FURY ON FIRE – Sophie Jordan
A Devil's Rock Novel , Book 3
Avon
ISBN-13:  978-0-06242375-7
February 2017
Contemporary Romance

Sweet Hill – Present Day

Two years ago, North Callaghan got released from prison at Devil's Rock after spending twelve years there for killing the man who raped and assaulted his cousin.  His brother, Knox, was also in prison with him for the same crime, but got released two years before North did.  Those last two years broke North, and he hasn't been the same since.  All he wanted to do when he got out was drink and sleep with women.  Lately, the women from the strip club leave him feeling empty, but they are the only thing he has to relieve the pain in his heart.  His older brother, Knox, is now married and happy, but North can't even stand to have dinner with him; his happiness depresses him even more, although he doesn't begrudge him a happy life.  Then a woman moves into his duplex.

Social Worker Faith Walters is so happy to finally be able to live in her own house.  After her mother died when she was a teenager, she took over the household, and after she returned from college she went right back to where she was comfortable.  Her one brother is an Army Ranger overseas, and her other brother, Hale, who took over for his father as Sheriff, even has his own place.  The whole family is up in arms that a twenty-six year old woman is moving out on her own.  Then, the first night she almost changes her mind.  She is going to take some chocolate chip scones to her neighbor when she runs into a beautiful woman named Serena on his stairway who eats a scone, saying they are delicious.  When she finds out Faith hasn't met her neighbor, North, she says North is always up for a good time.  Unfortunately Faith finds this out that night as she hears the noise on the other side of the wall while in bed.  Between the screaming and moaning, she can hardly get any sleep.  Don't say this happens all the time!

The man next door left the scones on her doorstep, he ignores her polite notes left on his windshield to make less noise and stop parking his motorcycle in her parking place.  She's never seen him, but this North fella isn't making a good impression on Faith, although from the back he sure looks to be built very nicely indeed.  When she asks her brother's secretary (Sheriff, remember?) to find North's phone number, she is informed she should stay away from him as he has a record and was in prison for murder.  This gives Faith something to think about, until with her resources at work she finds out what happened. When Faith is almost murdered one night by a man who blames her for losing custody of his child, North comes to her aid, almost losing his temper again.  Faith feels safe with North, but is he ready for a relationship and not a one night stand?

I know Sophie Jordan mostly for her historical romances, but FURY ON FIRE shows how she completely nails the contemporary romance genre too.  Told from North's and Faith's points of view, North considers himself broken from his time in prison, and can't see any hope on the horizon of getting better.  Faith has been protected by her father's reputation since high school; every boy avoided the Sheriff's daughter.  Now living alone, she is happy as a social worker, but North opens her eyes to feelings she never felt before.  But is he ready for something more than a short affair?

FURY ON FIRE is a very exciting story of a woman finally living on her own and a man trying to come to terms with his life in prison and how he relives it all the time.  Previous stories in the Devil's Rock series are HELL BREAKS LOOSE (July 2016) and ALL CHAINED UP (March 2016) featuring Knox, North's brother.  I enjoyed FURY ON FIRE so much I will be reading the other two stories because of the intensity and reading enjoyment that FURY ON FIRE provided me, and I'm sure you will enjoy it also.

Carolyn Crisher