Fire Me Up by Kimberly Kincaid…ARC Review & Excerpt

Fire Me Up releases TODAY!

Be sure to stop by Kimberly’s Facebook page for info on a FABULOUS $100 Gift Card giveaway she’s hosting with 3Tracy Brogan, Catherine Bybee and Jennifer Probst!

Synopsis:

If You Can’t Stand The Heat…

Teagan O’Malley can handle a crisis. She’s a paramedic, it’s her job. But she never expected to land in the kitchen of her father’s pub, with no notice, no cash, and no room for error. The kitchen is not her favorite place. Lucky for her, she just scraped a bad-boy chef off the pavement after a motorcycle accident—and something about him says he can turn up the heat in more ways than one.

Adrian Holt has had a rough few years, and he’s not eager to get tangled up in anything more complicated than a good risotto. But with a broken arm and a head full of bad memories, he needs a challenge to keep him sane. Teagan’s dare-me attitude and smoldering mess of a bar are just what the doctor ordered. And the two of them together might cook up some even better medicine…

 

Excerpt:

“You are stuck with me in here, Red.”

For a second, Teagan couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. But then she dropped her eyes to Adrian’s finger, still hot on her lips. She reached up to wrap her hand around his, moving it from her mouth as she stepped in close enough to erase any daylight between them.

“Did you just shush me so you could say your piece?”

Adrian paused, his body going rigid against hers even though his gaze didn’t waver. “I guess I did.”

“Mmm.” Teagan pressed up on her toes, relishing the taste of his shock as she brushed her mouth over his. “I’ll let you slide exactly once, but if you make a habit of it, you will be sorry.”

He drew back, but only enough to pin her with a wide-eyed stare. “You’re going to let me help you?”

Something that had no name loosened in her chest, and she felt her body slowly unwind against the strength of his frame as she tucked herself into his left side. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that the words bubbling up from inside her were ones that would normally scare her to death. Right now, for the first time since she’d walked into the Double Shot to find her father half-passed out behind the bar, Teagan wasn’t scared at all.

“Yeah, Superman,” she said, wrapping her arms around the broad expanse of Adrian’s shoulders and holding on tight. “I’m going to let you help me.”

My review:

Fire Me Up is the fourth book in author Kimberly Kincaid’s Pine Mountain Series, a series that I have loved reading from the very beginning. To say that I was dying to read Adrian’s book would be a gross understatement and let me just say…this book was so worth the wait! Adrian is everything I had hoped for and more and this story was deliciously amazing. My favorite of the series so far!

Teagan O’Malley and Adrian Holt meet in, let’s just say, less than ideal circumstances. After getting into a bit of an accident, Teagan is the paramedic who is able to talk Adrian into getting the treatment he needs and even with his surly demeanor, Teagan can’t help but be drawn to him. As it happens, the feeling is mutual and Adrian is immediately taken with Teagan as well.

Thinking their chance meetings just that, a one-time chance meeting, they both go their separate ways….until fate has a different idea.

Adrian ends up being sidelined from his beloved kitchen with his injury and, as luck would have it, Teagan’s father’s pub is in a bit of a pickle that he may just be able to help with. With an offer Teagan can’t afford to refuse, and with the chance at giving Adrian something to take his mind off of the mess his life had become recently, they decide that working together may just be with the doctor ordered….for both of them. Of course, they both agree to keep things on a professional level, even though the attraction between them and pull toward one another is undeniable. It’s a funny thing about the best laid plans and what happens to them and before long the attraction becomes too strong to deny.

But with so much baggage in both their pasts as well as their future, will they be willing to take a chance on exploring the feelings they share for one another? Will the recipe of Adrian and Teagan cook up to just an appetizer or will it prove to yield something that will feed both of their hearts’ appetite for love?

Man, I just loved this book. Kimberly gets better and better with each installment in this series and Fire Me Up is proof of that. Adrian and Teagan are both complex and interesting characters with rich and somewhat difficult pasts that make them a pair that I adored reading. Adrian is all rough and gruff on the exterior, with delicious tattoos and a bad boy persona that was at such odds with the magic he creates in the kitchen. That combination is what had me falling in love with him and wanting nothing more than for him to have his happy ending. Teagan is equally amazing, with an admirable loyalty to her father and the business he’s built. She is determined and strong and is exactly the person Adrian needs in his life. When they come together, it is freaking delicious. I’m talking chocolate marshmallow fudge cupcake delicious. The heat and fire between them is palpable and the kitchen/home-made gnocchi scene will go down as one of the most memorable sexy scenes I’ve ever read. Seriously. Damn, the things Adrian is capable of had me swooning.

Adding to this story is a bit of suspense and some trouble Teagan’s father has gotten into and it added a whole other amazing layer. I really enjoyed that aspect and thought it added that extra something. I also loved seeing my fave characters for the other books in the series and was reminded of just why this is a series I will continue to recommend.

Thank you Kimberly, for yet another amazing visit to Pine Mountain. I cannot WAIT to see what you have cooking up for us next!

 

Five Loves

 

Book links:

 Amazon  |  B&N  |  iBooks  |  Kobo

 

About the author:

Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance that splits the difference between sexy and sweet. When she’s not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as “The Pleather Bomber”, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. Kimberly is a 2011 RWA Golden Heart® finalist who lives (and writes!) by the mantra that food is love. Her digital Line series is all about the hot cops and sexy chefs of Brentsville, New York. She is also the author of the Pine Mountain series, which follows small town singles as they find big-time love. Kimberly resides in Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters. Visit her any time at www.kimberlykincaid.com or come check her out on Facebook (www.facebook.com/kimberly.kincaid1) and Twitter (@kimberlykincaid).