Author: Susan Sloate.
Publisher: Drake Valley Press.
Year: 2013.
Purchase: Amazon (Kindle) ; Amazon (Paperback) ; Smashwords ; B&N (Nook) ; B&N (Paperback)
“How do you recognize your soulmate?
In glittery 1980’s Los Angeles, Beau Kellogg is a brilliant Broadway lyricist now writing advertising jingles and yearning for one more hit to compensate for his miserable marriage and disappointing life.
Amanda Harary, a young singer out of synch with her contemporaries, works at a small New York hotel, while she dreams of singing on Broadway.
When they meet late at night over the hotel switchboard, what begins will bring them each unexpected success, untold joy, and piercing heartache ... until they learn that some connections, however improbable, are meant to last forever.
STEALING FIRE is, at its heart, a story for romantics everywhere, who believe in the transformative power of love.”
STEALING FIRE was a 2012 quarter-finalist in the amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest.
Review:
I loved the concept of Stealing Fire. It was so different to other romance stories; not just the typical, highly exaggerated meet-swept off feet-drama-break up-make up format I’m so used to reading. I was really looking forward to reading this book but I really struggled to get into it.
The beginning is slow, but well thought out as it delves into Beau’s misery and despair with his life. Whilst I really liked the writing style of Susan Sloate and how she really went into his emotions and frustrations, I just couldn’t like Beau and this stopped me getting into Stealing Fire straight away.
Amanda I liked. She was a dreamer and an engaging character.
As for the story itself, it was original and unpredictable. It was quite slow, and whilst I struggled to immerse myself into it at times, I thought the style set Susan Sloate apart and made Stealing Fire a much more genuine book than a lot of others.
I did find myself driven mad by how grumpy Beau was. If I was reading a physical book and not on my Kindle, it may have been a bit more tempting to throw my book at a wall or something (just kidding) but as I read more of the book, I found myself putting it down less and less because even though I didn’t like Beau, I wanted to see how things turned out.
I struggled with the rating of the book. I think Susan Sloate is a great writer; her style is a lot better than many others in the same genre. I also from the half-way point really grew to enjoy this book. However, I found Beau at the beginning frustrated me to the level I wasn’t actually liking Stealing Fire as much as I wanted to.
An interesting, believable, well-written book which possibly just wasn’t for me.
Rating:
*I received an e-book copy of this book for the blog tour in exchange for my honest review.
About the Author:
She has written young-adult fiction and non-fiction, including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way!, which was honored in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Book Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest on The History Channel. Amelia Earhart: Challenging the Skies is a perennial young-adult Amazon bestseller. She has also been a sportswriter and screenwriter, managed two recent political campaigns, and founded an author’s festival in her hometown outside Charleston, SC.
Stealing Fire was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and combines autobiographical experience with her lifelong love of the musical theater. She is proud to be distantly related to Broadway legend Fred Ebb, the lyricist for Cabaret,Chicago, All That Jazz and New York, New York.
Connect with Susan: Website ; Goodreads ; Facebook ; Twitter ; Pinterest
Thanks for hosting me today, Sophie, and thanks for the honest review! I do appreciate your boosting what you liked about the book (and you're not the first to think Beau is grumpy!)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Susan!
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