RITA Reader Challenge Review

RITA Reader Challenge Roundup: Firestorm by Kelly Ann Riley

RITA®, and the RITA statuette are service marks of Romance Writers of America, Inc.A RITA® Reader Challenge review was not submitted for this book, which finaled in the Best First Book category. I’ve collected some strong reviews for this book, but am not going to assign a grade.

Book CoverPlot Summary: Caring for his traumatized son is widowed FBI agent Luke Tanner’s number one priority. But when he becomes temporary fire chief in a small mountain town, a case sparks out of his control. Luke suspects the late former chief of arson and murder—until the man’s daughter returns to Pine Lake. Kitty McGuire is determined to prove her father was framed. As they work together, Kitty connects with Luke’s troubled family in a way that surprises Luke—and fills him with hope. Maybe they have a chance at happiness after alluntil their investigation ignites a firestorm that could engulf them all.

This book has averaged a 4.06 stars rating on GoodReads.

Reader Judine thought that the relationship progressed far too quickly (SPOILER ALERT) while Laura wrote in her four-star review that:

The cover of the book is absolutely gorgeous, and Luke Tanner is a strong, capable hero, struggling with a traumatized son, the death of his wife, and a serious lack of trust. Likewise, Kitty is also suffering from a lack of trust, and has a tendency to act without thinking.

Throw these two characters together and you have conflict. And this doesn’t let up through the course of the book. I did grow to care for Luke. Kitty, not so much, though she did have her good points. Some of the events seemed rather contrived and even cliché for this genre.


This book is available from Amazon | Kindle | BN & nook | WORD Brooklyn  | AllRomance | eHarlequin.com

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  1. cecilia says:

    I read this one at the beginning of this month. It wasn’t bad. I totally agree with the other review that the relationships happened too quickly.  (This is what I wrote for my Goodreads review/notes-to-self: Quite competent writing, on the whole. Characters are earnest and well-meaning, as you might expect in this line of books. The heroine has a couple borderline TSTL moments, but what really keeps this from being a great read (as opposed to reasonably good) is the lack of time spent developing the relationship between the lead characters (including the son). So much is given to the investigation, that everything else feels like it’s done in shorthand; we see the very beginning of the relationship between heroine and Michael, but then all we’re really given is an assurance that she’s been good for him. He’s happy. Oh. I’d rather see it, rather than just be told it.

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