RELEASE DAY: Into the Fire by Amanda Usen

Into The Fire

READ AN EXCERPT FROM INTO THE FIRE

INTO THE FIRE by Amanda Usen
Contemporary category romance
Publisher: Entangled Indulgence, June 10th, 2013
ISBN: 9781622661350

Jackson Calabrese has a lot of nerve. He beat Lila Grant in the Culinary Academy competition using her recipes. Now, he’s opening a restaurant and wants her help? Fine, she’ll fix his menu, but it’s going to cost him.

Heir to the Calabrese restaurant empire, Jackson can buy anything he wants, except creativity, so he buys Lila’s instead. He can craft perfect paella, but to take New York by storm he needs her innovative spark.

Skillets aren’t the only things hot in the kitchen, and an uneasy truce ignites into passion. They’re great in bed, but Jackson doesn’t trust her, and Lila is contemplating revenge. The restaurant opening approaches, the menu is completed, and the tables are set for one final act of betrayal. How can love bloom in the midst of such a hot mess?

INTO THE FIRE e-book can be pre-ordered from AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, GOOGLE, iTUNES, and more!

“…simply mouthwatering.” RT Book Reviews TOP PICK!

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Sarah's Review:

I had the honor and privilege of reading this ARC when Amanda Usen posted the opportunity on Facebook.  I have read Ms. Usen's other two stories, Scrumptious and Luscious and enjoyed them immensely.  I enjoy how food can bring two people together and make the heat rise, in more ways than one.  

Instantly, I was drawn into this story with Jackson and Lila's chemistry.  Both are culinary students who are in a competition but one night of passion mess with Lila's head and she changes her plan at the last minute.  Jackson believes that Lila deceived him when she changed her menu at the last minute, so he made the dish that she described to him during their night of passion.  Both of them believe that the other deceived the other.  

Fast forward six months after the competition and we see how Jackson and Lila are after the competition.  We see the feelings that each has toward the other, while still having the passionate feelings that they had six months ago.  I felt the emotions that were written on the page and that makes a story even better in my eyes.  

We see the feelings that Jackson has for Lila, the hurt that he has as a result of his father, his lack of self-confidence in his menu, and the lengths he is willing to go to make everyone else happy.  We also see Lila's feelings of hurt, betrayal, lust, love and her giving nature.  We see how communication is the key to clearing up the majority of problems, but also what happens when communication is lost.  

I hope to read more of this series and this author in the near future.