Fire and Ice

Americana #5

by Daily

"You've taken the world on your shoulders." Zachary's voice was a soft, caressing whisper that was oddly soothing and hypnotic. "You've made Chris your sole responsibility and refuse help from everyone. Haven't you ever wanted anyone to take care of you?"

As much as she wanted to, Alison couldn't admit any such feelings to him. She felt curiously vulnerable, unable to handle the gentleness Zachary was displaying. How she feared he would break down her defenses.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary

186 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fire and Ice" is the story of Alison and Zachary.

A cynical and ruthless gambler h challenges her fate when she propositions the vintner H to marry her. The reason: she wants the custody of her sibling and needs to be wed to obtain it. Thus she offers the H money in exchange for a marriage in name only. Little does she know the confusing vortex she is entering..

Loads of drama in this "Taming of the Shrew"-esque book, with a stubborn and frigid h, an exasperatingly overpowering H, a petulant child, a smitten OM and crazy jealous OW, a moody housekeeper, loads of angst, drama, kissing OP and abrupt ending.

I believe I would have rated this higher if the couple had spent more time post confession, rather than the book fading to black.

SWME
3/5

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this book. The characters seemed to dispise and hate each other until 5 pages from the end of the book.

[Juicy_Groot · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book but it's not something I would read again.
Alisa got on my nerves.She marries a complete stranger so she can get custody of her 7 year old sister,and acts like a b!tch to him throughout the book.She is insanly jealous of his beautiful friend/neighbor,even though he tells her he isn't messing around.When she proposed marriage, she told him he could have as many affairs as he wanted as long as he was discreet about it!
The author uses the phrases,"cooly looked" "Glared icily" and "ice blue eyes" way too much.

[Vfc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer my heroes (Zach) unencumbered of potential love interests (Reneé) especially in light of her ignoring the sanctity of marriage and constant presence.

Granted it is a marriage of convenience, however one does not rebuke one’s wife in front of the OW.

These two main characters expelled more energy engaged in conflict rather than romancing each other. Alisa endorsed his extra-marital proclivities and then expresses humiliation being faced with the evidence.

HEA but not drama-free.

[RomLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

You've taken the world on your shoulders." Zachary's voice was a soft, caressing whisper that was oddly soothing and hypnotic. "You've made Chris your sole responsibility and refuse help from everyone. Haven't you ever wanted anyone to take care of you?"

As much as she wanted to, Alison couldn't admit any such feelings to him. She felt curiously vulnerable, unable to handle the gentleness Zachary was displaying. How she feared he would break down her defenses.

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 3 out of 5]

مترجمة للعربية : لعبة الحظ.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alisa is an insufferable bitch from start to finish. She has a reason to distrust men, I get that, but she’s so awful to everyone outside of her sister and so disgustingly vain that spending time with for 185ish pages is torture. I honestly was rooting for the “villain” to end up with Zach; for the life of my I don’t understand how he fell in love with her.

[Selena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated

[A]

DNF

[Lori Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Title

I like romances—but I like them more when the love is present all along. If you want to read a struggle to fight love romance, this is perfect.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there was plenty of "ice" in this book in the way Alisa acts and treats other people, there wasn't a whole lot of "fire", unless of course you count the heated arguments she's constantly having with Zachary and others. Alisa is far too quick to jump to conclusions and to accept those first impression conclusions as being the absolute truth of the matter and pretty much refusing to even consider that she could be wrong about it. The only such conclusion she ever really doubts is that Zach needed her money as she assumed he did, based solely on a bit of gossip related by her cousin Michael, and that only because she's presented with plenty of evidence to the contrary from the moment she arrives at his home with him. Their constant bickering and fighting gets tedious pretty quickly, and when the resolution to their conflict comes, it happens far too quickly to be entirely believable, and leaves some questions unanswered, such as whether or not Zach really was cheating on Alisa with Renee as Alisa believes. The only answer we get to that question is a somewhat vague one when he tells Alisa he's told Renee he won't see her anymore, which only really confirms the affair and thus detracts from the believability of his statement that he's been in love with Alisa almost from the beginning. All in all, this isn't one of Dailey's better books, even with allowances made for it being an old style Harlequin, as the characters are all much more stereotypical and wooden than hers usually are.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was typically ridiculous. A fashion model propositions a man with money so that she may receive full custody of her half-sister. And so Zachary conveniently agrees on the condition they live with him. Alison then claims to divorce the guy after a year, but then she spends most of that time being all "icy" whenever Zachary makes a move on her, or being acidly jealous when Zach's lady friend Rene pops over blatantly flirting with him.

Then Alison realises the "fire" within her, and Zach professes his love, and vice versa. THE END!

[Gwen|| Bookish Blondie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first "secular" enemies to lovers romance. I think I read it when I was first 14 or 15 and that was a very long time ago. It has stuck with me and I revisit every few years. I still love it, but not because it's even that good, but because it opened up this genre to me and I've never looked back.

[Jackie Simons]

Read 5/98

[Steve Mills]

Enjoyed the story.

[Kay Mendenhall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little to icy for me. Good but not enough romance.

[Melinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't think to much of this book. You can't convince me that Zachary loved Chris, his actions tell a different story.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonostante gli Harmony siano molto scorrevoli nella prosa, questo l'ho trovato noioso.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. The “heroine” seemed such an awful person that I didn’t care what happened.