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EXCERPT:
Michael Brouchard has staged the congratulatory dinner she never had, the one her father effectively canceled a year before when he stormed out of the house in a rage. As if the balloons weren’t enough, there’s a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket next to the table. Laney hesitates behind her empty chair, grasping the back of it with one sweaty hand. She reads the champagne bottle’s label in the flickering candlelight. It’s VeuveClicquot, the vintage, her first year of high school.
They’ve only had one conversation that’s lasted longer than a few minutes, and already Michael has filled a gap in her life. Not only that, he recognized it was there in the first place, that it was pulling at the fabric of her self-worth more than she wanted to admit. She knew tonight would be full of seductive risks, but didn’t expect to start here, with an overwhelming sense of having been seen and heard and valued.
He gestures to her empty chair, waits for her to take her seat before taking his own. Only once she’s seated does she realize Michael had extended his hand toward hers and she’d been too distracted by the balloons and the champagne to notice. Now there’s no going back to rectify her rudeness without sounding like a sputtering idiot. The host, who has stood by politely throughout her hesitation, hands her a menu and departs. She’s folding her napkin across her lap when she sees a large envelope resting against the edge of her plate, as large as a wedding invite. Her name is written on the outside in precise, draftsman-like handwriting. Just her first name. Not her last name. And not Miss Foley, which they both agreed he wouldn’t call her anymore.
Laney.
Her hands shake as she tears open the envelope, as she unfolds the piece of heavy sketch paper inside of it. The breath goes out of her when she finds herself staring down at the amazingly detailed pencil sketch of—me. That’s me. That’s me holding a rosein one hand while more rose petals shower down all sides of me. Roses for the Rose Scholarship. Oh, my God. He drew me.
The card seems to waver suddenly. She’s blinking back tears.
She can’t remember the last time anyone has been this thoughtful, this kind. She’s never thought of herself as a victim of abuse. But what do you call an entire lifetime of having your own intelligence, your own competence used against you, an entire lifetime of everyone from your parents to your friends thinking they don’t really have to show up for you because you do such a good job of showing up for yourself?
Sometimes you don’t know you’ve got a shell around your heart until it cracks.
Get it together, Laney. Get it—
“Laney…are you all right?” Michael asks.
A sane and reasonable answer is right on the tip of her tongue.
About KISS THE FLAME:
In a standalone novella that combines the worlds of THE FLAME and his novel, THE SURRENDER GATE, New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice returns you to a mysterious candle shop in the New Orleans French Quarter where the scents of passion provide the courage to embrace your heart’s desire.
Are some risks worth taking?
Laney Foley is the first woman from her hard working family to attend college. That’s why she can’t act on her powerful attraction to one of the gorgeous teaching assistants in her Introduction to Art History course. Getting involved with a man who has control over her final grade is just too risky. But ever since he first laid eyes on her, Michael Brouchard seems to think about little else but the two of them together. And it’s become harder for Laney to ignore his intelligence and his charm.
During a walk through the French Quarter, an intoxicating scent that reminds Laney of her not-so-secret admirer draws her into an elegant scented candle shop. The shop’s charming and mysterious owner seems to have stepped out of another time, and he offers Laney a gift that could break down the walls of her fear in a way that can only be described as magic. But will she accept it?
Light this flame at the scene of your greatest passion and all your desires will be yours…
Lilliane Williams is a radiant, a supernatural being with the power to make your deepest sexual fantasy take shape around you with just a gentle press of her lips to yours. But her gifts came at a price. Decades ago, she set foot inside what she thought was an ordinary scented candle shop in the French Quarter. When she resisted the magical gift offered to her inside, Lilliane was endowed with eternal youth and startling supernatural powers, but the ability to experience and receive romantic love was removed from her forever. When Lilliane meets a young woman who seems poised to make the same mistake she did years before, she becomes determined to stop her, but that will mean revealing her truth to a stranger. Will Lilliane’s story provide Laney with the courage she needs to open her heart to the kind of true love only magic can reveal?
Tracey’s Review
Laney Foley has never felt like she is enough. Not rich enough, not smart enough, not lovable enough. Michael Brouchard, though, sees Laney in a different light. And he’s more than willing to help Laney face her fears and see herself the way that he sees her.
KISS THE FLAME by author Christopher Rice is part of the 1001 Dark Nights novella series. Christopher has done a great job of painting a picture of New Orleans as a city filled with passion and sensuality, a place straddling the line between darkness and light, where even the most seemingly fanciful ideas are a possibility. Laney, who has been made to feel like less for most of her life, wants to be with Michael, but is held back by all of the ‘what ifs.’ When she’s given the opportunity to have her heart’s desire, to trust in the unknown, she’s tempted, until a very unique visitor helps her to see that the she already has the power within herself.
Maybe there was no one thing or one act that could make your fears go away forever. The best you could do was to wake up each day and make a resolution to ignore fear’s invitations to false comfort and illusory safety–its invitation to say less, risk less, to love less, to be less. It was a daily decision, being willing to fall in love, and now it was hers to make.
Ultimately, KISS THE FLAME is a story about choices, the choices that all of us face on a daily basis, that will either keep us imprisoned by our own weaknesses, or free us to live life to its fullest. I enjoyed this read very much, and am now on a mission to go back and read more of Christopher Rice’s work. 4 mysterious, passionate, empowering stars for this one. This one definitely needs to be added to your TBR.
***ARC generously provided by the publisher for an honest review.***
About Christopher Rice:
After publishing four New York Times bestselling thrillers by the age of 30 and being declared one of People Magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive, award-winning writer Christopher Rice became the first author to make his erotic romance debut part of the 1,001 DARK NIGHTS series. THE FLAME: A Desire Exchange Novella kicked off a steamy new series set in New Orleans, featuring magical candles and a sexy new breed of supernatural beings, The Radiants, who are devoted to helping heroes and heroines realize their heart’s desire. THE FLAME earned accolades from some of the biggest names in erotic romance and was quickly followed up by THE SURRENDER GATE: A Desire Exchange Novel, available from Evil Eye Concepts as a Blue Box Special. Aside from authoring eight works of dark suspense, Christopher is also the co-host and executive producer of a streaming Internet radio show he launched with his best friend, New York Times bestselling author Eric Shaw Quinn. Each Sunday at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT, THE DINNER PARTY SHOW WITH CHRISTOPHER RICE & ERIC SHAW QUINN brings you a new episode at TheDinnerPartyShow.com.
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