ARC Review: Hooked on a Phoenix by Ashlyn Chase

Hooked on a Phoenix
Author: Ashlyn Chase
Series: Phoenix Brothers
Publication: Sourcebooks Casablanca (March 6, 2018)

Description: LOCKED IN A BANK VAULT TOGETHER...
THEY MIGHT REDEFINE THE MEANING OF 'SAFE' SEX

Misty Carlisle works as a bank teller in Boston's financial district. She's had more rotten luck in her life than most, except when her childhood crush shows up to cash his paycheck. Then her heart races and her mouth goes dry.

Gabe Fierro is a firefighter—and a phoenix. Like his brothers, his biggest challenge is finding a woman open-minded enough to accept a shapeshifter into her life. When his boyhood friend asks him to watch over his little sister Misty, he reluctantly agrees. But when the bank where she works gets held up, Gabe does everything he can to protect her. The two of them end up locked in the bank's vault...where things get steamier than either of them ever imagined.

My Thoughts: This is the latest episode in the Phoenix Brothers paranormal romance series. This one focuses on Gabe who is the middle of seven sons. He's the responsible one who is quiet and reluctant to take responsibility for anyone. He has decided that he'll never marry or have children because he fears that he won't be able to care for them.

However, when his best friend asks him to look after his baby sister while he is deployed to Afghanistan, Gabe agrees. After all, he liked her when they were children hanging around the same Boston South End neighborhood. Misty has grown up and is back in Boston after seeing her grandparents through their final days. She's working as a bank teller though her real dream is to be a dancer.

Gabe decides to casually look over her by opening a checking account at the branch where she works only to come in during a bank robbery. He pushes both of them into the safe where they spend hours getting to know each other again. Misty has grown up into a very attractive and engaging young woman who is still in love with the boy who was her hero when she was a child.

Misty is going through some health issues and Gabe accompanies her to a number of doctor's appointments where she is diagnosed with MS. After a birthday party where they celebrate by becoming intimate, she finds herself pregnant. She knows that Gabe will do the "right thing" but she doesn't want to pressure him to do something he doesn't want to do. Gabe is torn between his previous vision of himself and this new vision which includes a family with Misty.

To add more excitement, Misty's boss at the bank is becoming a stalker who is trying to break up her relationship with Gabe. And Gabe is hurt in an explosion and needs to die and be reborn which means he needs to spend some months as a phoenix until he regains his current age.

This was a fun romance with an interesting sort of paranormal being.

Favorite Quote:

"Because every woman I've ever dated wants kids. If I couldn't even look after a dog, how could I trust myself with a baby? A child is even more clueless than a dog."

"Are you saying you'd leave a baby tied to the front door?"

"Probably not."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.