[b:Tempting the Fire|7099468|Tempting the Fire (ACRO, #5)|Sydney Croft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388720178l/7099468._SY75_.jpg|7325362] by [a:Sydney Croft|821504|Sydney Croft|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]
Genres: Adult, Crime, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
4.75 Stars

Paranormal, yep.
Action & Adventure, you bet!
Suspense, most definitely.
Erotica, Oh My YESSSS!

Humans with 'Special Abilities'. Not vampires or the walking dead. Nope.
Not your run of the mill, 'been there, done that' Paranormal book. Nope.

This is a whole different take 'All The Way' baby!
Not the 'Fairy Tale' of the good guys always win, but where they truly battle evil & have the SCARS to show it.

Where LOVE doesn't always win, but it puts up a HELL OF A FIGHT.

Fantastic writing, keeps moving.
Never boring, never repetitive.

Have I made my point? Read this series! It is worth every penny & every minute of your time! ( )

Tempting the Fire
4 Stars

Synopsis:
Deep in the Amazon jungle lies a mythical monster that can tear a man limb from limb. ACRO agents, Sela Kahne and Marlena West, are sent to capture the beast but will need the help of two men, Logan Mills and Chance McCormack, each with their own dark secret to keep.

Review:
Another engrossing story from the Sydney Croft writing team. This time the plot involves two romances and a continuation of the Annika and Creed storyline from the first three books.

Even though I enjoyed both couples, I felt that Marlena and Chance’s story is overshadowed by Logan and Sela, whose characterization is better developed. Logan is an interesting mix of strength (both physical and psychological) and vulnerability. He is my favorite type of hero – tortured. Sela is supremely confident and definitely holds her own in the battle of wills with Logan. Their relationship is passionate, their banter witty and their chemistry undeniable.

While Logan and Sela’s plot is action packed, Marlena and Chance’s is more sedate. She is quite timid and submits completely to his dominance. I must point out that while Marlena’s curse seems well-suited to this particular book and is resolved intelligently within the story, it is incompatible with the series as a whole. It moves away from the X-Men theme and into the realm of fantasy and the supernatural, i.e. magic and witchcraft.

My favorite aspect of the book is the development of Annika and Creed’s relationship. I love the intimate and intricate direction that their story is going and can’t wait to see how it pans out.

As usual, the writing is well-paced and the steamy sex scenes, which are not that integral to the plot as in previous installments, contribute to the connection between the characters. The book also ends with a series of captivating cliffhangers that made me want to rush out and get the final book in the series – it should be a doozy. ( )

I thought it was a definite improvement from Taming the Fire just because this one had a lot of great matches in it. Surely one of them was Creed and Annika, and by God I sware that they are amazing. Ani is just this great ball of whatever emotion and she isn't afraid to show Creed whatever the hell she's thinking or feeling and she's got the sharpest tong I have ever seen in a character. From the two main couples, the award of best one HAS to go to Logan and Sela. UNBELIEVABLY HOT together and full of that amazing tension, both sexual and psicological that just had me rooting for them until the very end. The Phoebe character was great too and has a LOT of potential. Stryker already has a special place in my heart just for what he had to witness and go through while they were at the jungle. The next installment in the series, Taken by Fire, has an incredible potential to blow my mind. ( )

Welcome to the Agency for Covert Rare Operatives (ACRO), an organization large enough to train and house various divisions of powerful beings: psychics, seducers, earth shakers, elementals...you name it, and ACRO probably has it. The beings at ACRO are more than just 'specials'; they're people with real issues and real desires, and this realness comes forth even moreso during missions.

Though we readers are introduced to quite a few characters and interesting side plots, it's seducers Sela and Marlena who lead the main plot. The story really starts when Dev, ACRO's leader, sends Sela the devastating video of what happened to the team of Navy SEALs in the Brazilian rain forest -- all but one member, Chance, gets brutally murdered by a creature identified as a chupucabra.

What with Sela being a skeptical cryptozoologist and a seducer with the skill to break into a person's deepest thoughts during sex, it only makes sense that Dev would send her into the forest undercover, along with Marlena. There, in the heat and danger, things go delightfully and horribly wrong. The mission starts off simple enough -- break into Logan's mind and learn about the creature. However, that mission was created before affection was involved.

At first, I dreaded that there would be so much sex that it would hinder my desire to focus on the plot. That wasn't the case at all. Now, don't get me wrong; there was plenty of steamy sex, but it didn't stop me from falling in love with all the characters (especially Creed and Stryker) or laughing or being glued to the page at the wonderful battle scenes. In fact, I've honestly become a fan of the series, and I very much wish that I had started from book one instead of book five.

Reviewed for Suspense Magazine by Tiffany T. Cole ( )