Water and Fire (Rowan McAllister)
Rowan McAllister has become one of my go-for-comfort authors. Her writing, stories, and characters just click with me. Duly noted, there are some stories that fail to entertain me much, but luckily this is not one of them. In fact, I definitely loved this one better than the predecessor in the series, Air and Earth.
Ever since the end of Air and Earth , I have been waiting for Aiden’s story. For anyone who have not read that book … well, Aiden is Adam’s ex (Adam is one of the MCs in Air and Earth ). In that book, Aiden is written as someone with fiery temper; his relationship with Adam practically ‘decorated’ with fights because Aiden often loses control of his emotion. He is not abusive, not at all, but Aiden is clearly quite a drama king – and sometimes he can seem to be quite whiny towards Adam’s attention.
Having said that, I never thought of Aiden as annoying. I knew with fire as element, there’s so much more to Aiden than his temper. I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know what kind of person would be able to soothe Aiden. I knew that the person will have water element (the title, duh!) but I wanted to know his characteristics.
I must say that a 37-year-old half-Irish half-Japanese guy, who spent the last five years of his life practically being a hermit after the death of his partner, was TOTALLY not the guy I had in mind!! I wasn’t expecting someone quite older than Aiden, to be honest. But I guess this is why I am not an author! *laugh*. Because seriously, Murphy and Aiden just FIT like a glove.
Murphy is an empath, so he can ‘read’ Aiden’s really well. There is nothing that Aiden can hide from him – which helps pushing Aiden to deal with his gift. Over the years, Aiden tries very hard to control his emotion, because losing control will end up with his fire exploding, so to speak. But with Murphy there, he learn to acknowledge it. I loved the scene where Murphy tried to help Aiden to meditate, by picturing water pool or grounded earth, and I thought, “Heck, Murphy, it won’t work. Aiden is fire!” Of course it failed and I got a good laugh out of it.
It doesn’t mean that Murphy is the only one ‘giving’ here, because Aiden’s fire actually sparks the live back in Murphy’s life. Especially since he has been alone for the past several years. Aiden makes Murphy feel alive, needed, and had a new direction in life. I liked that despite the age gap, it didn’t become a big issue for too long. There is no “you’re better with someone your own age” bullsh*t. Murphy realizes he can help Aiden and vice versa.
I just loved reading about them together!! There is a believable progress of their relationship; it doesn’t feel as instant as the first book. And I needed to shout my loving for the scene of Murphy and Aiden’s sex *grin*. Let’s just say that there was a switch in top/bottom position (someone is feeling a bit jealous!), and I thought it was pretty hot ^_^
By the way, the threat that comes against the gifted people is more prominent here. Bob (the villain from book #1) returned with someone else more menacing, more dangerous. This particular plot is not concluded yet, which makes me wonder if Ms. McAllister plans to have another book to tie up everything.
The ARC is provided by the publisher for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.