Loving a man known for his wealth, arrogance, and power had been a mistake. My head had known he was dangerous but my heart hadn’t cared. When the lies began to unravel and the truth slapped me in the face, running was the only thing I knew to do. I didn’t belong in this world. His world. But you don’t run from The Family. Not when they claim you as their own. Trusting anyone is a mistake. Friendship is only as deep as the Boss allows it to be. You are never hidden. They will always find you. Every move I made, he controlled. The people helping me were all under his command. The only weapon I had was his obsession with me. Learning to use it against him could destroy me but I had no other choice.
Abbi Glines is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Smoke, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, Field Party and Existence series. She never cooks unless baking during the Christmas holiday counts. She believes in ghosts and has a habit of asking people if their house is haunted before she goes in it. She drinks afternoon tea because she wants to be British but she now lives in New England and that's as close as it is going to get. When asked how many books she has written she has to stop and count on her fingers. When she’s not locked away writing, she is reading, watching Netflix and all the introverted stuff. You can connect with Abbi online in several different ways. She uses social media to procrastinate.
This one was another wild ride… a lot of angst and drama, but overall a fun read.
Audio book source: Hoopla Story Rating: 3 stars Narrators: Ingrid Greene & Benjamin D. Walker Narration Rating: 4 stars Genre: Contemporary Romance Length: 6h 50m
Hurt and angry because of the secrets and omissions, Maddy had set off on her own only to find herself back with The Family. She soon learns that not everyone wanted her back.
Whew… The conclusion to the duet in the Smoke series lives up to the expectations. You’ll find an entire cast of interesting characters, secrets, spice, danger, and intrigue!! All of this sets up, what is sure to be, an unputdownable series!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Burn: 🔥🔥🔥 Darkness: 🖤 Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Range of Emotions: 🥺😊🥵😱😍 Ending: 💗 {HEA} POV: 👫🏻 {Dual}
🗂 Genre: Contemporary Romance
✨ Tropes: Age Gap (6), Alphahole, Enemies-to-Lovers, Family Saga, Forced Proximity, Mafia, Manipulation, MINE!, Opposites Attract, Rich AF, , Rich Boy/Poor Girl Secrets & Lies, Tracking/Spying, Touch-Her-and-💀 OTT Jealous/Possessive
💋 Kinks: 🍑, Biting/Marking, Cum Jammer, Domination, Finger Licking Good
⚠️ Warning: This steamy read will leave your panties wet and reaching for BOB.
🚩 Safety Squad: Unalìvíng, Vìolėnçe, and other potentially triggering elements. If you have any hesitation, check the warnings before diving in. Otherwise, blind is best!!
📣 Type: Fireball is the conclusion to Maddy’s duet and is part of the Smoke series.
🛑 Be Advised: My Goodreads shelves are … explicit in both senses. As such, they could be considered spoiler-y.
Ahh Abbi, you did it again! I didn’t think I could love anyone more than Blaire and Rush, but I could read 5 more books of just Blaise and Madeline. Absolutely brilliantly written and can’t wait for the next books to come!
Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Trope: enemies to lovers Angst: 😱😱😱😱😱 Smexy: 🔥🔥
So overall, I really liked this duet. Definitely lots of action with some good twists and turns. I was completely invested in seeing it through to the end and I even stayed up late to finish. I really didn't care for the heroine very much, though. She came across as flighty and immature and it affected my perception of the level of connection between her and the MMC. The story also seemed too angsty for me - or rather angsty for the sake of angst rather as a result of substantive issues between them. There were also a lot of unanswered plot threads, which I'm hoping will be addressed in later books. I'll definitely be reading at least one more in the series, the side characters certainly have stories to tell and I'm hoping I'll enjoy the next couple a bit more as the overall storyline was unique and interesting.
I was looking forward to the resulting drama from the end of the first book...and it was interesting but unfortunately, the angst was cut short due to the quick turnaround.
And I just felt this book was drawn out with a lot of sex scenes and filler type events. It does get better towards the end and with some new interesting characters,
The next book, Smoke Bomb is coming out June 11, 2023 and it's about Huck not Blaise and Maddy.
Different than Abbi’s normal style but….SMOKING HOT
I’ve read Abbi’s books since I was a high school student. I have read and own every one of her books, some I own more than one of. This is a very different style than what she normally writes but when Abbi does something, she goes it FANTASTICALLY. This book is fire. It’s dark and there are twists and ups and down. I could not put it down. Maddy and Blaise are it. The chemistry! The complete love and adoration is just amazing. I can’t wait for more!
So this book continues where it pretty much left up in the last book. I will admit that even if I still enjoyed it, I wasn’t as engrossed into this one as the first one.
I think it’s due mostly because some stuff happens in this book, and I can’t wrap my mind around it. I feel like it happened for the wrong reasons. (I know it’s not clear, but I don’t want to spoil it). I wonder if it will come up in the next books or not, but yeah, it did annoy me a little.
But I still liked seeing Blaise and Maddy together and even if sometimes I felt she was giving in too easily into Blaise. But with these two, things were so intense that I can understand the overwhelming need to give in to him too.
