3.5/5

The only redeeming feature of this book is the characters, especially Smoke. The dude is just dreamy.

HOWEVER.

This book is the straw that broke the camel's back (the camel being me) with this series. King was amazing, Lawless was good, and it just went downhill from there. I think my problem is that there's no originality here. It's like Frazier thought, hey, they liked it, now let's reproduce it with some different characters (Hey, they're different. They have different names). We have a big bad boy who does bad stuff but is honorable at heart, an innocent teen/young woman with a hidden dark side, and let's not forget the "twist" at the end where the clean-cut childhood friend/boyfriend turns out to be an evil dick. (Seriously, is it supposed to be a surprise anymore? At this point, I just assume any nice guy in these books is an evil serial killer)

But in the process of trying to make a book we would like, she's lost any semblance of the heart that drew us in the first place. There's no real feeling between the characters anymore, none of what made me love her stories in the first place. I think it may be time to hang this world up for good, Frazier. Come up with some new stuff. You've done it before, you can do it again. ( )

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 STARS
ARC-REVIEW
Release Date-19/2/18

Up in Smoke (King, #8) by T.M. Frazier is my second book by this author.
I have previously read “all the Rage” and though I enjoyed it this is hands down my favourite out of the two.
This is Smoke and Frankie's story.
And also as an added bonus, I got to reconnect with Rage AKA Bionic Barbie who I absolutely bloody adore, so I was super ecstatic over this little fact.
So the opening chapter here was an absolute heartbreaker.
But It was this insight into Smoke's past tragedy that helped me reconcile enormously with his actions to follow.
Without this, I think it would have taken me a lot longer to warm to him.
It's been a while since I read "All the rage" I know he was in that, but my memory of him was kinda fuzzy.
So my main impressions of Smoke as an individual were really all gleaned from here.
That is why as awful as I found that opening scene, it really was needed for me as a sort of barometer for Smoke's early on overall behaviour.
So Frankie is hiding in plain sight as a Catholic schoolgirl.
Lieing low, but also hiding in fear as she completes what she feels is her calling.
But the thing that she is afraid of is about to catch right up with her.
As the men that are after her father, have got sick of waiting for him to crawl out of the woodwork and have decided to take Frankie as bait.
Either he show's his face or they are gonna take it out of Frankie's hide.
Her days are literally numbered.
So when Smoke turns up and kidnaps her right out of school. Frankie posing as schoolgirl Sarah is terrified.
But She's still going to use every trick in her arsenal to try and escape this situation.
She can't give him her father and she knows no rescue is on the near horizon for her.
She only has herself and her wits to rely on and with people counting on her, well shes determined to give Smoke the slip.
So this was great reading I really liked both main characters and also the overall dynamic between the two.
Smoke himself was what I would describe as your classic tortured anti-hero, a bad man but with some redeeming qualities.
Though originally here its quite hard to see what these are, you’d need an actual magnifying glass maybe to spot any.
As time goes on he becomes less certain of what he thinks he knows and wants in regards to Frankie.
He can't help but feel a connection and strong pull towards her and this is the last thing he wants or needs.
Smoke considers himself a bit of a lone wolf but it’s apparent he has more actual link's than he realises.
Frankie well shes just as bad when it comes to forming connections, she also tries to stave off this inevitable union.
Both running scared in my opinion.
Frankie, well Shes all sorts of feisty, loyal and beautiful and with a moral compass to boot.
What’s not to love.
And When these two eventually give in to there baser needs there definitely going up in smoke.
So this was a total page turner it was action packed, full of intrigue and super scorching when it comes to the temperature.
It would have been a full house for me except for one little detail.
There was a certain incident on Smokes side that I couldn't overlook and without going into to much detail it pissed me the hell off and I wanted to wallop smoke with my bleeding kindle and then throw every pot, ornament and near handy object at his stupid, thick numbskull head like really really hard, GRRRR!!!!!



DEEP BREATH!!



