Fired Up by Anne Marsh

When Hannah Green isn't working on her degree in veterinary medicine, she's a spotter in a fire watchtower. For two weeks Hannah and hotshot firefighter Cole Henry of the Big Bear Rogues have been burning up the airwaves nightly with their naughty fantasies. And that's the way Hannah wants things to remain, a fantasy. She has no problem following Cole's wicked orders over the radio, but she doesn't want to actually do the things they talked about, in person. It's a good thing the fire tower is a good fifty mile trek from the base HQ. Surely no man would make the trip just for sex, right? When a lightning storm takes out her radio, Cole sees it as his chance to come face-to-face with Hannah and perhaps do more than just drop by to replace her radio.

This was a short and sexy story and compared to the other two, also the shortest which means there was more sex than plot. While the sex was sizzling, I felt that was all they really did the whole time to put the two days he was stuck there to good use. There was a brief scene with Sam, Cole's boss that just served to underscore Cole's rebellious streak. By the way, Sam's story is Reburn , the first book in the Hot Shots series. Back to the story, they had a lot of sex and when the third scene came up, I started skipping ahead. I was put off by Hannah being put out that he would go off and basically do his job while she'd had other more pleasurable ways to wake up in mind. With her insecurity also came the phase of talking herself out of expressing her wish to be more than just a casual hookup. At twenty-five, I would have thought she'd be a bit more confident. The story felt rushed at the end that had the protagonists declaring their love for one another. I can see this fitting in the original series as a novella, or perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had it been one of the actual books in that series.

Story: 3
Flames: 4

Sizzle by Lynn LaFleur

While on assignment slash mini vacation to photograph the hot firefighters of Lanville's volunteer fire department, Maysen lays eyes on Fire Chief Clay Spencer. There's instant attraction, but Clay is determined to keep his distance from the gorgeous journalist. Nothing good can come of a tryst with a woman who was only in town for a week, no matter how badly he wants her. But Maysen won't give up. She wants that interview Clay had promised, and she wants him any way she can have him.

Maysen was definitely the aggressor in this story. A real go-getter both in her job and in her personal life. For once, the heroine was doing the chasing. It was amusing to watch the slow burn going on between them and the way Clay always found some sort of excuse to avoid her. When she finally cornered Clay, he gave in and gave her more than she bargained for. The sex was off the charts hot. They nearly set my e-reader on fire. She was confident without being pushy, so it worked for me. She didn't turn into a whiny fool whenever Clay eluded her. My only complaint about Clay was the repetitiveness about not wanting to get his heart broken again. I think the exact same phrase was used at least three or four times. By then he came across as a little pathetic. Of course my view of him improved once he gave in to Maysen. The secondary cast of characters, especially the Coleman brothers caught my attention. Their stories can be found in the Men with Tools series. As for another set of characters, Dylan and Talia, I'd love to know if Maysen's hunch was right. I would read this story again because it was entertaining.

Story: 4
Flames: 5

Five-Alarm Masquerade by Stacey Kennedy

Abby Hill returns home to find her house surrounded by fire trucks. The realization that irreplaceable photos, the only thing remaining of her family, have been destroyed is too much for her to bear and she has a mini meltdown. She finds solace in the arms of sexy firefighter Gavin Morgan. In her grief, they share a connection based on common ground and an instant attraction. When Gavin finds yet one more thing they have in common, he sets a plan into motion that will make her naughty fantasies come true and allow him to get her out of his system. But even the best laid plans don't always work out.

When I heard that Stacey Kennedy was going to be a part of this hot firefighter anthology, I had to read this. This story was much tamer than her Club Sin series, but she excels at writing some of my favorite elements: hot sex and mature characters. Out of the three stories, this story had the most character depth. Abby suffered from survivor's guilt, but she wasn't closed off to moving on with her life and trying new things. When she received a mysterious invitation to an exclusive party, a BDSM party, she mistakenly thought it was for her friend. Ready for a little adventure, she decided to go in her friend's stead.

