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Boiling Point
In his first year in Los Angeles, Angel, the vampire with a soul, came across an inter-dimensional hunter named Jhiera. The seductive woman was only trying to protect other females in her culture from being stripped of their emotions -- intense feelings that gave them dominance over men. Angel fell victim to her heat, but Jhiera had to return to her own dimension.
Now she's back, and Angel is astonished to see Jhiera again...and to have the same feelings for her come rushing to the surface. But Jhiera's in L.A. on official business: She's on the hunt for a young woman who may be the key to unleashing an inter-dimensional war -- a war led by a powerful sorcerer determined to free China's terra-cotta army of fierce samurai from their long imprisonment.
In Sunnydale, Buffy Summers is back from the dead and is casting about in her new life -- as school counselor, guardian of Dawn, best friend, keeper of Spike's sanity, and, of course, as Slayer -- hoping to find something, anything, that will give her back that feeling of fulfillment she deeply craves. A demonic army with a dragon at its head is so not what she needs right now....
464 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 29, 2004
7 people are currently reading
524 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Holder
352 books2,408 followersNancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling author of the WICKED Series, has just published CRUSADE - the first book in a new vampire series cowritten with Debbie Viguie. The last book her her Possession series is set to release in March 2011.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 9, 2022
This is a Buffy/Angel crossover book, with a pleasing influx of Chinese mythology spinning off from an episode of Angel's first season. It's an original adventure, not an adaptation, but fits in well with the chronology of the latter years of the shows. It's a bit too long and confused in spots, perhaps because it would have been better off with just the Angel storyline, but it's a fun read, nonetheless. Some of the support characters don't have much to do, but they have to be their anyway 'cause they're under contract, right? Play a Darling Violetta CD when you start it and it'll all fall into place.
August 22, 2021
Heat is a crossover between Buffy and Angel after Buffy came back from the dead. I have really enjoyed this story. Nancy Holder have done really good again. Really like when she's writing Buffy's book.
January 29, 2019
When I first started reading this book, my mind drifted and it didn't catch my imagination straight away. However, I have read the book four times since then. The story starts with Angel Investigations, as Angel discovers that the inter-dimensional hunter Jhiera is back in town, and she is searching for a young woman who may hold the key that could start an interdimensional war, which will free China's fierce samurai currently in imprisonment.
The book is also crossed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer who is still in Sunnydale trying to adjust to her new life as a school counselor while also looking after Dawn who is her sister and trying to help Spike stay sane as well as the challenging role of being the slayer. The last thing she needs is the trouble heading her way!
In the beginning, the story is a bit difficult to understand, but the more I read it, the further and further I sunk into it, and the story became very clear. I found the book exhilarating, engaging and really interesting to a point where I couldn't wait to turn the page and read on.
Nancy Holder is my most favorite Buffy/Angel Authors of all time and I guarantee, you will only get quality at its best out of her books, you just have to engage and persuade yourself to read on. Her Buffy/Angel books are full of mystery and adventure, and they don't give the plot or the twist away straight away.
The book is also crossed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer who is still in Sunnydale trying to adjust to her new life as a school counselor while also looking after Dawn who is her sister and trying to help Spike stay sane as well as the challenging role of being the slayer. The last thing she needs is the trouble heading her way!
In the beginning, the story is a bit difficult to understand, but the more I read it, the further and further I sunk into it, and the story became very clear. I found the book exhilarating, engaging and really interesting to a point where I couldn't wait to turn the page and read on.
Nancy Holder is my most favorite Buffy/Angel Authors of all time and I guarantee, you will only get quality at its best out of her books, you just have to engage and persuade yourself to read on. Her Buffy/Angel books are full of mystery and adventure, and they don't give the plot or the twist away straight away.
July 8, 2018
4 Stars. I enjoyed this book.
Not sure why one reviewer wrote "so many errors that it didn't match with the TV shows." or another who wrote " you're better served watching old DVDs" because the book offers "nothing new and manages, somehow, to be both sensationalist and boring."
The books was sensationalist, but to me, not boring at all.
I have read other Nancy Holder penned Buffy books & I feel she captures the essence of the show wonderfully.
