General Summary: Werewolves and a wayward hunter help one witch unlock his birthright. But starting fires and hunting the creatures who go bump in the night brings danger for him and everybody in his life.
Overall Impression: An intriguing first book with a keen sense of location. There’s an engaging love story and lots of potential for expansion.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Rainbow Roy unicorn plush toys
Is that a rusty sword in your pocket or are you happy to see me: Landon thinks he’s a regular guy in a small town, working to keep his family farm alive until a stranger asks Landon to sharpen his blade with witchcraft. Which is not a pickup line, though if it were, it would be a memorable one. Too bad it comes with the side effect of making the recipient wonder if you’re crazy.
Rousseau isn’t crazy. He’s a hunter tracking a werewolf, and this brings them together as they start an adventure bigger than one wolf. One of them is a plucky protagonist who makes wise cracks and flirts, the other is a tough guy hunter with a tragic past. While there are many serious and suspenseful moments, the romance is pretty much always adorable.
Your sex is on fire: there are all kinds of metaphors about steamy romance, being hot as fire, sizzling chemistry, etc. But in this book, the sex is literally on fire. Which is fun and makes for a memorable love scene.
(I’m not a huge fan of this song, but I feel compelled to put it here anyway)
Titles are hard: If I were rating my ability to remember the title of this book, I would say 0 out of 5. There was fire on the cover and the dude wields said fire, so my brain decided the title was Firestarter and would not be dissuaded from this. I eventually realized that wasn’t the title and so somehow I started referring to it as Firebrand instead. It’s actually pretty simple. The main character is a witch. He makes fire. Witchfire. There ya go.
There were a fair number of typos and formatting issues, which bothers some people, so I should mention that. It has been a minute since I read the book, so it’s also possible this has already been corrected.
From from the novel
A small town boy. A dark stranger. And secrets that no one was supposed to uncover.
When cattle begin to turn up dead on the family farm, twenty four year-old Landon Winfield assumes it’s the usual culprits. But along with the string of mysterious deaths that threaten him and his mother’s struggling farm, the arrival of a handsome newcomer with strange tattoos brings Landon face to face — or more like face to frothy mouthed muzzle —with the real predator that stalks the forests of Rock Creek.
A werewolf.
Yeah, those exist. And apparently, so do people that hunt them. Crazy, right?
The shocking revelations continue as the attractive hunter Rousseau reveals that Landon is a witch and has the power to summon fire at his fingertips. But his hands aren’t the only thing that heats up as he and the hunter work closely together to rid the small town of its werewolf problem and Landon finds himself falling for the knife-wielding stranger from Texas.
As they get closer, so does the angry beast that’s stalking them and Landon must embrace his newfound power if he hopes to save the farm, his family, and the hunter that holds his heart.
Gay Paranormal Romance 