My favorite part about this story was Gavin's struggle with his feelings towards Abby and realizing that he was about to cross a moral line. It wasn't just the fact that his plans to seduce Abby were utterly selfish, but after having seen her at her most vulnerable and being able to relate because of his profession, he knew he couldn't treat her like the other women in his past and still look at himself in the mirror.

I liked Abby a lot. I also liked how she handled Gavin. Her reaction was neither over the top nor was she too stubborn to allow him to explain himself. I hope Ms Kennedy considers expanding this story into a series or perhaps a novel because I really enjoyed this glimpse into these characters, and I took an instant liking to the secondary characters as well, Sierra and Jett. Sierra was fiercely protective and funny. Like Gavin, I'm curious about the mysterious organizer behind the Five-Alarm Masquerade events and why were Gavin and Jett invited to the exclusive parties that seemed to cater mostly towards the white collar community.

Story: 5
Flames: 3.5

I definitely recommend this book. I will be purchasing this book in paperback for my personal collection.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review. The views and opinions expressed in this review are my own, and in no way represent the views or opinions of the publisher/distributor. ( )

Hot Shots by Anne March, Lynn LaFleur
I wanted to read this book because it's about firemen and I love learning how they do their job, the location and because there are three different authors, one that I'm familiar with. I usually end up liking and reading the other author's works. I hadn't planned on more such hot steamy sex scenes than the main theme: firefighters.

Fired Up By Anne March
Hannah Green is at her watch tower in the Sequoia National Forest and during a lightening storm she loses the radio. Cole is the Cajun firefighter who comes the next day to replace her radio. They share many a night talking to one another, sexually and playing out roles to get the other to orgasm.
Adult language and scenes. Are they going to get to play out their fantasies that they've told each other of over the radio on their private channel? Wish there had been more of a storyline, rather than a lot of sex.
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Sizzle by Lynn LaFleur
Maysen Halliday runs Hot Shots magazine and is the photographer. She's on assignment in a small town in Texas. Clay Spenser is the town's fire chief and he doesn't like the idea of the publicity for his fire department.
The volunteers are to meet Maysen at the station and she can take their beefy photos. She plans to also highlight female firefighters in a special article.
Clay avoids Maysen claiming he's too busy with others to meet for meals. She meets up with the woman firefighters and learns Clay didn't go out of town and gets the directions to his house and she gets the tour along with a change of mind from Clay.
Things really heat up... Now to convince them to pose for the calendar and others would buy it, thus giving them money for the new tanker they need. Hot steamy sex scenes.
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Five-Alarm Masquerade by Stacey Kennedy
Abby Hill watches her bedroom burn where the only family photos left were located. The fireman consoles her and she stays with her friend Sierra.
An invite to a five alarm masquerade arrives with instructions on what you can and can't do-bit on the kinky side and like a 'swinger's get together'.
Gavin Morgan can't get her out of his head and lets her know, both disguised at the event. Very steamy sex scenes.
Excerpt from Smokin' Hot is included at the end.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review ( )

I am a fan of anthologies because I like being introduced to new authors, and with Hot Shots I was introduced to two authors that I hadn't read before and got to enjoy one author that I had enjoyed in the past. Hot Shots features three steamy tales of seduction with firemen as a common theme. I really enjoyed how each author took the fireman theme and put their own spin on it. Each story was well written with well developed characters considering the length of each story, and I thought that each author did a great job developing the plot as well. I think that each story complimented the others and did a great job at giving the reader three exciting, erotic tales of fantasy. Now I hadn't read works by Marsh and LaFleur before, but I enjoyed both stories so I am definitely interested in checking out their other works. I have read Kennedy before and really enjoyed her work so I wasn't surprised to have enjoyed "Five-Alarm Masquerade." Overall Hot Shots was a great read that I would recommend if you are looking for some hot sexy stories to escape into.

Received a copy of Hot Shots through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )