The Fire Within

The Fire of the Soul #1

by Racquel Kechagias

In a small kingdom, a place not marked on the maps and barely recalled by any living person, resides a cursed young woman named Anna VanDyken. Not many know of the curse that lies in wait for the moment he will come to possess her and thrust her into a new reality.

Thrown into a world so unlike her own, filled with creatures that only exist in the darkest of dreams there is no chance to escape and nowhere to run to. A countdown has started on her life, and the lives of her friends. Will she have enough time to save them all, or will they all fall into chaos? With the threat of war hovering above her head, and a curse that burns in her veins, will she live to be able to tell the tale?

Genres: Vampires, Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2012

About the author

Born in March 1991 in Sydney, Australia, Racquel Kechagias spent most of her childhood reading adventure and fantasy books, while exploring the inner creativity of her mind through her interactions with other children and story-telling. After graduating high school, she entered university to study her Bachelor of Arts where she is majoring in English and Education. She has a deep love for books, chocolate and coffee and loves to write stories about interesting, broken people.

Reviews

[Matthew Kadish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Review Located Here

The following is a review of "The Fire Within," which is part 1 of the "Fire of the Soul" series by Racquel Kechagias.

A little background before getting into the meat of this puppy... I am a grown-ass 35 year old man, so my perspective of YA lit is probably not as insightful as that of 13 year old girls who live, breathe, and eat this stuff. But I did enjoy Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and I have read other YA authors such as Cassandra Claire and so forth, so I'm not a complete stranger to the genre.

That being said, I had a very difficult time with this book. I wanted to like it. It had good things about it. But my grown-ass manness prevented me from SQUEEEing all over it like I had wanted. I was tempted to give this book 2 stars, possibly even one based on the quality of the writing, but decided on 3 because I don't really think I'm the typical audience for this book, so I didn't want to be too hard on it since the people it's aimed at will probably enjoy it for what it is. Plus, at a certain point, the story got so ridiculous on me that I got punch drunk and actually really started to enjoy just how bat-ass crazy and silly it became.

So with that being said, I'll take you through some of my thoughts as I read this book. I wrote this as I read, so it’s freaking long and covers the entirety of the book. If you don’t like to read or want to avoid spoilers, do not read this review. It was too long for Goodreads so I had to post it on my personal blog to publish the whole thing. If you're interested in reading this book, you may want to take a look at it, because I give a pretty detailed summary of how the book plays out.

I’ll start with some technical stuff before getting into the story…

I don't know how old the author of this book is, but from her writing she seems to be fairly young and inexperienced. Though this style might be okay for younger readers, I found that as a grown-ass 35 year old man who was able to giggle like a schoolgirl at the glee of reading the Harry Potter books, I had a pretty hard time reading this book. Some examples of the writing that took me out of the story constantly:

"My wife's soft brown eyes are looking at me, searching for my own eyes."
"Father, my name is Anna. I don't know what my father has told you..."
"There is no needing to go rattling off."
"He was only present in the stables that night because he worked and slept in the stables."

Obviously a more experienced writer or editor would have rephrased sentences such as these to:

"My wife's soft brown eyes are looking at me, searching my own for answers."
"My name is Anna, good priest. I don't know what my father has told you..."
"There is no need to go rattling off."
"He was only present that night because he worked and slept in the sables nearby."

And then, there’s this little gem…

“My father, mother and myself climb into our carriage and wait for the trio to get into their own. I watch Mr Sitzman through the small window at the back of the carriage, I watch him say something to their driver before he climbs into his carriage. The carriage begins to move and I move my gaze away from the window.”

I’m not certain, but I think that paragraph had something to do with… carriages? *shrug*

The whole book is full of writing like this, where words get repeated a lot in the same sentence or close to each other. There are also boucoup (tres, tres boucoup) spelling, punctuation, grammar, and formatting errors in the book. I can forgive most of them since I too am a sworn enemy of the English language, but I think this book would have benefitted greatly from a proofreader and a professional formatting job. A handful of mistakes are allowable for self-published authors, but this stuff was WAY too prevalent to completely ignore in this one. The epub version I received was pretty rough around the edges, and the time transitions and POV shifts didn't stand out enough from the regular text. They should have at least been offset by an H2 or H3 tag in the formatting. And after the first two chapters, the chapter headings were just regular fonts as well.

And speaking of the POV shifts, I don't mind them, but actually saying "So-And-So POV" each time there's a shift was pretty jarring. When you're writing 3rd person omniscient, you don't really need to announce a shift in POV like that (particularly using the word POV). 3rd person omniscient simply allows you to jump into any character's POV as needed. If you're doing something like George RR Martin does and devoting a chapter to 3rd person subjective based on the character the chapter centers around, then I can see announcing which character's perspective we're getting. But I felt like it was an unnecessary trope in this book which was poorly executed. (Again, this is from a grown-ass 35 year old man's perspective. 13 year old teen girls may think its awsmazing and I'm just an icky old fuddydud who isn’t hip with the now.)

There are also a lot of inconsistencies in the book concerning modern era and medieval era customs. I get the sense the author didn’t do much research into feudal societies (or… anything for that matter) because a lot of modern ideas of life found their way into the novel. For instance, the King, the Queen, and Anna all travel into town to dine at a “restaurant” complete with “waiters.” The notion of restaurants did not exist in feudal times. They had “taverns” and “inns” which would serve food, otherwise people just cooked for themselves. Those that served in these places were typically barmaids or innkeepers. At the very least, they’d be called “servants” and not “waiters.” And the royal family would certainly never leave the castle to eat elsewhere, since they would have dedicated and trained cooks within the castle, and would more likely host guests there than meeting them in town like common folk.

But there is also the artist who arrives to “take the family portrait,” as though he’s a photographer. Portraits are painted over a period of time, weeks and months, not in an afternoon. This poor artist was commissioned to paint 3 portraits all in one day! And not to mention Anna (the main character) had her “hair done” with a “curling iron” for the portrait. I guess maybe there were medieval curling irons that one could heat over a fire or something, but I just had images of the kind you plug into a wall to do a woman’s hair with. It seemed totally out of place in this fantasy land setting. The book is full of inconsistencies like this (matches, elastic hair bands, etc.), which need to be addressed for the sake of story/setting continuity.

(Question: Why was Anna getting her portrait done with each suitor? Wouldn’t it have made sense to wait until she’d chosen a guy and get the painting with him? Now there’s a worthless portrait out there some heartbroken supernatural bad-boy will have to look at while he listens to nine inch nails and cuts himself just to feel something other than heartache!)

Okay, so those were my big technical issues with the book. Author, if you’re reading this, please be sure to get your book professionally edited before you go to print with it. Otherwise you will have a mess on your hands. It's okay for an e-book, but don't spend a lot of money on printed copies as is!

My full thoughts on the bat-sh*t crazy insane story of this novel can be found here if you actually want to read how much I loved/hated this book.

Summary of my thoughts: This book is so poorly written and horrible, if you can get past the first few chapters it becomes amazingly entertaining in how messed up and utterly ridiculous it is. It’s like watching Plan 9 From Outer Space in book form. So bad it's good. I had a lot of fun once I just gave up caring.

I did enjoy all the bat-sh*t crazy plot twists and stuff in the book, even if they were completely ridiculous. And I actually grew to really like the characters of Christian, Victor, and Anna. However, every other character was poorly developed and pretty much extraneous to the main story. After I gave up my attempts to make sense of what was going on, the book became massively fun to read (even with the horrible, amateurish writing, which I started blocking out somewhere past chapter 7).

I do wish the author had trimmed a lot of the silly subplots to make the book better to read. It’s a long book, and you could have easily cut 1/3 of it out and not affected the over-all story. I also wish the author would have thought through her story choices a bit more so they made more sense. But hey, it’s YA. What ya gonna do?

I’d recommend this book to fans of YA, and people who are looking to kill some brain cells. But to people who only enjoy well-written, expertly crafted works of fantasy fiction, avoid this one like the plague. You won’t make it past the first chapter.

[megHan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am torn between 3 1/2 and 4 stars. I hate when I read a book that leaves me torn with how I feel about it. I want to love it or hate it, not be simply ... unsure.

This was described to me as a dark fantasy with a little romance. Um ... strike that ... reverse it. There is quite a lot more romance than dark fantasy. Not as much as regular romance books, but ... eh.

Though the beginning reminds me of a twisted Twilight (a series I was not fond of from the get-go - you can hate me for that, but it's the truth), I like 1) the hatred between Victor (and his people) and Christian (and his people) - and the way it is described in the story 2) the "cliff-hanger" that it ends with. Once you get into the "Underworld" (and closer to the war), the book gets much better. In fact, I am looking forward to reading the next book - partly because I got into the story and want to see what happens, partly because there are questions left unanswered which I need answered.

I felt that the book had several flaws. In explaining these flaws, I may possibly give a little away - not enough to ruin the story by any means, but I just wanted to warn you. :)

1)And my big issue - was the lack of proofreader/editor. I love "Indie" books, but it upsets me to see that so many of the authors choose to save a few bucks by not having someone go over it and make sure that everything is ok with it. There were so many sentences where words were actually left out or they were in the wrong order or there were extra words stuck in. This is very jarring and takes away from the smoothness that the story has in other places. There are also many words misspelled, the wrong word is used (pray instead of prayer) and punctuation that are either missing or not used properly.

2)At first I did not like the idea of different POVS, especially different POVs in one chapter, but I liked that it didn't flip back and forth, that you were told who's POV you were looking through so that there was no confusion. I got used to it a few chapters in, but a lot of them came out like you're reading a journal entry (if her hands are tied to her bed and she has a gag in her mouth, how is this possible?) and towards the end it was only Anna's POV, no one else's, when you really wanted to know what other people were thinking - these were major events happening.

3)I liked the ending, but at the same time I felt irritated, like when you watch the season finale and have to wait for the next season to find out what happened. (I think that's why I make usually make sure that I have the whole series before I even attempt to read the first one.) We were just getting into the war and then bing bang boom - end of book. Transition should have been smoother.

4)She gets over Victor's betrayal awfully fast - like in two or three pages.

5)Victor is the King of the Vampires and leading his people into a war, but comes across very weak and moody/emotional. I see more crying from the men in this book than I see from the 3 and 4 year old boys in my classroom. I mean, it's ok for men to cry and all, but it's not very manly when it seems to be all the time.

6)I still haven't figured out what is so special about her. Everyone loves her - the "good" guy, the "bad" guy, the "good" guy's best friend. Is it because she's human? Because she's beautiful? I bet if she were born ugly, the whole story would have been different.

7) I hate to admit that I was confused by something, but there were things that happened, but then did they really happen. Here's an example: The proposal. It happened, we all witnessed it in the story, but she remembers it vividly and he has no idea what she's talking about. They go on as if it's all hunky-dory without ever discussing what happened. We see Christian's POV on it, but they never come back to discuss it anymore.

Despite these flaws, I would say that you should at least give it a try - but be warned that you will have to read the second book if you are anything like me and need the closure of a story ended.



