Tuesday 11 August 2015

Review - Consumed by You by Lauren Blakely


Title: Consumed by You
Series: Fighting Fire #3
Author: Lauren Blakely
Release Date: August 11, 2015


A sexy category romance from Entangled's Brazen imprint...

She's playing with fire...

Dog trainer Cara Bailey wants to find "the one," but fantasizing about her sexy-as-hell client, firefighter Travis Jansen, is getting in the way. Her only option? Get the confirmed bachelor out of her system-in every position possible-so she can settle down with Mr. Right. Starting right now.

Travis doesn't do relationships, so no matter how badly he wants the pretty little brunette, he keeps his distance. Until Cara goes and changes the game. She'll fulfill all of his fantasies if he agrees to walk away when it's over. But when the wildfire between them blazes out of control, it will consume everything-and everyone-in its path...






Consumed by You takes us back to Hidden Oakes, a town where the firefighters are smoking hot. This is Travis, Megan’s brother, and Cara’s story and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Travis is a volunteer firefighter as well as a professional poker player. He has a penchant for dirty talk, but will never have a relationship due to his past. However, it doesn’t stop him from wanting some hot times with Cara.

“Does that sweet, sexy way you say my name mean you’re about ready to come on my tongue?” he asked, giving her the dirtiest of dirty looks.

Cara is a dog trainer. She is sassy, feisty, and flirty. She has wanted Travis since they were together in high school; no other man could make her feel so good. But there is always an expiration date on their time together. 

“I want to finish what we started at the club. I want you to fuck me six ways to Sunday. I want to stop daydreaming about more sex with you and start having it.”

The two enter into a deal – she will help train his dog, Henry to help him win a bachelor auction while they have a two week long fling so that they can get each other out of their systems. However, the connection between them makes it must harder than either of them expected.

“Power was fun. Power was intoxicating. Power was a downright aphrodisiac.”

This story was hot, sexy, and sweet. The intensity between Travis and Cara was palpable. I love watching a man who denies love for so long start falling. I loved that we got to see so much of Smith and Jaime, and Megan and Becker and how their lives have continued as well. I need to visit Hidden Oakes and find me a sexy, single firefighter! 
~ Review by Tiffany

Cara Bailey and Travis Jansen have been fighting their attraction to each other since high school. Cara wants a life that includes a husband, 2.5 children, a house, white picket fence, dog, cat—otherwise known as the fairytale happily ever after. She knows this life exists—her parents and sisters have it, so she wants it too. But that’s not in the cards for professional poker player and volunteer firefighter Travis. 

Travis is not Cara’s Mr. Right, but maybe he could be Mr. Right Now. Especially when she makes him an offer he can’t refuse—one that’s supposed to work him out of Cara’s system so she can move on with her life. Travis is fully on board because he’s been wanting to get Cara back in his bed for a long time—this is his chance to play the odds, weigh the risks, and walk away in the end.

Oh, nothing like a dose of reality when characters think they can outplay Fate. Cara and Travis heat up the couch and the floor and the wall and the stairs, but after all that heat will they really be able to walk away? 

Whoa, Travis. Swoon. I wouldn’t mind a two week fling with this hottie poker player/firefighter. He’s not a risk taker. He’s a “stay the course” kinda guy. Relationships are risky—a risk he’s not willing to take. But will Cara change his mind? 

Cara’s a bit of an enigma in this book. She’s shared a bit of her life story, but her background and growing up years could have been fleshed out a bit more—especially her stance for the happily ever after she wants so badly. And I would have really liked to see more interaction with her sisters and mother that she wants to emulate. 

I did love the updates of what’s going on with Smith and Jamie, and Megan and Becker. And I loved the scenes when Cara was training Travis’ dog, Henry. They were adorable—especially the one after Henry’s first training day. 
~ Review by Missy

There aren't many things in the world sexier than a firefighter who loves dogs. And Travis Jansen is absolutely one of Lauren Blakely’s sexiest firefighters. Which is saying something, because have you met Smith and Becker yet?!

Travis Jansen has goals. To get his dog trained. To win a firefighter bachelor auction. And to never get stuck in a relationship. But that doesn't mean he's not open to casual, hot, sex-everywhere-you-can-think-of flings. Especially not when it’s with the woman he's been lusting after…

Cara Bailey IS looking to get into a relationship, but her desire for the handsome firefighter is an inferno. Her plan? Sex with an expiry date – just long enough to get him out of her system and then walk away.

Except how will they walk away, when their passion is hot enough to burn?

I've loved everything I've read by Lauren Blakely. Never once have I struggled with, or questioned, a book with her name on the cover. Consumed by You, to that end, made for a different, and honestly, somewhat difficult reading experience for me. Because while there were aspects of this story that I loved as much as anything Ms. Blakely has penned before, I just found myself feeling disconnected to this story. Or, more specifically, to Cara…

I wanted to love this sweet dog trainer with big aspirations for the future. And there were moments that I absolutely did. Her caring nature with dogs – beautiful. Her banter with Travis – very amusing. But there was something about her history and her plans for the future that just didn't quite work for me. Her concerns were repetitive, her plan a little skewed. It felt a little like her feelings came from nowhere, like she came from nowhere. I'm aware that she made brief appearances in the first two books of this series, but only because I went back to check. I didn't remember her contributions to Burn for Me and Melt for Him. Which made her backstory with Travis, who I absolutely, 100% remembered from previous Lauren Blakely books, seem a little…random.

What DID work for me though, was basically everything else. Particularly Travis. Kind, compassionate, dirty Travis, who I was desperate to see get a HEA. Also, the dogs. Ms. Blakely’s love of our four-legged friends shone from the pages and made me want to head to the nearest shelter to adopt a pet. And, as always, the funny, playful and charming banter between characters – Travis and his sister, the Hidden Oaks firefighters, the women as they gear up for marriage and the future. This author has a gift for banter, and it is always a highlight. Always.

And finally, the ending. I adored the ending here. It was all the best parts of a romance novel. A little far-fetched but not so much that it couldn't happen (I just can't picture any of the men in MY life doing it…which is probably a good thing), completely swoon-worthy and so damn happy I was practically giddy.

Despite my aforementioned reservations with this book, I am truly glad I read it and I hope that there will be more in the Fighting Fire series in future. If only for more smokin’ hot firemen and their puppies… 
~ Review by Beth




Lauren Blakely writes sexy contemporary romance novels with heat, heart, and humor, and she has had seven books on the New York Times Bestseller list and twelve on the USA Today Bestseller list. 

Like the heroine in her novel, FAR TOO TEMPTING, she thinks life should be filled with family, laughter, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband, children, and dogs. She loves hearing from readers! 

Her bestselling series include Caught Up in Love, Seductive Nights, No Regrets and Fighting Fire. She recently released Forbidden Nights, a standalone novel in her New York Times Bestselling Seductive Nights series that became an instant New York Times Bestseller. Her new adult forbidden romance, 21 Stolen Kisses, hit e-readers in May and landed on the USA Today Bestseller list. This summer she'll release Consumed by You, her next title in her NYT Bestselling Fighting Fire series about sexy firemen and the women they love, and Sweet Sinful Nights, the first book in her new sexy romance series Sinful Nights. She also writes for young adults under the name Daisy Whitney.



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