Monday, March 25, 2013

March's Book Club Discussion: The Fireman and the Cop by: RJ Scott


Hey everyone!  Welcome to this month's book club discussion.  The book this month was The Fireman and the Cop by RJ Scott.  This is book one in the Ellery Mountain series.  Before we get to my review, and leave a comment, please read the following guidelines"


PLEASE READ BEFORE LEAVING A REVIEW

Please leave your review in the comments section.  You may do this anonymously or provide your name/online handle.

Please refrain from bashing the author, even if you didn't like the book.  There are tactful ways to deliver your review without trashing someone.  It's okay if you weren't fond of the story.  I'm just asking that you have a point to why you didn't like it without swiping the author's face on the floor. You know what I mean?  Keep it clean boys and girls. ;)

We'll be rating the book on a five star scale, five being you loved it, one being you did not.  You can include your rating with your review.

If you have not read this book, please try not to skip down to the comments section.  This is your warning that there will most likely be spoilers.

If you have read this book and intend to leave a spoiler, please write SPOILER at the beginning of your review for the naughty ones who have not read this book.  ;)  I'm just kidding.  But no, seriously, label your review SPOILER.

When you're done with the discussion, please take the time to post your review on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, or even at the main publishing site should they allow reviews.  This helps the author out by giving new readers a glimpse of what they're in for and boosts sales, not to mention leaves warm fuzzies for the author to see.  It will only take a minute to copy paste your comment from here to there.

The last thing I ask is that you guys suggest a book for next month along with your review.  I'm looking for books that have been published this year or will be out by the first week of April 2013.  All suggestions must be M/M. When I have enough suggestions, I'll post them in a poll next week.


Onto the main event...

***I have included a few spoilers in my review this month. If you have not read this book, please wait to read until you have.  Thanks!***


Max is a former big city firefighter from Nashville.  He moved to Ellery to get away from the homophobic attitude of his Nashville coworkers.  Finn is a small town cop in need of saving.  When a fire breaks out at the local police station, leaving Finn trapped inside, Max follows his instincts, and runs through the flames to save Finn from a fiery death.  Near out his mind with the effects of smoke and pain, Finn gives his savior a half-coherent pick up line, leaving Max wanting more.

For the first book in this series, I saw a lot of potential spin-offs and am anxious to here the other stories coming next. Hint, hint...Daniel, please?  :D  Finn and Max worked well together throughout the story in my opinion.  I'd read a lot of reviews on GR before I read this story, and I don't see why people found Max too aggressive.  If anything, I thought Finn did most of the pushing.  And oh did that lead to one hella sexy romp in the kitchen after only knowing each other a few days.

But it wasn't trashy in the least.  The author did a great job giving off a small town vibe, where it could easily be conceived by a reader that Finn didn't see a whole lot of action until Max came along, with his pool of pickings rather small, save for his two best friends.  The sexual awakening between Finn and Max was great, but I wished their first time would have been a little more passionate than what we were given.  That's not me being greedy.  I just thought the first 'real' time scene fell a little flat for me.  It was good, but it just lacked that needy feeling between the couple, after waiting to have sex for that long, coupled with the anxiety to crawl into each other's arms after having been through so much trauma in such a short time.  I hope that made sense.  lol

Another thing I would have liked to see was a little more explanation on the villain.  I get it.  It's a novella and it's like seventy something pages, but I think a lot of 'huh what' would have cleared up if the ex boyfriend would have said he just got out of the mental hospital and had been thinking of Finn the entire time.  That would have made a whole lot more sense to me.  I felt like he was just there and then he wasn't. And you had so many questions left unanswered.

The last thing I'll point out was the strange time jump where I felt like we came back to two completely different characters.  Between the time that the villain was taken out and the time in which we returned for the last scene where Max replaced Finn's truck, I was left re-reading those few pages, hoping I'd left something out.  I gathered that Finn had some flashbacks from his his time with Neil and he was experiencing anxiety from the attack, but he was angry with Max and I couldn't figure out why.  When he finally stated the reason he didn't feel they could be together, I was like....um what?  But I'll leave that up to you guys for discussion.

I will say, that minus those tiny things that were probably just me, I did enjoy Finn and Max and was very happy to see their happy little ending.  That last line cracked me up.  Good job, RJ.  I love a good giggle and an even better ending.  I'm giving this book 4 stars.  What did you guys think?

~xX Night 


P.S. Who the hell is about ready to claw up the walls waiting for Lover at Last to come out tomorrow?  If you haven't pre-ordered....you might want to.  I'll probably be up at midnight on FB, leaving a gasp, oh my god, or a few naughty emoticon winky faces for all those reading with me.  LOL  *Squeeeealllllsss*

6 comments:

  1. Possible Spoilers...

    I have read previous stories from R.J Scott, such as the -In The Shadow of the Wolf series- 1)Shattered Secrets, 2)Broken Memories and 3)Splintered Lies, and also read Oracle. So having read some other books, I had high expectations which were partially met. Finn is a small town cop and Max is a firefighter from the big city.
    While I do like the pairing and was happy with the ending, I just didn't feel the chemistry or passion with them. The spark was there, but it wasn't developed enough I think.... I know Im being nick picky,there is only so much you can do in limited pages.
    The villain was also out of no where, just barely mentioned by Finn and then suddenly he as there and got killed quickly.
    The book and series have a lot of potential and there are clearly sequels with Finn's friends coming soon.
    It is a nice,short read and I enjoyed it somewhat.
    I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

    Sorry, but no book suggestions I can think of right now. My "to read" list is books from the last few yrs I haven't gotten to yet,lol,but I will read whatever is decided on for the April book. :)

    Mik

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  2. I really think this book had a lot of potential and the story line was a good one, but I think my main issue was I wasn't emotionally attached to the characters. I'm sure the length of the story had a lot to do with the little character development there was, but everything moved by so fast I also had the feeling I had missed something along the way.

    It was a cute story, but lacked that certain something that draws me in and allows me to be intimately involved.

    ☆ ☆ ☆

    I have a couple books on my "to read" list right now that may be good for April.
    Unearthing Cole by A.M. Arthur
    A Simple Romance by J.H. Knight

    Oh, and Rhys Ford's 3rd book in the Cole McGinnis Mystery series comes out in April. *squee*

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  3. I love to read but not really good at giving reviews. I really enjoyed the story but felt alot was crammed into a short read, it needed more detail in places. I give it 3 stars. I would like to see some sequels with Fynn's buddies. My suggestion for next months read is Texas Pride by Kindle Alexander.

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  4. P.S. I'm clawing up those walls with you Night!! So excited about Lover at Last coming out tomorrow!

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  5. I felt the story was a little disjointed as well. I did enjoy the book but I got a little lost along the way. The men were very hot though and I liked them well enough. I love strong cops and fire fighters too so this story was my style. I thought the ending was rather cute so all is well that ends well. I can't wait until next month's book.

    P.S. That EPBOT link is dangerous. So many ways to spend moola!

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  6. I am a HUGE RJ Scott fan, but this book wasn't her best. It was enjoyable and kept my attention until the end, but I felt like something was missing. I didn't fall in love with it like I did with almost all of her previous stories. The ending was cute, and I'm still going to check out the next book in the series because I loved the secondary characters. 3.5 stars :)

    As for recommendations for next month, I have a couple of suggestions:

    Keeping Sweets by Cate Ashwood (published in March 2013)
    Bolt Hole by Amy Lane (published in March 2013)

    Lauren <3

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