By the way, I was given a free copy of this book and promised, in return, that I would leave a review. I did not, however, promise a good or bad review - just a review after completing the book. Please do not hold the fact that I did receive a free copy against my review as I have been completely honest in my opinion. :)

[J. Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an author, I don’t like leaving reviews of books that I can’t give at least three stars. I know how difficult it is to write a book and to get it out there so I try to keep ‘negative’ reviews to myself. However, since I did promise to give an honest review in exchange for a copy of the book, I must be honest.

My overall score on THE FIRE WITHIN by Racquel Kechagias is a 2. I had to really push my way through this book to get to the end and I’ll explain why.

Try as I might, I could not get into this story. It took me three times to settle in. Normally, I give up on a story that I have to force myself to read, but I made a promise to read and review.

I think what bothered me the most was the actual writing. It read amateurish, almost like fan fiction written by a young adult. The story is told in 9 alternating POVs. Nine. I’m okay with 2 POVs, maybe 3, but 9 was a bit excessive. Sometimes the POV switches occurred within the same chapter. What this does (or rather doesn’t do) is allow the reader time to get to know the characters. None of them were developed well enough for me. I wanted to feel compassion for Anna, especially after what her father and the priest subjected her to at the age of 10, but her character never developed as a victim or as a serious badass. I wanted something from her and it never happened. Characters like Simon, who should have had an integral part in the story, had very little character development before he was ousted from the book with little explanation. He was supposed to be Anna’s savior and ended up as nothing more than a fleeting name without a true presence. It was as if I was led down a hall toward a light, all the while wondering what it was and where it was coming from, and then the light turned off before I got there, and yet I kept going down the hall without even wondering why I was traveling that direction in the first place. I felt that way a lot in this book, wondering why the author led me in a direction only to shrug and move off onto something else.

All the voices sounded the same to me. If it hadn’t been for the names of the characters’ at the top of each section of who was speaking, I wouldn’t have known who was who. This was very distracting. I kept hoping the development would get better, that I would find a character to side with, to root for, but even by the end of the story, I did not ‘care’ for any of them. I really wanted to find the ‘groove’ where I could sit back and snuggle into the story, but sadly, I never found it.

The writing to me was jarring. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, and the story was riddled with passages that told what the character was going to do, followed by a description of the character doing it (something beta readers and a great editor would have found and pointed out as a huge no-no). Overall, I found the story in need of a serious professional edit as there were grammatical and tense issues all over the place. It was very difficult to read.

I thought the basis for the plot was interesting, but it didn’t go anywhere for me. There was a lot of violence but it wasn’t written well. Why did Anna fall for Victor and not Christian? It never really explains. Why were her parents extreme jerks in the beginning only to start worrying about her later? Why did her father give permission for his daughter to be raped? Like Bella in Twilight, Anna seems to accept Victor’s role as vampire too easily. I could not suspend belief.

I wish I could say I could recommend this book to others, but I can’t. Ms. Kechagias, I respect you as a writer. I give you huge kudos for completing your novel and getting it out there into the world. It takes a great deal of strength and stamina to do so. I think you had a great idea for this story, but to me it fell apart because of developmental issues and grammatical errors. I know the sting of getting negative reviews, and I am sorry to be one of the bees. I do wish you all the luck in the world in your future endeavors. Keep writing and keep striving to tell your stories. I’m sure you will find your audience, and I have no doubt your writing will get stronger the more novels you write. http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

(from Goodreads):

Anna has always known that she is different, whether it was the way that her parents treated her, or the way she simply didn't seem to blend in with the people around her, she simply knew!

However on the night of her seventeenth birthday, two men enter into her world, and completely change her life. Unbeknownst to Anna, a countdown has started on her life, and the lives of her friends. Will she have enough time to save them all, or will they all fall into chaos?

In 'The Fire Within' Anna will be challenged, and she will have to face her demons. With the threat of war hovering above her head, and a curse that burns through her veins, will she live to be able to tell the tale?

I always enjoyed the imagination of the Paranormal/Fantasy writer in building worlds beyond the reader's imagination. When the stories come with characters that are weaved in time and space and slowly crawl under our skin, even better.
In "The Fire Within" I found a set of characters that did just that.
Some in the good sense, some I surely wouldn't want to have nothing with, but all served a purpose ... the purpose to make this book a walk on the wild side.

This book sends you into a turmoil, an enchanted world where mystical creatures live hand in hand by a dark, broken war between the vampires and the skin walkers.
I liked the world building aspect since the first page, the story recounted the surroundings of each character, from where they've been to where they were going.
By the middle of the book I got a little lost, my focus dispersed a little. I found myself thinking that perhaps there was so much going on that maybe it was a little too much. I'll explain, I think that the author might have deepen the reader's connection into some worlds in particular and some thread lines between character's instead of populating the book with major events in each of the character's POV.
It made me feel that I only slightly touched some facts that I would have liked to read more about.

Anna and Victor :

They were the two main characters of this story and the starting point for the other characters to grow.
I loved Anna, she was a determined heroine, a sensuous girl raised from deceit and ignorance, her parents were abhorrent, a true loving soul and a brave warrior. I enjoyed her to the max.

Now Victor is another story ...
I'm a girl that simply can't resist a vampire, my love for them is enormous and I never pass down a good fictional vamp but here I found a vampire that was a little soft, too much in my opinion.
I would have liked to see a battle warrior, an alpha king, a true lover, but he didn't make it to that point. Even though he was a warrior worth of his people, defending peace, he felt too much pain from the past and never seemed, in my reader's eye, to move forward and break from his shell. I sympathized with his pain but there was something missing there.

