Review: A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

Title: A Hidden Fire
Series: Elemental Mysteries, Book 1
Author: Elizabeth Hunter
Publisher: E. Hunter
Length: 423 Pages
Publication Date: October 13, 2011
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: Bought for Free
My Rating: ★★★¾☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Goodreads
Worth Noted: As off January 5, 2013 the book remains free in both Amazon and Smashwords.

Book Description:

"No secret stays hidden forever."

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract. Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

A Hidden Fire is a paranormal mystery/romance for adult readers. It is the first book in the Elemental Mysteries Series.

I read this novel as part of Katie's Kick'n It Free-Style at Gotta Have Paranormal with a Kick. The challenge consisted of four groups of readers, each one with a randomly assigned book (that had been previously suggested). The books had to be free eBook downloads from the major book selling sites (mostly Amazon and B&N). My team, Feisty Femme Fatales, was assigned A Hidden Fire. NOTE: The tallies are up and our book won the challenge, it was the book with the overall best rating!!

I enjoyed the story, the author managed to refresh a concept that has, lately, become a bit overdone; I tip my hat to her for achieving this. It has many memorable characters in its roaster. Beatrice (or B, as she prefers to be called) is a strong female character and a great lead to the story. Gio is, well, he is complicated... Gio begins as a strong character, but there is one particular moment after which my perspective on him changes 180°. Among the rest of the characters we have Carwyn, one of Gio's best vampire friend, -and in my honest opinion- one of the best characters of the series. Did I mention he is a priest? Yup, he is both a priest and a vampire with a particular taste for Hawaiian shirts. Other great characters include Isadora (Beatrice's grandmother) and Caspar (Gio's butler/son/human best friend/ehh... you get the picture).

Books in News #8

A wrap-up of recent events, announcements, releases, or other news circulating the web.

Welcome back my amazing followers and lurkers, today is Books in News #8, your weekly fix of all things written and other related matters.

Let’s begin this round with positive news. The comic books fever has never truly receded. Each year we see announcements of any given attempt at reinventing the genre and bring it forth to a new generation. Although I don’t personally read comic books, not currently anyways, I have grown loving them and respect the various forms of empowerment that they inspire. So this particular bit of news brought a smile to my face when I read it, and still does. Being a comic book fan has no age, gender, or even nationality, it has become a multicultural phenomenon. So it’s really no surprise that little kids want to emulate their favorite powerful and cool characters. So is the case of Anthony Smith, a 4-year-old who refused to wear a hearing aid because superheroes do not wear them. This kid’s parents contacted none other than Marvel, asking whether or not there was a superhero that had some extra help. Marvel replied that yes, Hawkeye had used a hearing aid before his hearing was restored. However, in true superhero fashion, Marvel went above and beyond and created a completely new super called Blue Ear, a hero that can rescue the innocent bystanders thanks to his hearing aid. Inspire kids’ dreams and help them realize that they are incredible no matter what, now that is what I call Super!

YA Kindle (Limited Time) Offers

Psst!! Any Kindle readers out there? Wanna know a secret?

On of my favorite blogs, The Midnight Garden, has posted a list of some free YA goodies and other special offers in the e-book spectrum. If you like catch some or all of the offers head to: the midnight garden: freebies & sales alert! (and thank you) to get the respective links.

You might wanna hurry, Amazon is known for short term offers...

Happy Reading everybody!!