Friday 28 November 2014

Review of 'Playing with Fire' by Devika Fernando




        Felicia is a study in contrasts; on the face of it she is a quiet, studious, fastidious, bordering on the dowdy librarian who leads a solitary, secluded life, deliberately cutting herself away from social contacts preferring to spend her time taking long walks on her own.  On these walks she lets another self out. She walks alone but she dresses differently. Vibrant and sexy. She is enlivened and impulsive going where her feet take her. For Felicia has something burning inside her that is as desperate to get out, as frantic as she is to try and keep it in and control it.


       Cool, calm collected Joshua…in contrast has it all in place. He comes into her life ostensibly to try and help her and guide her. However will the strong carnal attraction that threatens to engulf them be their downfall? Is he really what he says he is?

       This is the second book that I have read of Ms Fernando and kudos to her for making this so different from ‘When I see your Face’. If I hadn’t known it, I wouldn’t have even said it is the same author. It is rare for an author to move so well between such disparate themes.

  Which brings me to the part that I was under the impression that ‘Playing with Fire’ was a paranormal romance and there is that, but it is also so much more.  In fact I found more of paranormal drama then romance in the book. For me the book was all about…..the angst of a young girl, it was her confusion on being different,  it was her supposed apathy in the face of rejection, it was about an outsider looking in who is scared and yet in awe of her rare ability. It was about the journey of Felicia and what a well etched one it was.

       Joshua on the other hand I found rather superficial. He came and he went and he didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Most of the feeling and emotions all came through the character of Felicia and maybe that is why I didn’t find the romance element so strong. It just seemed very one sided.

      However I am not here to nitpick on genres. It was a good story and I enjoyed it: the best part being…it is the first of a series. Can’t wait for the next one.



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