Smokeless Fire (Fire Spirits #1) [Kindle Edition]

There is a fable about a man who finds a snake freezing in the snow. The snake begs to be taken and warmed up, and it promises the wary man that it won't bite him. The man picks up the snake and warms it--and the snake proceeds to bite the man. When the man protests, the snake tells him, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

What does this have to do with this book? I saw it advertised as a free download as "young adult paranormal romance." I was skeptical, but there have been some very good YA series lately, and I've been enjoying modern fantasy. So I thought I'd give it a try. Well...I knew what it was when I picked it up.

It wasn't a particularly bad book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd been hoping. For me, there were several aspects I found somewhat off-putting:

- The almost stereotypically teenage "no one understands me, because I won't tell them what's wrong, because they wouldn't understand me if I did" that characterizes the main character. If she had tried talking about what was bothering her and gotten rebuffed, it would have been easier to swallow, but in this case, I just wanted to slap the protagonist and tell her to get out of the pity party.

- An uneven characterization of some characters. One character, for example, is portrayed as being a responsible twenty-something member of a security firm...and then turns around and trades barbs with his older brother about wearing "big boy pants." Many of the adult characters spoke and acted as though they were college frat boys. (To be fair, I think that the author's characterization of the protagonist's father was much better done.)

- A slow start to the book. I understand that the author was trying to set the scene, but it felt like it took too long--and involved too much wallowing in the main character's self-pity--before anything really started happening.

- Lots of dangling plot threads. Granted, the book had no pretenses about being #1 of a series, but it wasn't just the series plot that was left untidy at the end; other aspects felt like they just got ignored in the rush to finish.

- Some choppy writing. I know it's not going to be Shakespeare, but the writing could have used more polish. It's easier to ignore when the plot is drawing you along, but especially in the slow opening, I noticed every missing comma, dangling participle, mismatched pronoun, and overly colloquial prose section as I tried to keep momentum going. Once the plot picked up, it was easier to get past this, but I struggled with it for a while.

However, I did also appreciate several aspects of the book. It was nice to see a supernatural-based book that wasn't drawing on the two and a half big things that are big recently (vampires and zombies, and werewolves somewhere in the background). Once the plot did get moving, it was more engaging. There was enough intrigue in the book to keep me guessing as to where things were going as the ride picked up.

So...overall, it was a pleasant enough read. But I had my doubts going in, and I'm sure now, having finished--I just wasn't the target audience for this book. That's fine, and I can see that a lot of other people really enjoyed it. It doesn't make it a bad book, just one that's not for me.

If you don't know Samantha Young, well you better learn about her and her books. Smokeless Fire blew me away. With a completely new and unique concept, this book will have you flying through the pages until you're finished.

We start out with Ari, who basically lives alone. She never knew her mother and her father travels for work constantly. She has a few close friends she talks to, but her best friend, the one she truly cares about is Charlie. But, after the death of his younger brother, Charlie has been distant and a completely different person. Then Ari finds out a shocking secret, her true parents are Jinn and she is extremely powerful. Because of this, she ends up with Jai, her new 24/7 body guard. With two hotties at her side and a world she didn't even knew existed, Ari is thrown into an adventure she could have never imagined.

Let me start of by saying, I started this book in the afternoon and finished it that same night. I couldn't stop. I could not put it down. It seems like I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. Jinn is a concept I really didn't know much about or have ever read about, so it intrigued me so much to learn something new while reading a story I was incredibly enjoying. Smokeless Fire touches on so many real and raw issues and emotions, shows so many real things, yet there's still the fantasy side to it.

Ari is the all-around protagonist I couldn't help but love reading about. When she felt alone, I felt alone. When she laughed, I laughed. When her heart was sinking into her stomach, mine did as well. When she triumphed, so did I. I just felt so connected to Ari and related to her so much. What she deals with, with Charlie I felt like it slammed right into my gut. I've been there. I'm sometimes still there. I loved watching her come into her heritage, and enjoying the ride. And, I loved her interactions with Charlie and Jai... hoping for even more of those in the future ;).

I was so rooting for Charlie. For some reason I'm drawn to the boys that needed to be helped. The ones where you need to swoop in, pick them up off their troubles, and save them. And Charlie was that adorable misguided hottie, that I so wanted to save. My heart ached for him, and I just wanted to hug him but still at other times I wanted to kick him in the shin. Then, there's Jai. Another sexy boy, who understand where Ari is coming from and relates to her. He's older than Ari, so protective, yet witty and I just wish he would let himself have something he wants for once! So now... team wise, right? Usually my loyalties are clearly determined but with this book, I find myself unsure and that makes me love Samantha Young even more for doing this to my heart! For the first half of the book, I admit I was completely Team Charlie, but then Jai started weaving his ways into me, and I believed he was the perfect guy for Ari. I honestly love both boys, but I think for now I'm going to slightly lean towards Team Jai. As much as I love Charlie, I think Jai may be the better guy for Ari.

I honestly cannot wait for book 2. Smokeless Fire is unique, exciting, yet so real. This book has just enough fantasy, just enough real world, just enough love triangle, just enough strength, just enough laughs. I couldn't put it down and Samantha has definitely found herself a new fan.

I bought this book because it sounded like a cool, new idea for a series and had really good reviews. I knew it was YA when I bought it, but I liked The Hunger Game series and some other YA books, so why not this one? Well, the idea is cool and the author does a good job describing and growing the characters in the book. However, and maybe it's because I'm old at 34, but I could not get over the romance part of the book. I'm sorry to say I tried, hard, to finish this book but the heroine and her romance hang up in the book drove me crazy. **SPOILERS** After what happens at her house during her birthday party with Charlie /cough loser and she's still /sigh . .so in love in with him. What?!?!? I would have been duces, it's over! I mean, really? In her own house? On her birthday? Wow! Honestly, so much of the book goes on and on about her and him that it killed the entire story for me. I'm glad that others liked the book. Perhaps I'm just too old or I'd like to think a girl, even a teen, would not put up with that.