The bad guy, Christian:

Yes, this one I loved, not in a good way, but when the character makes you feel hate, pain and you wish someone would come and put him in his place, than right there you know the author aced it and got what she wanted. He never fails to show more hatred and diabolical plans to get what he wants, victory over the vampires and Anna, he's true love, because in the end he only wants to be loved by her, have a family, and truly feel the emotions that a happy human feels so he's life could have meaning.

Christian, my favorite:

Christian was to me my favorite character out of all of them. He was a friend, a lover, and here I'm certain that the author achieved to show us who he really was. She did a terrific job with this character and I would love to read more about him in another book, I believe he deserves one.

Now here we don't get to see a love scene from Victor and Anna, only sensuous glimpses that leaves us wanting more. So I'm entitled to ask, will there be more ? I hope so.

Overall, the story-line is great and this is a book to be read. I loved it and hope I get a chance to follow up on this series. I'm asking already for the second one, I wonder where this will go ...

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vampire Victor is lonely.  He strikes a deal with a dude he just met, offering to make the man a king in exchange for the man’s as-yet-unthought-of-future-daughter’s hand in marriage.  The man agrees and to seal the deal, Victor turns the man’s X-chromosome-carrying sperm into a Horcrux so that the man’s daughter’s soul will partially be Victor’s soul, binding them together forever.

Seriously, that’s what he does.  It isn’t so eloquently worded in the book, but that’s what he does.

Something like two decades pass and Victor finally meets Anna.  He has to fight some dude named Christian, who is also wanting to marry her, and Anna picks Victor because she can’t seem to resist him—she later learns it’s because her soul is partially his, and while she hates that idea for all of two seconds, she soon forgets about it and accepts that she should like him...even though she knows she lacks free will because of him.

Also, we get almost an entire quarter of the way into the book before we learn that the world is full of vampires, Fae, Mer-folk, Shape-shifters, etc., and everyone knows about them.  Absolutely no mention of this before then.  We know Victor the Vampire, and otherwise the world seems realistic, and then we’re in a completely-fantasy world.

I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if there hadn’t been a war breaking out and a million POVs.  The plot is all over the place.  Despite my dislike of the romance parts of the book, it really should have stayed with the romance parts.  Everything else was too much, too busy, too random.

And, oh, the typos!  The errors!  Simple mistakes, like using “breath” when it should be “breathe,” appear a few hundred times throughout the story.  Minute/minuet, who/whom, woman/women, etc.  Commas are neglected, big time.  Names are overused in dialogue (while not technically an error, it’s so jarring).  Things are repeated far too frequently.  It’s just...unedited, amateurish writing.

Would you like a sample?

“Anna I love you but you need to know. I’m a few hundred years old Anna and I didn’t want to live another hundred years without someone to love, without someone to care for. I chose you before you were even born but I didn’t know I would love you as much as I do. You’re my world now Anna.” –Victor the Vampire, The Fire Within, Racquel Kechagias.

Questions go unanswered, subplots are dropped completely... Editors aren’t that hard to find.

Oh, and grown men cry at the drop of a hat. I'm all for abandoning gender stereotypes and limits, but wow, so many man tears.

2/5 GR stars, pretty much only for Meg, Shade, and Kayden.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to start off by saying I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book, overall. There were times where the plot just dragged on for me, and the whole love interest aspect with Kayden was a little weird and unnecessary for me... especially when, during the section on Kayden's POV it was obvious he was in love with Joyce. However, when Kayden and Joyce got back to castle Joyce disappeared and Kayden was suddenly interested in Anna. For me, this just didn't make sense. However, I was still intrigued with the story and would like to see what happens next. I have my suspicions as to why the whole Kayden thing occurred, and I am intrigued to find out if I'm right.

I would recommend this to those who like supernatural romance.

[✿Claire✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I was given this book by the author in return for an honest review

I enjoyed this book. Although it could maybe do with a little bit of polishing, it was a good idea and well thought out.

I really liked Victor, Kayden and, as the story went on, Anna. I thought she got stronger and became a better character as the story went on. I wasn't keen at all on the villain or on Anna's parents, which fitted well with the rest of the story but they were a bit brutal for my taste.

Definitely an interesting story to read.

[Karma♥Bites ^.~]

Still “pass”. Thought about giving this a go after noting revision/edit in July 2013, but quick skim via the Look Inside function reveals that basic problems still exist. Don't know who the named editor is or level of experience but... PASS.

[Brittany McCann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I hate to say that this is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. The description had me very interested and I liked the cover artwork as well. This is not a purely negative review, but a really disappointed reader review.

The Fire Within is written by Racquel Kechagias. It is a Paranormal/Fantasy/Young Adult Novel. It deals with Vampires and Skinwalkers, as well as Shapeshifters and a plethora of other creatures. The beginning started well, with the main Vampire, Victor, and his sharing of his soul in the hopes of finding a future wife…. A wonderful story set up.

Fast-forward to the girl being born named Anna, and everything really goes downhill. She was an okay character but seemed to be fairly one-dimensional until towards the end of the story, when she finally gets a backbone. Victor was likeable in the beginning, but his personality really faded out in the story. Christian and Kayden seemed to have the most personality of all the characters.
This book felt like the wonderful outline of an epic story. But there were so many things missing that, as it stands, it just can’t deliver. Racquel has the breadth of vision but really needs help in presenting her idea. I can commend her for her original ideas, as this was not just another vampire novel. Her vision of the skinwalkers was terrifyingly fascinating. The “Fire Within” was a very unique view of a power (I won’t give it away).

