Anne E ♡ emo + OTT Hs's Reviews > Up in Flames

NOTE: Read & rated this back in Jan 2020, when I was more tolerant and didn't do Safety Spoilers.

1. believable romance of dark characters for a Glines book.
Twisted/dysfunctional/& promiscuous mid-20s mean-girl socialite h is secretly stalked by 30s mysterious grim & commanding secret-FBI-type-leader & known-cold-killer H. He'd been watching her from multiple hidden video cameras, including 1 in her bedroom and even shower. He began staging for her to fall for 1 of their secret-agents (OM) so she can spill info about 1 of her past lovers, who's a mafia leader & known pedophile sex-trafficker. But he ends up not sticking with the plan as he falls deeper for her

Loved how H became OTT alpha demanding-possessive & secretly-obsessed with h, although it didn't start out that way. In the 1st 50%, he forced OM to woo h back again. Even risking her falling for OM again & smexxing him. But H got jealous & “punished” her for letting OM kiss her after her 1st date with OM. Their romance development was complicated, fun, and real. Loved that h deliberately tried to get herself preggo with H at their 2nd Vegas affair. H knew about it coz he saw her birth control pills in her hotel-room trash. He viewed that as proof of her love & his way out of his secret-FBI leadership. Believable HEA.

2.) mean girl becomes likable
Loved h's char development from being mean/cold-hearted/& manipulative in previous books in the series to becoming calmer/more of a homebody/& openly wanting the love of husband and kids like her other siblings. She became likable and H's love for her was understandable. However, in the 1st 50% of the book, some of h's dialogue & actions were not consistent with how mean/thoughtless/& impulsive she was in previous books.

3. good & sometimes funny weaving of the (sorta) love-triangle
Great writing in how it weaves h's love triangle between H & secret-agent OM. H planned to stop his Vegas-weekend tryst with h by paying a showgirl to publicly claim that he got her preggo (He actually never slept with her ever). It was his setup to have h meet his teammate OM, who was coaching to get back in h's good graces via written notes about what made h beautiful & wining & dining her at her secret-garden spot with all her fave foods & wine.

It was funny how she became so annoyed with OM & would be frank with him about it coz she knew at that point that she only wanted H, even when he rejected her for the showgirl. Nor did it it stop her from going back to Vegas to hopefully see him again. Funny too with OM's POV re: his kinda-love for h but couldn't stop smexxing random OW per his usual & h knew about it coz of his reputation for smexxing many waitresses in restrooms & his disgust at h's fave food like olives while pleased that H would know how to get to h while hating him for being so controlling. It seemed fitting that OM was staged to be killed at the end, including a funeral with family & h & others so that he can then take H's place as the underground FBI-type leader.