All Josie wants is to keep the man she loves safe. And stop the truth-knife from stabbing her soul.
Neither of these goals is happening.
After a harrowing escape from fire dragons, Josie ends up making a deal with the one man she shouldn’t—her ice dragon ex, Rafe. He’s willing to protect Oliver and her if she helps him stop the horrors of the Arcane Market. And she has to put up with his not-so-secret desire to win her back.
On top of that, her truth-knife has decided to turn on her. Suddenly every lie Josie speaks inflicts searing pain on her heart. How’s a woman supposed to guard her rogue fire elemental mate without lying?
Especially when he keeps getting beat up just for existing.
Caught between her icy-hot ex, her irrepressible mate, and the agony of her blade, Josie’s ready to do the one thing she can’t.
Even if it costs her safety. And her life.
Buy now and enjoy a humorous paranormal romance with a side of twisty plot. Features a sensible firebird shifter with a feisty side, a rascally fire elemental with a tragic side, and a completely adorable wolf pup. Clean PG-13 - there's heat, danger, and fighting, but nothing graphic.
Janeen Ippolito does all the things! She’s an award-winning author of bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She’s also an experienced editor, coach, and marketing strategist and ran a publishing house for seven years. She hosts the Author Culture podcast and is an in-demand teacher and speaker who helps authors grow their book businesses in healthy, sustainable ways. In her spare time, she helps her husband with his youth swordfighting programs, cooks fun food, reads whatever she feels like, and plays the ukulele. Connect with her at jiauthor.com.
This is basically Wish You Weren't Here, Wishing Against the House, and My Alien Engagement from Josie's and Oliver's perspectives. A fun read, but I was hoping it would add more to the story, and it didn't, not really (beyond getting to know Rafe better), and while longer than CttH, it was shorter than the Alis books, yet covered more time than them, so it felt rushed. Not a bad book, but ... I have now read the same scene from Kelsey's, Alis's, and Oliver's perspectives. It was cool to see the different perspectives that Kelsey and Alis had (because Alis completely recontextualized the scene), but Oliver, we start halfway through, in the middle of the containment spell, and we don't even get him making the jabs that got him into his argument with Anthony (which is what would have been interesting), so there really isn't anything new that Alis's perspective didn't have.
I also spent the first quarter confused about the timeline as I had assumed that the "offering flames" Oliver had referenced in CttH had been Kelley in MEA, but that is not the case. I also thought CttH had taken place between WYWH and WAtH, but it was in the middle of WYWH.
So ... eh. I look forward to the next Arcane Market and the next Steel City Genie, but this one only retread established ground and rushed through that. There's not a lot new for people who have already read the other books, and there's just enough context skipped that it might confuse people who haven't read them.
Fire That Unites is the second book in The Arcane Market Adventures series by Janeen Ippolito, and it's the second half of firebird-shifter Josie and fire-elemental Oliver's story. Josie has trust issues and doesn't easily reach out to others for help in trying to protect Oliver. Lots of magical characters want him dead. Oliver, her mate, is patient with Josie but even he gets frustrated at her keeping secrets from her friends. And Josie sometimes uses lies as a line of defense, but her truth knife doesn't let her get away with it.
When danger comes at them from several sides, Josie has to accept help. She first makes a deal with her ice-dragon ex, Rafe, but his motives are unclear. It's a little messy adding an ex-boyfriend to a new relationship. Will Rafe behave around Oliver, and did he ever truly love Josie?
The end leaves enough open for the next book, which will follow a new couple, Rafe and Oliver's sister. Sometimes there are too many characters to keep track of. It's important to read the other books in the series first or you will get lost. It's good fun romantic fantasy with some deeper moments.
Josie will do anything to protect her loved ones, but her firebird magic won't tolerate much more lying. Josie is one of my favorite characters. I love her combination of nerves, determination and desire to help others. Janeen Ippolito has built one of the most unique fantasy worlds. Lots of fun political intrigue with various magical races.