So yes, I enjoyed this fast-paced book once more and I’m trying to be a good girl and wait to have more money before buying the next books, but I am also in need to see what happens with the rest of the boys.
Buckle up, buttercups, because we’re back for another ranty review.
When we last saw our dimwitted heroine, she had learned some shocking/disturbing news about her a-hole boyfriend, Blaise, and taken off on her own. A few weeks have now passed and Maddie (aka our dimwit heroine) returns to Blaise. Of course she does. Because Maddie has no backbone, zero agency, and just passively does whatever she is told what to do. Everyone around her is shady AF and she is consistently kept in the dark. Then Dimwit manages to get kidnapped… again. That’s right, folks, she gets kidnapped in both books. I swear, I don’t know how this girl gets through the day without walking into walls. But okay, I’m hanging in there… until the train really jumps the track. Because Dimwit wants to stay with her kidnapper. YOLO, right? There are Reasons, but whatever, I’m so over her at this point. Dimwit is rescued/sent back home and then makes excuses for the person who betrayed her and helped her abductor. I’m sorry, what? *shakes head trying to comprehend* Then Blaise builds Dimwit a big house so she can decorate it. The end.
There you have it, friends, that’s Fireball in a nutshell. Now you don’t have to read it. You’re welcome.
I love when the Alpha falls hard and Blaise certainly fell head over heals for Maddy!! This was a great "ending" to their story. I cannot wait for the next book to not only get to know Buck but to see what Maddy and Blaise have been up to!!
3.35 stars Update! 3.5-to-4 stars, reread. I've gone on a Southern Mafia SMOKE binge [2023 Review: This did not need to be a duet, but i am glad the second book saved the story for me. Full Review Later] Welcome readers, to the Southern Mafia! Context: The Smoke series focuses on the Southern Mafia, started by a couple of families with turn-of-the-century and early 1900s wealth and connections. This book, and the first in the series feature Blaise Hughes, the morally grey (more MMC than Hero) heir to the throne of this secret mafia world who is the first you'll read in a string of possessive, OTT obsessive, stalkerific, and slightly unhinged-to-OMG unhinged men. Thank you, Ms. Glines. I do not mind the unhealthy doses of dirty talk, squ*rting, and drinking from the vagina. At. All. LOL. as long as there is a story that parallels it.
The understanding is that Blaise will ascend to take over his father's place soon, and the rumor underlying this certainty is that Blaise is a bit more ruthless than his father and the eventual retiring older bosses of his father's generation, mainly because Blaise and his set of enforcers/newer generation alpha males/bosses have sometimes dispensed with the fine layer of civility, opulence and decorum that wealth provides. Where his father's killings and rule consisted of a more unspoken, properly accented hand that disappeared people and problems, sight unseen, Blaise has coupled this same ability with bouts of seedier violence, putting his enemies on notice; this means he lurks in dark corners and is closer to his fatal cuts than his father ever was. HOWEVER, Blaise and this younger generation of mafia men exhibit more vulnerability than his father's generation did. What's their vulnerability? Their women.
Blaise comes into Madeleine's life under huge pretense. Madeleine is thrust into this beautiful and wealthy world, of horse racing, land, tucked away Southern colonial mansions and people who live with extreme privilege. But, there are cracks in this smooth velvet blanket, a violence that Madeleine suspects and questions, at first, but doesn't fully understand until she is claimed by Blaise.
Soon she finds herself addicted to Blaise's obsessive but protective captivity of her... and this captivity means that though she gets the protection and attention she's never had, she gets friends and what feels like family connections that she's never fully had, either, something she woefully craves, she also gets the very stifling dominance of Blaise and his mafia world.
As for Blaise, yes, Madeleine becomes his! Yet, he is unprepared for his willingness to go scorched earth if anything or anyone either hurts or even "touches" his woman. He is deliciously unhinged and very sex crazed once he gets all of her. She is his weakness; and Blaise finds that loving your women, amassing more family in this world he controls, exposes a vulnerability his father never really had, because the future is different. There are more guns, more organized crime groups that can either be potential enemies or very cautious allies, and more human depravity.
Welcome to the Southern Mafia, people! The Smoke series is set in Florida, the original birthplace and headquarters of this mafia alliance, lead by the Hughes family. Yet, this mafia has branches in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, which have their own series and features other powerful families as well.
So you now understand my Spring Break binge. LOL Happy reading.
This book was full of s*x and although it was hot, it took away from the story for me. I was expecting more grit and possibly action. The alpha, possessiveness was too over the top for me. That really got aggravating. Other than that it was good don’t get me wrong. We finally get the answers Maddy is seeking. I wish we could have had more of Liam and Maddy’s relationship instead of all the banging so we could resolve some of the loose ends. Oh well, good book…looking forward to Hucks next.
Since the shocking cliffhanger ending of the first book I’ve been looking forward to the next story.
Madeline left at the conclusion of the first book but she didn’t get far. Her heart was broken.
