in guessing. The characters are complex, stubborn and quite believable. The storyline is fast paced, action packed and has a few “OH MYGOD!” moments that leave you gasping.

Meet Gabriel Raines. He is a somewhat reformed bad boy from Wind Canyon and now has a successful construction company. Someone doesn’t want Gabe to finish his new project and it’s causing him major headaches. He has no idea who it may be and when the police arrest a troubled teen, he finds himself butting heads with the teen’s staunch supporter…namely sexy Mattie Baker. I LOVED Gabe. He is one sexy bad boy with a heart of gold. The sparks fly the minute Gabe lays eyes on Mattie and this spitfire is determined to show Gabe that he is accusing the wrong person. Mattie is an independent woman who is in disbelief that the young teen she is counseling has returned to his fire bug ways. She goes toe to toe with Gabe and finds herself falling for the sexy maddening man. These two are the perfect couple in my opinion. Strong, independent and determined- these are the perfect combination in two lead characters. The secondary characters moved the story along nicely and the ending will leave you shocked.

AGAINST THE FIRE is a fast paced, edge of your seat ride that leaves you gasping in the end. Ms. Martin delivers a strong second book in her Raines trilogy and I can’t wait to see how the series ends in the final book. If you are looking for the perfect summer beach read, then curl up with AGAINST THE FIRE or the other two books in the Raines series. Ms. Martin is on my keeper shelf and I can’t wait to read this one again.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.