Joan Swan
Fever
Brava/Feb. 28, 2012/$14.00 ($9.59 digital)
When Dr. Alyssa Foster is taken hostage by a prison inmate, she knows she’s in deep trouble. Not just because Teague Creek is desperate for freedom, but because the moment his fingers brush against her skin, Alyssa feels a razor-sharp pang of need.
A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose. At least Teague doesn’t, until his escape plan develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives, he can only give her lies, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever.
Teague Creek was a fireman, a hero, a father, and a husband—but he wasn’t a murderer. He has spent three years in prison already, and he’s out of appeals. Someone set him up for murder to get him out of the way. He knows that something happened during that fire five years ago—something was in that warehouse that changed him. That changed them all. Someone is now doing everything they can to keep him locked away and quiet. Breaking out of prison and a lifetime on the run isn’t what he wanted, but this is his last chance to get out, and he has to take it, no matter what.
Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but that does not equal good planning. The best part of Joan Swan’s Fever isn’t how his escape plan goes so well; it’s how it goes so wrong. Although Teague manages to escape his guards, his dangerous choice of escape partners is only the beginning of his problems, and his biggest mistake may just turn out to be his only salvation, because his hostage discovers things about him he’d rather keep hidden, adding an intriguing paranormal element to this romantic suspense.
When Teague grabs Alyssa Foster as his hostage, he grabs the wrong woman entirely. He thought his chosen abductee Hannah was pretty, empty-headed and meek. She should have gone along submissively with his plans until he could trade her freedom for his ultimate goal. But the woman he ends up taking is loudmouthed, stubborn, and infuriating, fighting him at every turn.
He cast a look at Hannah to gauge her reaction to the threat. She tossed her head to get the messy strands out of her eyes and watched him with a look that clearly said, “try it and I’ll kick your teeth in.” How could such a small woman, handcuffed and gagged, look so…formidable? Why couldn’t she have turned out to be Luke’s typical fragile-flower type?
When Alyssa finally gets over her anger and fear to truly see Teague for the man he is beneath the “criminal” who kidnaps her, she takes over his escape plan and uses her quick mind and stubborn nature to keep Creek safe. With all his focus on his end game and no real thought on how to accomplish it, it is up to Alyssa to keep him from going back to prison by helping him find those responsible for framing him for murder.
…she saw paper and folders. Everywhere. Piles on the coffee table. On the sofa. Lining the floor.
On a quick indrawn breath of excitement, Alyssa realized what lay spread out before her. Information. Research. Answers. All at her fingertips.
The pile further away, at the edge of the coffee table, caught her eye. She made out the partial word: Autop. Alyssa scooped up the autopsy report and filed through the other papers in the pile. Radiology reports, toxicology results, crime scene notes.
Jackpot.
While there is nothing better than a strong hero with a no-fail moral compass (and some freaky powers!), in this story the shining star is the no-nonsense heroine who will not be intimidated either by the criminals holding her hostage or the dangerous people trying to keep Teague from spilling his secrets. This is an exciting adventure with a unique paranormal twist.
Lucy Dosch writes book reviews for her blog http://ebookobsessed.com. Her e-reader has turned her love of reading into an obsession. When she is not reading, she likes to spend time with her husband and two daughters.
