Consumed

May 1, 2018

Leaving behind her top-of-the-charts Black Dagger Brotherhood, Ward introduces arson investigator Anne Ashburn, who misses the thrill of firefighting. Tracking the instigator of several suspicious fires gets her enthused again, as does working with top-notch but troubled fireman Danny McGuire.

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July 9, 2018
The prolific Ward is best known for the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood paranormal romances, so that might be why this first-responder thriller is marketed as romance, but its true heritage is gritty TV dramas. Characters have sex, but there’s nothing like a romantic story arc. Anne Ashburn is the only female firefighter in her New Brunswick, Mass., station. She’s the daughter and sister of firefighters, but she despises her family and won’t admit her continuing attraction to Daniel “Dannyboy” Maguire, the station’s bad boy and her recent one-night stand. Sexual angst becomes moot when a catastrophic fire ends Anne’s career and sends Danny into a PTSD spiral. Refashioning herself as an arson investigator, Anne discovers that the fire has suspicious links to others. Meanwhile, her former colleagues won’t let her leave Danny in the past. There’s a lot of explicit injury, trash talk (“Amy, don’t be codependent. It makes your ass look big”), bad behavior excused because it’s done by the good guys, and sneering at “the Instagram set” and other caricatures of weak, whiny liberal elites. For readers who consider “Do your department a favor and just put a bullet in your head” to be pithy advice for a suicidal lover, Ward’s facility with topical one-liners will make this a hit, but readers seeking actual romance would do well to avoid it. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

August 1, 2018
A Massachusetts firefighter injured on the job finds new purpose as an arson investigator and discovers that looking for the sources of fires can be just as dangerous as trying to put them out.The daughter and sister of legendary New Brunswick firefighters, Anne Ashburn grew up struggling to prove she was tough enough to be one herself. After finally making it, it's the very thing she loves that ends her career: A routine fire goes rogue, trapping Anne and forcing her on-again, off-again crush, Danny Maguire, to amputate her hand in order to save her life. While Anne recovers--conveniently quickly for a narrative paced like a soapy TV drama--Danny, who's also injured in the blaze, tumbles down a wormhole of undiagnosed PTSD and heavy drinking. Anne takes her position as arson investigator seriously, linking several warehouse fires to a big-shot Boston developer with ties to the department and a violent streak. Meanwhile, Danny pines for Anne, renovates an old house, and puts his life on the line, like far too many characters before him who should have "I'm Damaged and Have Nothing To Lose" tattooed across their chests. Ward (The Thief, 2018, etc.), known best for her Black Dagger Brotherhood series, relies on double-entendre instead of realistic dialogue and stock characters in place of complicated people in a dangerous profession.For a story centered around flames, there is no spark between the characters.

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