Consumed by Fire (Fire #1) by Anne Stuart

What it’s about Evangeline Morrissey remembers the last time she saw her husband: it was during their honeymoon, right before he stole her grandmother’s earrings and abandoned her. Now, five years later, the enigmatic man who’d broken her heart and destroyed her trust is back. But she’s not the same naive young woman who fell for him so easily.
Marrying Evangeline and letting her think he was nothing but a common thief had been James Bishop’s plan all along. As an assassin for the Committee, a covert agency dedicated to stamping out international crime, he had no business even thinking about marriage. But it was the only way to protect Evangeline after she’d unwittingly wandered into his operation against a group of human traffickers, placing herself in grave danger. And now that James’s vigilant watch over Evangeline’s life has revealed to his enemies that she’s his one true weakness, he must set out to have, to hold, and—above all—to protect his bride.

Publication date ~ 5/26

Crista's Review 5 stars!!!!
If you've never read a book written by Anne Stuart, and want to read the very best she has to offer, then Consumed By Fire would be a fabulous place to start! This is quintessential Anne Stuart and can only be described as a nearly perfect read.
James Bishop is an operative in the top secret Committee (an organization that specializes in covert operations aimed at maintaining freedom throughout the world). The operatives are highly skilled assassins who are capable of just about anything to achieve their objective. They are mercenaries for hire and are ruthless killers.
Evangeline is an American and an extremely brilliant academic. She is a bit naïve and is initially completely taken with the enigmatic James Bishop. Their initial whirl wind romance ends in heartbreak for Evangeline wherein she is betrayed and ultimately abandoned by the man whom she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with.
Fast forward several years and James Bishop is forced to reenter Evangeline’s life in order to protect her. Little does Evangeline realize whom she married years ago, and the lengths to which her husband has gone to protect her throughout the years.
No author has the ability to engage me the way that this author does….and she does so repeatedly. She can make the most dangerous of men seem interesting, attractive, and irresistible.
What sets this book apart and puts it in my favorites of what she has written is her characterization of Evangeline. Stuart brilliantly portrays her not as a weak victim of James Bishop’s schemes and crimes, but as a brilliant and confident woman. She is furious with him for deserting her years before and doesn’t instantly fall into his arms. Her ability to challenge him on so many different levels was simply amazing. James Bishop, a man who has seen it all and who has done it all, is completely shaken off his firm foundation by this woman, and readers, this is a beautiful thing to behold.
Anne Stuart has really upped the ante with this book, and if this is any indication of what’s to come, her FIRE series will rival (if not top) her brilliant ICE series. I for one am ecstatic to on board for what is shaping up to be the reading ride of my life!
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley*
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