However, with all of that being said, the book seriously lacked in description. There were very few descriptions about scenery people and clothing, and just the overall environment of the story. The only parts of the story that seemed to contain any description were in the dreams. Although there was no specific time period set for this story, it gave the impression that it was definitely behind modern times, given the castles and travel by horseback… So, if that is true, then I was thrown off by so many time-changing words thrown in that seemed out of place. For example, Anna’s horse is name Latte, the lingo was very modern in phrases such as “so to speak.” There are multiple mentions of clocks, which would not have existed, and the religion talk speaks more of a Christian God that seemed highly out of place given the rest of the story. On top of all of this, the grammar and typo issues made it hard to push through to the end. I was getting very frustrated with the seeming lack of understanding of certain English words, such as motif, that were being used instead of motive. Learnt being used in place of learning. And then quite constantly used when the word quiet would have made more sense. Once I did finally make it to the end, in my exasperation to finish the story… there was all this buildup to a fizzle ending.

Needless to say, this was a hard story to get through. I think that if given the fantastic original ideas that Racquel has, this could become a really great story, but it is still a long way from that. If The Fire Within were to have a proper editor go through this, a lot of these issues could be alleviated. Add in the descriptors, and paint your world for the rest of us to see if it is the way you have envisioned it in your mind. Fix the grammar and typos so as not to distract from the story. Add in more dimensional characters, and tell us as the readers more about these characters so we can know them as they are known to you. That would make for a wonderful and enjoyable read. As it stands, I can’t give this book more than 2 out of 5 stars… I give it 2 for potential and for original thought.

[Dana Smythe · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Fire Within, by Racquel Kechagias, is a story of multiple love triangles with overlapping points, set with the backdrop of a looming war for control of the Underworld. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To begin with the most brutal of that honesty, I have to say that this book is very poorly written. Given the sheer consistency of errors throughout the entire work, I would be surprised if this was ever edited by anything more strict than a spell-check program. The grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and sentence structure were off. Words were frequently missing, accidentally repeated, or misused. Add to this the lack of breadth in the writing style in general, and one ends up with a pretty clear idea of what it was like trying to read this book.

Factoring all of that out, one is left with the story. I was initially disappointed with this as well, as it begins in a very simplistic way, and continues so for some time. It finally begins to become somewhat interesting around the ninth chapter, and the strongest recommendation I can give for this book is that by the time I was halfway through, I was determined to finish it - and not just out of a sense of duty, for having agreed to review it. That kept me from stopping after the first two chapters, but by halfway through the story I knew that I was going to finish it because I wanted to know how the story ended.

That being said, despite the improvement in the storyline, the author missed more opportunities in the plot than she took. The story has potential, but feels like a first draft. The world building was sketchy and inconsistent, and the character development was almost nonexistent. There is more than one occasion on which a character completely changes emotions, and even personalities, without explanation or internally-explored motivation.

The exception to this last point is the villain. While the male protagonist spends much of the book in tears, and most of the male characters express every emotion from grief to anger by grinning, the villain is actually given an opportunity to grow and change over the course of the story. The initial cause of the change is as unexplored as most changes in this book, but the development of the character proceeds quite promisingly for the length of a chapter. Much of this good is later undone by the villain's point of view being neglected thereafter, but it gives me hope that it might be further explored in later volumes.

One can get away with a simple or even hackneyed plot if the execution of it is good enough, but unfortunately, that was not the case in The Fire Within. The phrase that came most repeatedly to my mind while reading this was an irritated and almost disbelieving, "Oh, come on!"

One more note: I've just double-checked the copyright page of the book I received, and an editor is in fact listed there. Given that information, I think most of the blame for this book's disappointment has to fall on the editor's shoulders, and not the author's. Further, and on a more positive note, with a talented editor and some hard work from the author, the second edition of this book could be a good read. There is just enough potential in the story for me to sincerely believe that.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

First let me say this- I received an ARC of this book from the author Racquel Kechagias. In exchange for an honest opinion. This is my opinion of her book. Thank you for allowing me to read "Fire Within".
Now thats out of the way--OMG!! this book is so captivating and compelling that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is a page turner nail biting story. A must read for all vampire lovers, or paranormal lovers. This book has it all- vampires, werewolves-fairies-skin-walkers-humans, and more!!
The way the story is written is so creative, amazing and truly awesome!! You are brought right into the story along side Anna as she fights to gain control over her life, the curse within her and the need to be with the one she loves.
The story starts out with a young woman by the name of Anna, whom has to choose between two suitors to marry. The first one is Christian, he is a wealthy person and will do anything to have her. And I do mean anything, Then there is Victor- the vampire, handsome, loving. Victor had made a bargain with her father years and years ago. That in exchange for the love of his life, and everything that he would receive from marrying her. That they would give their first born daughter over to Victor for him to marry. Anna was made for Victor, she has a part of his soul in her. Not knowing this, Anna begins to fall in love with Victor. She decides to marry him, and leaves her home with Victor and her maid Meg.
Anna's father is a mean man, will stop at nothing to see his plan work. He wants Christian to marry Anna. All the while not realizing that one choice will end up hurting him and his wife. See, they don't know that Christian is a skin-walker. And Anna's father is thinking and believing that anyone is better than Victor. Especially if it will keep him from his promise.
As the story goes- we find that our Anna has inherited the curse from Victor. The one thing that he never wanted anyone to have. She is able to kill people with her thoughts and words. Now she must learn to control it. Will she beable to and will Victor and her have a happy life together?
Will she be able to save her friends from death and war?? All these an more are answered in the story.
The characters are great- you have a strong female and male lead. The scenes are describe wonderfully. During the story there are lots of fight scenes. I would recommend this book to every paranormal reader. It is a fast read. One that you will not want to put down until it is finished.
The Fire Within has lots of twist an turns in it. Go get this BOOK AND READ IT NOW.
AND GIRL IT IS AMAZING!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

