It's a story about an outgoing cop being set up with a prickly fire marshal, in which we get the awkward first interaction, the misunderstandings, the hot sex and again, too much miscommunication. I've read most of Morticia Knight's work and absolutely loved them all...but this one felt a bit alien...almost as if it was written on one of Ms. Knight's "off days". Not by any means a bad book...just didn't have the same feels as her others. The misunderstandings between the two became an on again off again thing and to me, it was just too simple and clichéd. The sexual chemistry between the two was however off the charts, but Daryl’s constant amateurish behavior often had me wanting to shake him. To Daryl's credit, he did take care of Zack and stay by his side when Zack really needed him, so that earned him some credits and the book 4 stars. ( )

Secret Fire is the first book in the ‘Uniform Encounters’ series. It stars Fire Marshal Daryl, and Zach, a cop. This is told in first person from Daryl and Zach’s povs.



I’ve read a few of Morticia Knight’s books, and I think this was written before the other published books I’ve read. The reason I say this, is because I didn’t feel that this story was as polished as her other stories. Especially for the first chapter or two I found it difficult to get into the characters. I’m not sure why, but Daryl and Zach didn’t pull me in. After the first two chapters or so, the writing smoothed out and I was able to delve into the characters better.

I think the author did a good job of character growth for Daryl. He had a bad breakup with a cheating boyfriend, who he’d been in love with. Daryl is a one-man kind of guy and his ex hurt him deeply, enough so he built a thick wall around himself against everyone. I loved seeing those walls crumble, seeing how insecure he was, how it affected his and Zach’s relationship. All Daryl wanted was to love Zach and have Zach love him in return. Daryl immersed himself in his partners and would do anything for them. We find out that Daryl, is loving, kind, and sensitive. It says in the blurb that Zach is over thirty, but he doesn’t come across that old. He acted like he was in his early twenties, a bit immature. His voice also seemed to change from the beginning of the story from more mature, to younger and more impetuous, as the story progressed. His voice wasn’t consistent. Zach was a one-night stand kind of guy. He makes up his mind now that he’s over thirty, that he wants to settle down. I found that unrealistic that someone just decides that and changes their behavior without any problem. But I suppose it’s just a story so suspend belief in Zach’s case. It took him a while to realize what kind of person Daryl was, and Zach liked how Daryl made Zach the center of his attention. Zach also had to push Daryl to communicate. That was one good thing about Zach. He knew communication wasn’t Daryl’s strong trait and he would have to make sure they communicated if the relationship was too work. That was a good trait of Zach’s. He also was stubborn. He didn’t grow as much in the story as Daryl did, so I’d say this is more Daryl’s story than Zach’s. By the end of the book, I could believe in the two as a committed couple because they’d worked through some deep issues.

I enjoyed the character Daryl the most. The book has a simple plot of Zach and Daryl learning about each other with outside events keeping the plot moving along. There’s a short story titled, Zach and Daryl’s Secret Birthday Surprise, which is available for download at the end of this book. It’s short quick and cute. I enjoyed it.

I’m not quite sure what rating to give Secret Fire. I enjoyed the plot and liked Daryl. But the first couple chapters didn’t work well for me. So, I think I’ll give this story, 3 Stars. I enjoyed it and would recommend it as a quick, non-stressful, HEA read.


( )

So, the blurb on this one SUCKED me right in. It had the promise of FireFighters and Cops and peril and past relationship pain and I just couldn't. Say. No.

This is [a:Morticia Knight|5252602|Morticia Knight|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1366188656p2/5252602.jpg]'s 5th book in her Uniform Encounters series, a series that should be an absolute delight for me, given my love of all things cop/firefighter/EMT, but the first book was SO bad, I never even bothered to read any of the others. But, again, the blurb got me and here we are.

My biggest peeve about firefighter books? When authors use firefighters as a profession in name only and don't give us any on-the-job action. Well, I am very happy to say we got several instances of on-the-job action in [b:Secret Fire|21120015|Secret Fire (Uniform Encounters #5)|Morticia Knight|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1394093129s/21120015.jpg|40474495] with our big, handsome MC Fire Marshal Daryl Renyolds! We even had some scenes of MC Officer Zach Lawrence being a hero in his patrol uniform. *gulp* Plenty of eye candy for your uniform loving brain.

And the sex? The sex deserves it's own paragraph. Apparently Daryl's former boyfriend was a bit of a freak in bed and they liked to experiment with a few non-vanilla sexual activities, and this just revved Zach's engine into overdrive. He and Daryl started practicing some light BDSM that was mind-blowing to read, since they were men in their 30's who were both first timers and had such a strong emotional connection. *fans self* Made for some awesome sex scenes, let me tell you!

So, that was all the good stuff, now comes the bad stuff. :( The actual relationship between these two? Come on, I never bought it. Daryl was an absolute child about every damn thing. Whining and pouting and feeling sorry for himself. His inner dialogue drove me crazy and it was incredibly unrealistic. Zach was perfect and wonderful. Too perfect and wonderful to put up with Daryl's dribble for more then one night. Nope, didn't buy it, at all. But I pushed that aside because of the good parts.

Also, there is this sub plot about a nightclub that Daryl likes to hang out in that takes up part of the book that is just noise, noise, noise. *Yawn* I did not care about it even a tiny bit.

So? I'm calling this one a Guilty Pleasure and I am damn glad I read it! If you are a lover of the firefighter genre, I recommend this one to you wholeheartedly. I can pretty much guarantee you will enjoy it. To regular M/M romance fans who can give or take the firefighter aspect, there really is so much more out there worth your time and money I would choose first. ( )