Title: Cleansing Flame
Series: Rekindled Flame 02
Author: Andrew Grey
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (200 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (10 March 2017)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: Life has been grinding Dayne Mills down almost for as long as he can remember. First he lost the love of his life in an accident that also left him with a permanent injury, and then his mother passed away a year later. When his house burns to the ground, it’s the last straw. He can’t take any more, and if it wasn’t for kind and handsome firefighter Lawson Martin offering him a hand up and a place to stay, he doesn’t know what he’d do. Dayne would love for his relationship with Lawson to evolve into something beyond charity, but he knows going after a man so far out of his league will only lead to yet more heartache. It’s best to just keep his mind on his research.
It’s that research that leads Dayne to an old student journal that not only provides clues to the Native American heritage Lawson has been searching for, but chronicles a century-old love story. The tale that unfolds might be just what Dayne and Lawson need to remind them that no matter how dark life becomes, love can find a way to shine through.
ISBN: 978-1-63533-488-3
Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/cleansing-flame-by-andrew-grey-8272-b
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is one of those books where I went in expecting to love it. a) I love Andrew Grey’s writing: it is so easy for me to relate to his writing, even if I am a single, straight, female. I love how he does sweet romance is totally relatable, real life situations. I love he manages to make me both laugh and cry in the course of a single story. b) I knew I would enjoy this because I loved the first book, Rekindled Flame. c) Firemen, sexy firemen, are involved in the story, enough said there.
If you haven’t read book one, don’t worry, it’s not really a prerequisite. There is no overarching story line. However, I think it would be good to go back purely because we do get to see a glimpse of Morgan and Richard and it made me want to go back and reread Rekindled Flame.
The formula for Cleansing Flame, just as it was for Rekindled Flame: one fireman meets a broken man (both physically and mentally), meets him again at a fire when his life goes up in smoke, just to pile on the bad luck.
Here, Lawson is the fireman. He happens to meet Dayne, the broken man, when Lawson tries to do some research on his family history and Dayne is doing research for an assignment. Dayne has had a run of bad luck – a car accident killed the man he loved some years ago, his mother died the year before and only the same day he meets Lawson he loses the home that he and his mother had brought. On top of that, Dayne still has severe pain in his leg from the accident that killed his boyfriend. Now Dayne is determined to become a teacher, even if he feels a little odd for being, seemingly, the oldest guy at college.
Lawson becomes Dayne’s knight in shining armor. It is seriously sweet. The guys also have mutual friends – Morgan and Richard of book 1 – so it’s kind of expected that they would meet. Lawson proceeds to sweep Dayne off his feet and the guys get to know each other as they fall into a romance that makes you sigh happily.