Review: Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz

Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Publication: Putnam Adult (December 29, 2009)

Amazon product description: The New York Times-bestselling author presents her latest Arcane Society novel and introduces the first book in the Dreamlight Trilogy-the story of a curse that spans generations, and the love that can heal it. . . .

More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsessionfueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Driven to control their psychic abilities, each man's decision has reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations.

Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts-just the beginning, he believes-of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can't do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the gift to read the lamp's dreamlight.

Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but their sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both. Danger surrounds them, and it doesn't take long for Chloe to pick up the trail of the missing lamp. And as they draw closer to the lamp, the raw power that dwells within it threatens to sweep them into a hurricane of psychic force.

My Thoughts: This is a guilty pleasure book for me. I am a long-time fan of JAK. I remember buying her book Corporate Affair, which was one of the first books in the Silhouette Desire line, in my local Waldenbooks in 1982. I liked it so much that I haunted my local used book store to find her earlier titles and added each new book to my "must own" list. My LibraryThing tells me that I have 149 books by her on my shelves. I always pre-order her books and drop everything and read the new book when it arrives.

This book is a typical "damsel in distress meets a hard-boiled detective who takes her case" story. Only the damsel in distress is no damsel. Jack Winters in a paratalent who is afraid that his development of more psychic talents will either drive him mad or force the Arcane Society to have him killed if he cannot locate a lamp created by an ancestor.

Chloe Harper is the hard-boiled detective (with a heart of marshmallow) who takes the case. She is also a a very strong paratalent who deals with dreams. If the legends are right she can work the lamp with Jack to control his gifts. However, Nightshade is also after the lamp. They need to avoid or defeat Nightshade while learning how to control the Burning Lamp. They are also fighting a powerful attraction to each other. Chloe had chosen celibacy after a series of bad relationships and feared her psychic gifts would never let her sleep with a man. Jack is determined to change her mind.

This was a good romance and fun to read. It is also the first in a trilogy that will cross all of JAK's pseudonyms.

Challenges: RYOB Challenge