Sybil’s review of Ride The Fire by Pamela Clare
Historical Romance released 06 Mar 05 from Dorchester
blog review from 3/21/05 reposted 3/14/06
Ride The Fire is amazing. Sez I. I love just about everything about this book, hell I even like the title and cover [random note this is the updated cover, the first one was way historical inaccurate ::shrug:: I liked it].
Ride The Fire is the last book in a series that follows Sweet Release and Carnal Gift. And it does a great job of bringing the series to a close.
The hero is really almost too perfect. Too hard, too tough but in a honorable way and it makes you feel for him. Makes you care what happens to him. le sigh… I love him.
Nicholas Kenleigh was captured and tortured by Indians and I do mean tortured, in all the ways that can truly fuck up a man. But he survived, only to decide he wasn’t a good man any more and couldn’t be with his family. So off to the wilds he goes to live for six years.
He introduces himself to Bethie at gun point, while bleeding and demanding she help him. What? We all have to start somewhere. Bethie, or Elspeth, is young, widowed, pregnant and has been tortured in ways that can truly fuck up a woman.
YES! They are soulmates. They heal each other in ways only they could, bringing a peace and acceptance into their lives. And together find ways to close old wounds. Nicholas and Bethie spend a large majority of the book alone in the cabin and I do love a good cabin romance.
And we are treated to a good bit of history and it ‘fits’. The background doesn’t scream wallpaper historical and the issues tackled are more than ways to move the story along or fill up pages. The class issues are well dealt with and bring to life how messy the world can be. Ride The Fire doesn’t paint the conflict between the races or classes pretty colors but illustrates how ‘black and white’ isn’t always what life gives us but that we need to learn to embrace different shades of grey.
Really this is a wonderful end to a great series. So even if you didn’t like Carnal Gift I would suggest picking up Ride The Fire. One word of warning… some readers did feel it was more violent than they felt a romance ‘should’ be. So if you have a low squick level, keep that in mind. Personally I didn’t have any issue with it and didn’t even think about it until after the fact, when other readers complained.
It isn’t it nice to have different books to fit different tastes?
Really, go read this, tis romance at its best.
Grade: A+
There was only one rule on the frontier—survival.
So when wounded, buckskin-clad stranger appeared at the door of her isolated cabin, Elspeth Stewart felt no qualms about disarming him and then tying him to her bed. Newly widowed and expecting her first child, she had to protect herself at all costs. And Nicholas Kenleigh threatened not only her safety, but her peace of mind. The terrible scars on his body spoke of a tortured past, but his gentle touch and burning gaze awoke longings she had never expected to feel. Bethie had every reason in the world to distrust men; the cruelty she suffered at their hands had marked her soul, though her blonde beauty showed no sign of it. But little by little she found herself believing in Nicholas, in his honor, his strength. As he brought her baby into the world, then took both mother and daughter into his care, she realized this scarred survivor could heal her wounded spirit, and together they would… Ride the Fire.
Hey Sybil
Great minds think alike don’t they
(chuckle)
Thanks, Sybil and Kristie.
I was a wreck for six weeks after finishing RIDE THE FIRE. The emotions in the story completely drained me. While the violence was hard for some readers, it was so central to what Nicholas was feeling that I felt I couldn’t leave it out. He came into my mind in that first scene (tied up), and I was so moved by his plight. The entire inspiration for the story flowed from that.
Pamela