So I removed half a star because I was super annoyed, it would have been one, but I waited a while to write this review and I've calmed down a tad now, as long as I don’t think about it to much.
But despite that one instant all else is good in the world.
So give this excellently written book a try it's a cracker of a read.
I was provided with an ARC of "Up In Smoke" By the author of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 STARS
ARC-REVIEW
Release Date-19/2/18

Up in Smoke (King, #8) by T.M. Frazier is my second book by this author.
I have previously read “all the Rage” and though I enjoyed it this is hands down my favourite out of the two.
This is Smoke and Frankie's story.
And also as an added bonus, I got to reconnect with Rage AKA Bionic Barbie who I absolutely bloody adore, so I was super ecstatic over this little fact.
So the opening chapter here was an absolute heartbreaker.
But It was this insight into Smoke's past tragedy that helped me reconcile enormously with his actions to follow.
Without this, I think it would have taken me a lot longer to warm to him.
It's been a while since I read "All the rage" I know he was in that, but my memory of him was kinda fuzzy.
So my main impressions of Smoke as an individual were really all gleaned from here.
That is why as awful as I found that opening scene, it really was needed for me as a sort of barometer for Smoke's early on overall behaviour.
So Frankie is hiding in plain sight as a Catholic schoolgirl.
Lieing low, but also hiding in fear as she completes what she feels is her calling.
But the thing that she is afraid of is about to catch right up with her.
As the men that are after her father, have got sick of waiting for him to crawl out of the woodwork and have decided to take Frankie as bait.
Either he show's his face or they are gonna take it out of Frankie's hide.
Her days are literally numbered.
So when Smoke turns up and kidnaps her right out of school. Frankie posing as schoolgirl Sarah is terrified.
But She's still going to use every trick in her arsenal to try and escape this situation.
She can't give him her father and she knows no rescue is on the near horizon for her.
She only has herself and her wits to rely on and with people counting on her, well shes determined to give Smoke the slip.
So this was great reading I really liked both main characters and also the overall dynamic between the two.
Smoke himself was what I would describe as your classic tortured anti-hero, a bad man but with some redeeming qualities.
Though originally here its quite hard to see what these are, you’d need an actual magnifying glass maybe to spot any.
As time goes on he becomes less certain of what he thinks he knows and wants in regards to Frankie.
He can't help but feel a connection and strong pull towards her and this is the last thing he wants or needs.
Smoke considers himself a bit of a lone wolf but it’s apparent he has more actual link's than he realises.
Frankie well shes just as bad when it comes to forming connections, she also tries to stave off this inevitable union.
Both running scared in my opinion.
Frankie, well Shes all sorts of feisty, loyal and beautiful and with a moral compass to boot.
What’s not to love.
And When these two eventually give in to there baser needs there definitely going up in smoke.
So this was a total page turner it was action packed, full of intrigue and super scorching when it comes to the temperature.
It would have been a full house for me except for one little detail.
There was a certain incident on Smokes side that I couldn't overlook and without going into to much detail it pissed me the hell off and I wanted to wallop smoke with my bleeding kindle and then throw every pot, ornament and near handy object at his stupid, thick numbskull head like really really hard, GRRRR!!!!!



DEEP BREATH!!



So I removed half a star because I was super annoyed, it would have been one, but I waited a while to write this review and I've calmed down a tad now, as long as I don’t think about it to much.
But despite that one instant all else is good in the world.
So give this excellently written book a try it's a cracker of a read.
I was provided with an ARC of "Up In Smoke" By the author of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )

4.8 stars

I never want this series to end. Every book gets better and better. I started this book wanting to hurry and find out what was going to happen. Yet, I then start to dread the end coming up. This book is a standalone but I would recommend reading it in order so that when you meet the previous characters you can be reminded of who they were or what there backstory is (especially Preppy. God, I love that crazy pancake loving, bow tie wearing, lunatic and Rage, that crazy Vespa riding Rambo Barbie).

Frankie, like all of this author's female characters, comes with a unique skill set. She is feisty, brave, and a little hell raiser. She was perfect for Smoke. Smoke. Holy hot guy on a stick. I wanted to lick him like an ice-cream cone on a hundred degree day. Such a tortured soul. He needed to find someone to help him believe that he deserved to be loved.

Highly recommend this book (or anything but this author). ( )

TM DID IT AGAIN!

This book was amazing! Smoke is hit. The story line had a plot twist that had me saying "whoa". I HIGHLY recommend this ( )