CELTIC FIRE

Author: Joy Nash ISBN: 0505-526395 6/2005 PARANORMAL Publisher: DORCHESTER/Love Spell
Time Period: 117 AD - Northern Britannia

In the wilds of Britannia, a fierce battle rages. Rhiannon, rightful ruler of the Celts, longs to see the invading Romans driven from her land. But when she is taken by the enemy, she can't deny her reaction to their compelling leader. Having to look upon the ghost of his murdered brother every day is torture for Commander Lucius Aquila. But the strangely fascinating woman he captured has the power to make the visions disappear, and Lucius knows she can help him solve the mystery of Aulus's death. Even as he questions her loyalty, her courage and beauty hold him spellbound, and Lucius can only dream of the day he might succumb to her CELTIC FIRE.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Thank goodness some books get better as you read them. CELTIC FIRE is one such book. The first three to four chapters—and they are sizable chapters—are terrible. Boring, bland, and REPETITIVE. What do I mean by repetitive? Characters are on the verge of vomiting on nearly every page. On one page alone, the heroine "felt the bile rise to her throat", was "struck by a wave of nausea", and "became nauseous". It could have been a page and a half—but still. Add that to the other characters who became nauseous, like the brother of the heroine, and everyone appears to be on the verge of the stomach flu. Including me. I was not sure I would make it to the middle of this one, let alone finish it.

Now that the bad part of my review is out of the way, with the middle and the end of the book comes much needed action and conflict worth reading about. The writing improves tremendously. It is almost like the author remembers her purpose for the tale and is able to give it voice without nearly puking. It changes so much, in fact, that I seriously considered giving this book a 4-Rose rating. However, I just couldn't stop chuckling about the beginning. Plus, I figured I might get too many emails from people asking me how I stayed with it long enough to enjoy the good parts.

Well, nothing is perfect. Maybe you won't care about the things I found and just read it because you like the time period. There is a ghost present, but he doesn't do much but follow his brother around and look haggard. It might be that you like that sort of thing. Or maybe you will read it to count how many times someone feels ill. Whatever your reason, you should read it, because eventually it redeems itself to become quite a story.

Shannon Johnson