My only part I didn't like much was the the final 4-5 chapters were a bit chaotic. One character in the book claims that what they were seeing "could never be seen on TV or in a movie, because the CGI effects & latex masks would be undoable". A this book was published din 2004, that was probably true then. The TV shows budget would never allow whats described to be visualized.
That just made the book better for me. It allowed my imagination to visualize it for me. That is one of the reasons I read so many books.
Not sure why one reviewer wrote "so many errors that it didn't match with the TV shows." or another who wrote " you're better served watching old DVDs" because the book offers "nothing new and manages, somehow, to be both sensationalist and boring."
The books was sensationalist, but to me, not boring at all.
I have read other Nancy Holder penned Buffy books & I feel she captures the essence of the show wonderfully.
My only part I didn't like much was the the final 4-5 chapters were a bit chaotic. One character in the book claims that what they were seeing "could never be seen on TV or in a movie, because the CGI effects & latex masks would be undoable". A this book was published din 2004, that was probably true then. The TV shows budget would never allow whats described to be visualized.
That just made the book better for me. It allowed my imagination to visualize it for me. That is one of the reasons I read so many books.
December 14, 2025
This book is a crossover between Buffy and Angel in their final seasons of their respective shows. Despite it being a crossover event there was a lack of character interaction between shows. I'd of loved seeing Buffy and Cordelia engage, Lorne and Xander etc. Overall the book was bland, which is disappointing because Holder is one of my favorite Buffy author's.
April 28, 2018
I have EVERY Buffy, Angel, Charmed,... novels and love them! Especially the crossovers like this one! Really good!
March 15, 2017
I love the Buffy/Angel books and Nancy Holder has written quite a few Buffy novels which have also been good. It also added oriental/Chinese mythology and Dragons which I also love so I had high hopes for this book. So far the crossover ones have been hit and miss and though I wanted to love it - it just wasn't as good as what I expected.
I remembered the episode from Angel's first season with Jheira of Oden Tal and I thought the combination with the dragons etc would work, but I just didn't get into it as I expected.
I enjoy having the characters from Buffy and Angel combining forces and seeing in each other how they have grown and changed over the years and they were all done very well and it was obvious that the author knows both her Buffy and Angel with the various references to the series that were referred to in the books. I liked the Buffy having a Nerf Herder (who do the theme tune) ring tone and then Angel having a Darling Violetta (who do the Angel them tune) ring tone was a cute addition.
But overall the storyline just didn't grab me and I was actually a little disappointed in the end which almost seemed to be a get out clause and made the book a little pointless. 3 stars. Very average and underwhelming. Disappointed.
I remembered the episode from Angel's first season with Jheira of Oden Tal and I thought the combination with the dragons etc would work, but I just didn't get into it as I expected.
I enjoy having the characters from Buffy and Angel combining forces and seeing in each other how they have grown and changed over the years and they were all done very well and it was obvious that the author knows both her Buffy and Angel with the various references to the series that were referred to in the books. I liked the Buffy having a Nerf Herder (who do the theme tune) ring tone and then Angel having a Darling Violetta (who do the Angel them tune) ring tone was a cute addition.
But overall the storyline just didn't grab me and I was actually a little disappointed in the end which almost seemed to be a get out clause and made the book a little pointless. 3 stars. Very average and underwhelming. Disappointed.
May 27, 2008
As a fan of both shows, I'd say you're better served watching old DVDs (or reading the Whedon-penned graphic novels) than trying to wade through Heat, which offers nothing new and manages, somehow, to be both sensationalist and boring.
April 11, 2018
I couldn't even finish this one. There was so many errors that it didn't match with the tv shows. Anytime the bad guys were in a scene it got so boring. I will be giving it away on paperback swap maybe someone else will enjoy it.
did-not-finish
September 28, 2011I found myself skimming rather than reading, and not enjoying what I was skimming. I have too many books to waste time on something I am not enjoying.
Read
July 11, 2011 i like it, so good, just wish Buffy and Angel could be together, came-on they have suffered for so long
February 25, 2019
Nice crossover
July 27, 2016
I seem to remember liking this book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews