Consumed by Fire by Anne Stuart

Narrated by Jill Redfield

If you’re looking for the perfect blend of suspense, action and off-the-charts chemistry, you do not want to miss Consumed by Fire! Reminding me of a cross between the hit television series Alias from the 2000s and Moonlighting from the 1980s, Consumed by Fire managed to hit a perfect bulls-eye for me. From the secretive covert agency dynamics, to the incredibly hot, witty and downright hilarious at times repartee between the hero and the heroine, this is one book that is chock full of rich, enjoyable material. Moreover, not only did I thoroughly enjoy the story, but I loved Jill Redfield’s rendition, which really added to the overall effect of this romantic suspense title.

Evangeline Morrissey, an art history professor, has practically given up on love. It all started five years ago, when a chance encounter with James Bishop, a quickie marriage in Venice, and three unforgettable days and nights later, ruined her for all other men. Only problem is, after the most amazing time of her life, James just up and left, vanishing without a trace, and without even leaving so much as a note. Had it not been for the fact that her grandmother’s $30,000 earrings (the only item of any value to her name) disappeared at the same time, she wouldn’t have known what to think.

So imagine Evangeline’s surprise when her thieving husband reappears five years later. But though she still longs for the man she thought she met, Evangeline is not the little naive “angel” that James left behind in the hotel room all those years ago, and she is determined to get some answers.

James is determined too, and as an undercover agent and assassin for a secret agency named the “Committee,” whose mission is to take out international crime syndicates using any means necessary while remaining under the radar, the last thing he plans to do is divulge answers, no matter how tempting Evangeline’s pleas may be. But the Committee is not above eliminating anyone who potentially could endanger their covert status, and Evangeline’s been in the wrong place one too many times. Moreover, James has made a lot of enemies in his line of work, and they are not above using any form of coercion, including an innocent woman, to get to him. Will James be able to convince Evangeline to trust him again before it’s too late? Moreover, can he trust himself around the woman he hasn’t been able to forget for the last five years?

Having previously listened to Jill Redfield’s narrations in other titles, I knew she would deliver a solid performance at the very least. Well, I’m happy to report that not only did Ms. Redfield meet my expectations, but she exceeded them. Producing both genuine sounding male and female characters, along with personality-specific variances in intonations, Ms. Redfield does a marvelous job of recreating the plentiful dialogue without requiring the listener to listen to dialogue tags in order to differentiate the speaker. Moreover, Ms. Redfield’s pacing was perfectly suited to both the rapid, high-action and suspense scenes, as well as the slower, more electric, passion-filled ones.

Perhaps my favorite part of Ms. Redfield’s narration was her characterization of James Bishop. With a husky, strong voice, Ms. Redfield perfectly captures James’ somewhat cocky, totally capable, top secret spy persona. He literally sounds like a sexy, alpha hero. And those quick witted repartees had me sitting on the edge of my seat enthralled. You could practically feel the sexual tension as James and Evangeline dueled it out with evenly matched verbal sparring. Each tried to keep their feelings close to vest, as they attempted to outsmart the other into thinking that their indifference was genuine, but only managing to be “consumed” by the other’s fire instead.

Consumed by Fire without a doubt scratched my itch for a great romantic suspense audiobook. I devoured this audiobook from start to finish. This was my first experience with Anne Stuart, but she is definitely on my radar now, and Jill Redfield, true to my prior experience with her, delivered a great performance.

Editor’s Note, August 31, 2015: this is a Whispersync title, and the Audible version is available for $1.99 when you own the Kindle version.

BJ

Narration: A

Book Content: A

Steam Factor: For your burning ears only

Violence: Fighting

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Consumed by Fire was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for a review.