Ring of Fire—A Review of Burning Vengeance

A Review of Burning Vengeance by Tricia LaRochelle

A common theme in Tricia LaRochelle's previous romance novels (the popular four-volume Sara Browne series and three stand-alone stories) has been the mental and emotional challenges that keep us from loving and being loved. Her heroes and heroines struggle with the delayed effects of abuse, with anger issues, with crushing self-doubt, and LaRochelle takes us directly into their inner conflicts, revealing these psychological demons as the prime obstacle to romantic bliss. In Burning Vengeance, she takes a fresh approach and succeeds brilliantly.

This book is a satisfying blend of steamy romance and fast-paced thriller, in which Natalie and Aaron, the main characters and potential couple of the story, must overcome the dangerous intentions and actions of other people to achieve their union. There are twists and turns and mistaken accusations galore that keep them apart for most of the pages. But at their core, each knows that the other is the true soulmate they need and want. As the title implies, it is a burning sense of vengeance in someone else's heart that threatens to keep theirs from joining.

It makes for a nice romance plot with a heaping helping of suspense and drama to keep the heat turned up high. Natalie is no shrinking ingenue, unsure of her worth or her desires. She knows what sort of man she wants; she's just having trouble finding him. Experience has taught her that men are a mixed bag of good and bad traits, and that finding one who balances on the good side is difficult. When she meets Aaron, a complete twelve-month calendar of fireman hunkiness, the spark ignites into a blaze immediately. But he acts withdrawn, even rude, and troubled. He was, in fact, a fireman, one who left his career behind after a terrible blaze in a senior community left a couple dead and Aaron wallowing in guilt.

Around this core plot thread LaRochelle winds a knotted skein of mystifying action: A man newly moved in next door appears to be some sort of firebug pervert; her current boyfriend is a hot-and-cold mess, swinging between disinterested wooing and molten anger; her divorced mother's new beau seems nice until he explodes at the mere mention of a local rich banker, a universally despised property owner killed when an arsonist sets his home ablaze. In fact, a rash of fires has recently erupted within a fifty-mile radius, engulfing homes and businesses linked to the hated banker.

When, after their perfect first tryst, Aaron also explodes in anger at a seemingly innocuous question and throws Natalie out of his house, our heroine is heartbroken and confused but not daunted. She doesn't wallow in self-doubt and give up trying to figure out what is behind this growing conflagration. She steps into the "Ring of Fire", the ring of destruction left behind by a criminal and the ring of blazing love surrounding her and Aaron. The result is a story that slow-burns its way into a crackling climax of murder, heroism, and passionate romance consummated.

Stepping into that fiery ring with Natalie and Aaron was exciting and fun, and inspiring. If the chill of late winter keeps the mercury low where you are, I suggest pulling up a chair near the blaze to warm you from the inside out.

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