[Tribala · Rating 1 out of 5]

First let me say that this book was provided by the Author through PNR NaUBA group Author/Reader Exchange for an honest review. I feel that I owe it to the author to be honest so I shall. I could not finish the book. When an author provides a book to me in exchange for a review I feel bound to read the entire book since she/he is putting themselves out there to be reviewed. I tried my best to continue reading but I could not. At first I though it was the formatting on the ePub version that was bothering me, but it wasn't. It truly is the writing style. I cannot speak much to character development as I read as far as pg 33. However, the change in personality from the father's undying love to abuse in the first couple of pages made no sense and with no explanation it made it somewhat unbelievable. I am not sure if English is the authors native language. If not then the book should have been proofread by a native speaker. That is in no way a slam on any non-native speakers, I am Hispanic. The writing shifted from one tense to another with severe grammatical errors that leads one to believe this is either a non native speaker or a young person, like 13 young. If the author has the opportunity to use beta readers or an editor than she should try that out make corrections and try again. I would be happy to review again once it has been edited. Based on other reviews it seems as though there maybe a good story here. I personally could not get past the writing style to find it, too many repetitive phrases strange formatting and unnecessary descriptions.
Examples:
“She gives me a disgusted

look, probably for the tone that I just used on her, but she does not chide me. It is like she is literally offended by my offhanded tone”

""I said don't." His tone is threatening, and my mind quickly matches it to the same tone he just used on

Christian.”
And:
“Without realizing it, I have walked into a much more slender, and feminine body. She turns around quicker
than I can apologize, and when I see her face my apology gets caught in my throat. Without realizing it I have run

into my mother.”

Excerpt From: Kechagias, Racquel. “The Fire Within.” iBooks.

Formatting above is how it reads in the ePub version, very distracting.

[Jason Crawford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was provided a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review; as always, the writing below reflects my true opinion of the work.

Overall - 1.5/5. I must freely confess that I was unable to complete my read of this novel. Here is why:

Characters: 1/5. I didn't know who was saying what half the time and the voices of the characters were almost identical; there was little to no difference between how Anna spoke vs. how Victor spoke vs. anything else. Furthermore, the ENTIRE story was written in alternating first person POV, which is an interesting idea except that there is no "omniscient" description; most of the work is dialogue and inner monologue and, when there is no differentiation between character voices, this leads to a very inconvenient experience.

Plot: 3/5. While the plot is marred by the difficulty I had with the characters (described above), I think that there were good ideas in there. The idea of a vampire "fattening up" a soul by giving a piece of his own is interesting and I would have liked to see where it went.

Flow: 1/5. The constantly changing POV was jarring because it was not done well. The sentences, especially the dialogue, were circuitous and difficult to follow. I could not "settle" into this story, which is the primary reason I did not complete it.

Spelling/Grammar: 2.5/5. Barely acceptable. There weren't that many misspellings in the portion of the novel I read, but the grammar did not follow any literary conventions that I am aware of. I understand that conversation follows its own rules and can't be held to the strick dictates of an academic essay (after all, I am a writer), but...

Overall: 1.5/5. I cannot recommend this book for readers. For the author, have a look at Stephen King's On Writing and take some of his recommendations to heart. This book could have used more description, more passion in the writing, and several more edits. I wish you luck! Keep trying!

Jason P. Crawford
www.jasonpatrickcrawford.com
@jnewmanwriting
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

As grateful as I am for having recieved a free digital copy of this book, I still have to be completely honest. This book was downright horrible. It contains this cliche plot element that I hate most about YA books. Can you guess what it is? Well yes, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. I'm sure you're sick of it too: insta-love. I found it absolutely ridiculous how the main characters were already madly in love with each other when you've only just reached 1/5 of the story. I mean, who runs away with a man—let alone a vampire, who they've just known for a couple of days? Who does that?

I also found the characters boring and predictable. That doesn't really surprise me. Even during the first chapter she was introduced, Annabelle came across as a character that I wouldn't get along with. And yes, she proved it right. She was so stubborn and vain. That's why I can't stand her. I found Victor's character interesting while I was reading the prolouge. But as the story continued, he turned into a pathetic wuss. I don't even know who cried more often—him or Anna?

The world-building wasn't that impressive either. Vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters & skin-walkers (they're basically the same thing -^-), fey, mer-people, and humans. Pretty basic, don't you think? It's getting kinda old.

The writing didn't even impress me that much. Apostrophes would pop out here and there in the wrong words and the words that were supposed to have apostrophes, didn't.

Well, it's obvious that I didn't like this book. There were times when the writing or the story itself made me cringe. I wouldn't stop people from reading this book if they want to, but I definitely don't recommend it to anyone.

[R. Archie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fire Within is a mesmerizing story narrated in different point of views; as such I also benefited from getting a close and personal understanding of each character.

The story opens with a vain man who makes an attention-grabbing bargain with a vampire. From the start, this ragged man seems to have no regard for no one except for what he can gain to better his life; and for him the vampire is the key to achieving a way out of his unrewarding reality. The story then moves to focus on the three main characters, Anna, Christian and Victor. Both men are from unknown backgrounds that are dark and evil, though perhaps one more hellish than the other.
To top things off, there are so many things coming at Anna left and right. The details of her birth come to light which explains a lifetime of pain. Then an unexpected situation arises when Anna’s father underestimates choices made on his part, and due to his actions it only accelerates an impossible situation making events tense and unbearable.

