Book review: Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis

Monday, September 12, 2005

Twelve years ago, a deadly fire led Summer Abrams to leave her home, her family and her best friend Joe Walker. Now another fire has brought her back to a place that is very much different than the place she left behind.

Everything has changed. Her family and the man she remembered as a teenager being the least of the changes. Her best friend Joe went from being a chubby teenage boy to a man as hot as the fires he now investigates for a living. The investigation of the fire at her family's warehouse brings these two together and sparks fly from the moment they reunite.

However, Summer has a problem. She can't seem to connect. In fact, she doesn't want to connect. Losing her father in the previous fire was hard enough. Losing anyone else close to her could only cause her more pain and hurt - neither of which she wants.

She wants Joe though. The boy she told her secrets to is now a man she wants in her bed. However, she wants no strings, and to Joe that is unacceptable. Will she realize she needs to reach out and trust before she loses him? Will they discover who is behind the tragic fires occurring before someone else loses their life?

Seeing Red is a May 2005 release by author Jill Shalvis published by Signet Eclipse. Jill Shalvis has released over two dozen novels during her career, and she has three more set for release this year - including September's release of Get a Clue.

This book is exciting and gripping from page one. We begin in the past and jump to the present with ease, and the characters of Summer and Joe seem to just leap off the page. On the pages of this book, you have the right mix of romance and suspense, which makes the reader want to keep turning page after page.

The story told here isn't just that of Summer and Joe, but of Summer's family. We have two secondary romances contained in this story's plot that are mentioned throughout the novel - one of them between Summer's mother Camille and Joe's partner, Kenny.

These secondary plots only add to the realism of the book, and they make this book a very well rounded read that I enjoyed a great deal. I highly recommend this novel by Jill Shalvis, as well as any others you might be able to pick up by this author.

This review also appears on Blogcritics.