ARC REVIEW Driven by Fire by Anne Stuart

Book two in Anne Stuart's Fires series. I didn't like this one as much as her others. Jenny was a little too stubborn for her own good and she just got annoying after a while. I loved the action and the suspense but character interaction wasn't my favorite. There was a lot of overreacting going on and Ryder at one point feels like he has to do something very bad to Jenny and he feels justified doing but he really didn't need to go that far. He hated himself for doing it, it made him physically ill and that's good he should feel bad for it. Jenny wasn't easy to forgive but she was annoying at that point. Jenny for having the family that she had was very naive and trusting, and it just did not help her at all. I like how raw and gritty and violent Stuart's books get this was no exception. It was just lacking the magic of her other books.

Jenny Parker wanted to stay as far away from her family who was deep rooted in the mob and political corruption. Jenny does Pro Bono work. But when her baby brother screws up she tries to cover for him but that only lands her deeper involved than she thought. Keeping his phone and not returning it was the biggest mistake. Trying to help a young woman who was found on a boat full of white slave trade Jenny's only hope to help this young girl is to go to Ryder and the Committee. Ryder doesn't believe Jenny's story and thinks the worst of her, and knows that she is hiding something. He is determined to do anything to prove she isn't as innocent as she says. His strong sexual attraction to her isn't helping matters. But as Ryder spends more time with her he realizes just who she really is and changes from trying to condemn her to saving her.

As I previously have said this does have strong violent themes, if you don't enjoy that sort of thing this book might not be for you. Overall, I wanted to like it more than I did, but the characters just weren't there for me.