I liked that she was strong willed when she needed to be, also the display of immense courage as she tried to control her fate or the ones that mattered most to her. This story brings many elements that are captivating. And with the other characters thrown into the mix, you will find a wide variety of different beings ranging from humans to the undead. It will keep you on your toes with regular intervals of conflict that arises. This is a fantastic read which I thoroughly enjoyed and I look forward to following the series. If you want a book that will keep you entertained and wanting more, this is the book for you.

[Kami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annabelle is turning 17 and she has been promised to a vampire. Anna's father is really cruel. He has said that Anna will have two suitors and then she will choose which man she will marry between Christian and Victor. Christian is a shape shifter called a skin walker and Victor is a vampire. There is considerable enmity between the two of them. There were a few editing and grammatical errors but that didn't take away from enjoying the story for me. The vampires and skin walkers are at war though other shape shifters are good. Skin walkers change shape into other people, while shape shifters take the form of animals. Christian is a very sadistic villain. He is obsessed with Anna. “Little puppets, how I long to pull your strings. Make you dance, twirl, and scream. A twisted game, we can play with three. Little puppets (,) will you play with me(?)” Some of this story was really violent. I found it pretty exciting.

[Jackie - Fire & Ice Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. It is very rare for me to give five stars to a book, but this book deserved all five.

From the first line, to the last, I was hooked. The author did a amazing job in writing this book. I haven't read a book in a long time that I didn't find any problems, or something I didn't like about the book. The romance was perfect. I enjoyed the characters, and everything they went through. This is a book that will forever stick with me. This is something that I will read again, when I am looking for something field with action, and well build characters. Now don't get me wrong, there may be other people out there who found problems with the book, but that is just them. Coming from my opinion, this book was perfect. I can't wait to get my hands on book two.

I would like to say thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review!

[L Bongiorno · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good grief, our hero is a big baby - he cried 3 times before the middle of the book and got her best friend killed because he had a jealous fit. They declared war before they came up with their terrible plan... Our heroine took the villain down - with her mind(?), but he is still free and alive?!? The vamps with the prince have to rough it a bit and almost mutiny, but another can go a week and a half with torture and still have it together?? It has terrible grammar, the 13th chapter was missing from my free kindle copy, and it's repetitive and confusing. Why, oh why, did my goodreads friend rate this well?
I had to drop the rating even more, not only does Victor cry again..., but he lays down and dies, while our heroine who can kill with her mind, just allows it to go down. I can't stand weak plots!

[Jose Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is said that all good writers write from personal experience and indeed, It seems the author's own life and personal experience is beautifully translated here in her captivating novel of 'The Fire Within'

Determined to rise above her family abuse, Anna is reluctant to meet one of the potential suitors that has been lined up for her. Until her abusive father has said that from these suitors she must choose which man she will choose to marry whether it be Christian, a skin walker or Victor, a vampire.

This was a great love triangle story about individual souls, whom have to overcome great obstacles to reach their true destiny to find each other and with a backdrop set amongst vampires and other supernatural beings, you can be sure this is no ordinary tale of star crossed lovers.

[Heather Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story line. The main character is to choose between two men who are trying to win her hand in marriage. Which will she choose?? She is torn between the two, until one makes her uncomfortable, and she knows she cannot choose him. But the other is dark, quite.....can she trust him? Can she love him?? As a young woman born into privilege, I was not thrilled to see her father and mother were so awful towards her. They were still trying to control her and her actions, when she's trying to make a connection to a possible husband. Looking forward to book #2.

[Kimberly Loschiavo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by the author in return for an honest review

I enjoyed this book. it was a good fast read.

I really liked Victor, Kayden and, as the story went on, Anna. I thought she was a well put together character. This is a mesmerizing story narrated in different point of views; due to this style of writing you benefit from getting a close and personal understanding of each character.

Definitely an interesting story to read.

[ThymeOperator · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review...and I'm afraid I have to agree with every single comment made in Matthew's review. He even chose to quote some of the same lines I was struggling with.

My issues with this book were first that it really was poorly (not at all) edited, such that I found it confusing and difficult to read. To add to Matt's quotes, there were endless instances of lines like this:

'When I didn't make a move Fawkes says....'

Pick a tense and stick to it. You can't change tense within sentences like that, especially in almost every paragraph. And btw 'whom' is a direct object, NOT a subject. Nearly every time the author meant 'who' she said 'whom'. 'Whom is going to be there?' Sorry but that seriously did my head in.

But even with editing, I could not handle the story. I could not understand why Anna decided she loved Victor. What exactly did he do to bond her to him to such a degree? And why did her mother worry over her when she left, when otherwise she had been a terrible heartless parent? And why did her father worry over losing his daughter one day if then he was a hateful abusive father who actually allowed a priest to rape her at ten years old??? I mean, the priest even ASKED PERMISSION TO RAPE HER. And her dad says, sure, just leave afterwards or I will kill you. What!?

And on that note, there was just so much sadism in this book, it was ridiculous. And I happen to have a long history of watching bad horror films. I've seen my fair share of violence, but this...I think my problem was the spirit in which it was done. Everything about it felt so immature, then you had these disgusting half-scenes as the story jumped all over, and it was disturbing. Like a ten-year-old writing the script to Hellraiser. It just wasn't right.

