Fever
4 Stars

Imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, Teague Creek escapes with a hostage and is on the run not only from the police, but from dangerous rogue operatives who will stop at nothing to silence him once and for all. Dr. Alyssa Foster knows nothing of the man who has kidnapped her other than the fact that he awakens a deep seated need and desire within her. Surely there is more to this desperate bid for freedom than meets the eye…

A solid if rather far fetched plot, appealing characters and a satisfying romance.

The story starts out well and builds consistently with some exciting action scenes and paranormal abilities that are smoothly interwoven within the narrative. Nevertheless, the conspiracy elements are underdeveloped and the last few chapters progress too rapidly with several leaps in logic that lack foundation.

Alyssa’s stubborn determination and inquisitive nature make her a likable heroine and the fact that she doesn’t quiver and cower is an additional plus. While Teague starts out as a typical hard-ass alpha, he slowly reveals his inner vulnerability and need for someone to believe in him. Their relationship develops at a believable pace and their reactions are quite realistic given the circumstances.

Overall, an entertaining read reminiscent of other wonderful books in the genre, such as Perfect by Judith McNaught and Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare. I look forward to continuing with the series. ( )

This is the first book in a series. The premise is seven members of a fire fighting hazmat unit had gone into a warehouse firefight as ordinary people. Six had emerged permanently altered. One died. Each of the books in this series will deal with the survivors and what happened to them after.

Fever is about Teague Creek’s story. Five years ago after the fire in the warehouse Teague was married with a little girl. His wife suffered from extreme depression. She knew that something had changed all 6 members after the fire that also included her twin brother Luke. Teague’s gift is he runs hot. If he gets upset or aroused his body temp goes way up. He has learned he can do some minor healing with this gift and a few other things but really doesn’t haven’t any real control or understanding of what is going on with his body. His wife’s depression worsened until she killed herself. Years later Teague is with a new girlfriend and she is violently murdered. He gets accused of her murder and sent to prison for life.

The story starts off with Teague and another inmate kidnapping and escaping with Dr. Alyssa Foster. The other prisoner Taz is a racist SOB in the worst sense of the word. I am not going to beat this part of the book to death as many other reviews have. It’s an ugly part of our world but nothing that was said or portrayed by Taz is untrue. Teague is not portrayed ns a good light either in the beginning and you don’t know anything about him but you do notice that he is protecting Alyssa from Taz even though he thinks she is someone else. Alyssa figures out there is more to Teague than he is saying after she is stabbed. This is when Teague first uses his “healing power” on her. After an altercation with between Teague and Taz which leaves him dead (by this point you are clapping) the story finally starts going in the right direction. Alyssa finds out slowly from Teague why he has the “fever” why he was sent to prison and why he broke out of prison. They both also realize that there is a major government cover up going on and that a lot of people that have had contact with the six surviving members are dead or missing. We get the POV of the people that want Teague dead so we know just how high up this goes.

In this book we get to meet Alyssa twin Mitch Foster who is a criminal defense attorney but with some great government connections himself . Luke Ransom who was the twin brother of Teague's wife and also used to be his best friend but turned on him after his sister died and went for full custody of his niece and won. Luke was also one of the 6 firefighters in that warehouse and has a gift of his own. He now works for the ATF. His story is next in the series.

Once I was finished with this book and could look back on each piece of the puzzle we were given though out I really liked the concept of this series. When you first start the book you just don’t have enough to go on and wonder where the author is going.. But if you just wait till the end and process everything I think you really like this series.
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DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: Dr. Alyssa Foster will admit to a bad boy fetish. . .
But when she finds herself face to face with a convicted murderer with a determination for freedom and an eye on her as his get out of jail free card, Alyssa knows she's in deep trouble. . .. Not just because Teague Creek is a prisoner desperate for freedom, but because his every touch makes her desperate for more.

A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose. . .

Teague Creek has one shot at freedom, but his plan to escape with a hostage develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives who know of his strange abilities, he needs to avoid trouble, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever. ( )

Check out my review and two teasers on my blog: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2012/03/feasted-on-phoenix-rising-seri... ( )

"FEVER", by Joan Swan & published by Kensington, is the first in a series called Phoenix Rising. The "mythology" behind the series is that a team of seven firefighters went into a warehouse fire where something unknown was stored and it exploded, killing one of the firefighters and irrevocably changing the other six by endowing them with "super powers". Really cool concept... but for the benefit of THIS novel, was not utilized enough until later in the story. I feel it would have worked MUCH better had the author started the book off with a Prologue that featured the fire five years earlier. The start of "Fever" was a bit rambling in nature, and I always find it a bad sign when I look at my Kindle to see how far I am into a book & I wince - because I'm hoping I'm much further along than I am. I had such high hopes for this book... and ugh - it DRAGGED in the beginning. I also found myself liking, and being intrigued by, one of the characters (Mitch) that was introduced later in the story a whole lot more than I felt interest in the main male character, Teague.

Teague is a felon convicted of killing his girlfriend and he's been sent to the hospital complaining of stomach pains. The hospital trip, however, is a planned escape attempt during which he takes Alyssa, a radiologist/doctor, hostage. While being examined, Alyssa recognizes that he has a high fever because of the extraordinary temperature of his body. I don't know. I just found I didn't CARE, and all the different people and their relationships was confusing to me. Like I said - I liked reading about Alyssa's brother, Mitch. Okay - next book! ( )