I couldn’t help it. There was only so much I could control. Right now, my mouth was working on its own.
Blaise sent protection to watch over her and keep her safe. There are so many devastating secrets revealed . Betrayals to close to home.
“That ripped my soul out. You think I don’t have one, but I do. It’s black, but I was born with it black.
I’m loving this new to me author and this series is just getting better. There are some secondary characters introduced in this story that I would love to know more about. Maybe a MC spinoff would be great. For now I’m waiting impatiently for the third book cause it’s gonna be a doozy!!
Another good steamy read! I love Maddy and Blaise and I just want to read more about them. Wishing it ended a little differently or maybe I just wanted more! Anyway I just always enjoy Abbi Glines books! Ready for book 3!
Abbi Glines absolutely delivers with this book! You definitely don’t want to miss out on falling in love with Blaise and Madeline!
Fireball is a country mafia that totally has you craving for some horse riding cowboys! It is exciting, steamy, full of twists and turns. I love everything about Abbi’s writing, it truly shows how invested she is in these characters. I absolutely swoon over Blaise and his dominant, dirty talking ways that will make a reader melt. Madeline is truly such a beautiful character. This book really showed her struggles and how she tries to overcome them. She is a fierce character that I really love. Abbi has a way of writing characters that you’re supposed to not like but end up having a space in your heart for them. She did just that with most of the “bad guys” of this story. These characters are intriguing and has so much to offer! This was definitely a phenomenal read in my book. I am always thankful for Abbi’s books because they make me fall in love with reading all over again!
I am so incredibly in love with these characters and this world that I am dying for more! I need all the words from Abbi Glines. I can’t say enough good things about this book and this series! It is one that you immediately be entertained and excited about. JUST GO READ IT!
Reread. I don't remember liking this the first time around as I didn't leave a review. I'm wanting to continue with this series, but I hope other h's aren't as insufferable as Maddy is. Hey, I tried. I really liked Blaise so these stars are for him. Also, how do authors still pull the "I didn't know I was pregnant" card? I mean do they not teach about the female reproductive system anymore at schools? And still try to convince us in books. I could more understand it if this was a historical romance. Missed period ✔️, vomiting everyday ✔️. It just makes for a weak plot when a MAN has to point out to a woman that she's probably pregnant and she keeps denying it 🤦. I just don't like that in my stories. I know she's 19, but how can she be this dumb? Blaise is supposed to be this tough mafia guy and honestly Maddy makes a shitty mafia wife. My apologies. I do prefer the first book to this one. Also, her sticking her head in the sand about her dad and brother and not listening to reason at first from anyone about the truth was just immature. I mentally pictured her stomping her feet, covering her ears, and saying lalalala can't hear you. That's how immature she acted yet she says she wants to be looked at more maturely. Actions speak louder than words with this one.
This book released 4 hours ago, I downloaded it 3 hours ago and I’m already done. Abbi will always be my “just one more chapter” author. I legit couldn’t stop!!
This was a great sequel to the first book. I still felt Maddy was a different girl from the one we first met. She was struggling in this new world and had withdrawn into herself. She as finding it hard to come to terms with everything that she new, but wasn’t willing to get the answers she needed. She was quick to allow her body to cave before she got the answers she needed and I wished she was a bit stronger and held her ground.
When she had the full picture I liked how much stronger she became. She was back to the girl we met and wasn’t as timid as what she had been. I would’ve liked her to be stronger through it all. I really did like how Blaise was so protective of her and was willing to take out any one for her. He was obsessed by her and she became his focus. but I could really see he loved her fiercly.
I did feel that this storyline was similar to the first book, but I really did enjoy the ending. I have enjoyed meeting a lot of the characters and amd really intrigued by this world. I am really looking forward to more reads from this world.
3.5 Stars — Well got damn, I didn’t think Blaise could get any hotter, but here we are. I didn’t think obsessive, controlling dominance was my thing, but what do you know? It sure is. I’m really enjoying this series, but I do wish this book had more of a storyline. It was mostly just sex and Madeline’s insecurities. When things finally started picking up, I was like “yes, here we go!” but then it didn’t last, which was a little disappointing. Still, I’m loving the series, and I cannot wait to get more of these characters!
I usually love books by this Author but this one was disappointing. The first book was great and I was hoping this one would be as well. Madeline was fierce and determined in the first book but in this one she turned into a sad, easily manipulated girl. She let's Blaise control every aspect of her life and only show her back home on occasion. Mostly this book was a whole lot of sex and very little plot.
Meh. I flew through this. It was a quick read. The FMC got some of her spunk back.
Some of the scenes were cringe. I thought about DNFing it at around 15%.
I still find it so strange that horse racing is thrown in here and there but is never really talked about lol even though that is their entire “cover” business lol We have like 5 scenes between 2 books with horses in it. She never went to the races at all? Like what?
epic ending to Blaise and Madeleine story. Love the build up of the characters, love the twists that I was not expecting. It was beautiful seeing the relationship between Blaise and Madeleine grow stronger. Can't wait for Huck's story next.