Book Review: Ignite by Tessa Teevan



Ignite by Tessa Teevan
Explosive #1
October 28, 2013
333 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance 18+
(Contains: Explicit sex, strong language, alcohol)
Source: Personal purchase

Book Blurb:

After nearly a year and a half of grieving the loss of her husband, twenty-seven year old Alexa Sullivan Tate is headed back to her hometown after a decade of being away. She has no idea her high school crush, Jace McAllister, the guy who stole her heart the same night that he broke it, is more than ready to pick up the pieces.

Jace has spent the last ten years in the Army defusing bomb after bomb, trying to forget the girl who ignited all his passions. Little does he know that the spark still exists.

Ten years ago they had smoldering chemistry, but the spark between them now might light a fuse that leads to an explosion even Jace can't stop. Not that he wants to. If only Alexa can get past her guilt and trust her heart again.

But how do you put it all on the line when you've already lost everything once before?

*Mature Audiences only, 18+. While this is a series, each book will be standalone.

My Review:
 
Overall, I enjoyed Ignite and this second chance romance. I didn't love it but I solidly liked it and think readers of this genre would too, perhaps even more than I did. I will list a few things that were hits and misses for me.

What I liked:

1. Second Chance Romance: I've read several books with this type of hook, but what I loved about Ignite was that the two main characters actually has good lives between their initial chance and their second chance. Jace and Alexa were best friends in high school, but after a misunderstanding lost touch with each other and thought their chance with each other was over. But in the 10 years they were apart, Alexa fell in love and married a wonderful man. She loved him and they had a good marriage together, until his premature death. Jace, though not as lucky in love, found great fulfillment in his military career. These were not two people dwelling on their losses (though, certainly, they had spent time with the other in their thoughts), but became healthy, functional people who were not completely defunct after missing out on their first loves. I really appreciated that the author gave them lives and fulfillment apart from each other, and it made me respect their attempts at a rekindled romance even more.

2. Loss and Moving On: I appreciated that the author took an honest approach with a woman being widowed in her 20s and how devastating that would be. The situation would be handled differently depending upon the individual, but I liked the care that was used to look at Alexa's situation and how she decided to handle things (or avoid things). The moving on bit was not immediate or without deep and thoughtful deliberation. But the decision to live again was honest and believable.

3. Humor, Friends, and Family: Though at times the humor was hit-or-miss with me, I liked that the author didn't just make this a completely heavy book, as it could have been. Using Alexa's sister, brother-in-law, and niece to give the situations some spunk really helped lift up the storyline. Integrating the pasts and presents of their families also helped give Jace and Alexa more depth as a couple. Brady was also a great help in bringing levity but reality to the situation, and an honest shoulder for Alexa to lean on.

What I didn't like as much:

1. Pacing and Repetition: The beginning of the story really appealed to me and kept my attention, getting into both Alexa's and Jace's minds and feelings. But as the book progressed, I felt like the story itself was not progressing as much as I'd hoped. I appreciated that this wasn't a quickie relationship, but as the pages went by, I was starting to get bored from the same conversations, the same thoughts and feelings, because the story was fairly predictable. I think if the repetition was reconsidered and trimmed down, this book could have been 50-100 pages shorter and paced much better. It was a great story, it just lost a little something for me after a certain point, and a bit more editing would have helped.

2. Too Much Sex: Now, don't get me wrong. I like a good sex scene or more. But when each sex scene is pages and pages long, and the words and descriptions seem to be on repeat, I find myself skimming. And that's what I was doing here after the first few scenes. I don't think each and every time characters have sex needs to accompany a full blow-by-blow description. Because the scenes were nice to start with, but then got repetitive.

3. Deceptive Title: With a title like "Ignite" in the "Explosive" series, I found that half-way through the book I was wondering when the "explosive" or "ignite" part of the story was going to kick in. Sure there were some steamy scenes and all that, but I guess with such intense titles for the book and the series, I was expecting more. Jace deals with explosives in the military, so I'm assuming that's where the titles came from, but we don't get nearly enough of his life away from Alexa in the military as I would have liked. I think if we'd gotten more of the intensity of his life in the field, outside of the one short scene, it might have helped amp up the "explosive" part of the story. Overall, Jace is a pretty easy-going guy, which is fine, but not the intensity I was expecting.

Overall, I love a good second chance romance and Ignite was a good one to fit that bill. Jace and Alexa have a nice story to tell and I enjoyed it for the most part. And no cliffhanger! This is also the first book in a series. Each book can be read as a standalone or in order.

 

3 STARS

 

BOOK LINKS:

AMAZON  *  GOODREADS