And yet somehow I was so bored through it. When Victor tells Anna he is a vampire, she accepts it immediately with no fear or surprise and reads Dracula to understand him. No joke. Then someone comes along and says he is a werewolf, and I just thought, of course you are. It was like the author knew it was all contrived so why be shocked? No one reading it is, so why would Anna be?

It all felt like Twilight fan fiction, rather than a real book. I couldn't actually finish it...and I'm someone who ALWAYS finishes things. But I couldn't do it. And unlike Matt, I DO read a lot of these things, among the other types of books I read. I loved The Mortal Instruments. I loved the Trylle series. But this...no. The difference is those books are properly written. There are characters who get developed and you form attachments to them. There are mysteries that unfold at an even pace. There is originality. There is humour. This...didn't do any of that.

[Amy Freese · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a ride!!

If you like supernatural beings, this book may work for you. Plenty to pick from here vampire, werewolf, fae, shape-shifters, merfolk, skin-walkers, and human. However, the author puts her own spin on what each race is like, on how their respective kingdoms work internally and with each other. I found it refreshing.
There is a unique way this story is told, first person point of view. The view changes to different characters throughout. Due to supernatural powers of some characters such as taking over the mind or body of another, the reading gets puzzling. Rather like a roller coaster ride thru a house of mirrors would be. As the story grows, the reader learns more, pieces start to fit. This author keeps you guessing, the emotions are palpable. I read it quite quickly as I became invested in these characters and I plan to jump into book 2, asap.

The only reason I don't give 5 stars is the need for more editing. At times sentences are not punctuated properly, causing poor comprehension of what you read. There were spots with words missing. A number of misspelled words. All these interrupt proper reading flow.
But... the story IS engaging, entertaining.

[Linda Hamonou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this book by the author in exchange for mine.

I have very mixed feeling about this book which is why I'm rating it 3, you know, just in the middle.

This book has a lot of potential if it was to be properly edited.

First I'm going to list everything that made me cringe in 3 categories and second I will explain why I still kept on turning the pages.

1) What I could overlook:
The grammar, typos, missing words, and word replacing another ("constellation prizes", being my favourite)
The historical glitches, they tend to stop once Anna get away from her parents as the historical fiction changes into fantasy.
The fogginess when Anna dreams and we have no idea what is going on. (I didn't try to understand what happened to the wedding proposal because I thought she didn't actually need one.) Anna does sound totally insane at time.

2) What can't do without fixing
Inconsistencies: There are so many glitches I couldn't stop my brain to want to fix them all, it's tiring.
The time line: It appears twice that characters seems to be at two places at once.
The plot holes: How did William get to the Skin-walkers? How did Kayden get back home? (I thought he was a skin-walker arriving with Anna's fake parents for some reasons.)
The characters who should have a life but actually don't: Simon owe to have been more important.
The lack of emotions: Why didn't she stop her father from killing Simon and how could the girl get over it that quickly? And why isn't she pushing Victor away more when he explains her about her soul, when he leaves her?
The voices: All the characters sound the same and all of them seem to be driven by anger. All the men are pushy and try to force themselves on girls. Seriously with guys like that around take Meg and run far, far away, girl.
The writing: There are lots of repetitions, the same words get repeated in two consecutive sentences. This sort of things should definitely go. The worlds is so vast that every part needs a better feeling description.
The information dumping: There are a lot of things told without being explained and I found them explained chapters later, like the difference between skin-walkers and shape-shifter. The explanation is good, the earlier mention is not.

And I'm not listing everything.

3) What I didn't like in the book even if the 2 points above were perfected.
I don't like Twilight and this book reminded me too much of it. I like the little "love" story between Kayden and Anna a lot more than her undying love for Victor because it seems more real, it is build up slowly and they have time to know each other. Even though the book gets better after the escape, the escape seems unnecessary because Anna's father had given her a choice and she had chosen Victor, all she had to do was to tell them.


But I still kept on tuning the pages because of:

The world: Racquel Kechagias invites you to a fantasy world with a huge amount of diversity. I'm sure than in her head it all makes sense because she can at time give tremendous details. If all the details had been given consistently through the book it could have been a formidable fantasy.

The multiple plot twists and separated actions: There are some narrators that I would say are useless (Meg and Anna's mother) but I love the split when Victor, Kayden and Shade separate to go to different places gathering people. That was an awesome idea. The travel and negotiation could have worth a lot more chapters to include fully the potential of the world around and that would have been an amazing epic story.

The POV: Yes, I'm sorry but I read that book a lot more like a writer than like a reader. A lot of people seemed to dislike the POV swap but I think it was a fantastic idea. I reminded me of epistolary novels (especially dracula) where we go from one character's diary to another. It give another dimension to the story. I don't know if it's the best choice but it's a good one. The only character I would have liked to be written in 3rd POV is Christian because that would have helped the reader to take side on the vampires even more.

The dialogue: If there is a part that is rather well written, it's the dialogues. Of course, long answers would need a breaking tag instead of running on with a tag at the end but the dialogues are straight to the point and don't turn around thing which makes them the most enjoyable thing in the story.

The ending: You gotta give credit to Christian (even though somewhere in the middle he should have been dead but that's part of inconsistency.

I guess that's about it. I don't think I can recommend this book because it is far from being an easy read.

[Nicole Delacroix · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, I had very high hopes for this book. I liked the premise, I liked the genre, and it looked so interesting. So with that said, I'll progress as carefully as I can. The Pros first.... I think the author has a vivid imagination, and there is a good story in there. The characters are a bit lopsided, but I think with a little work they can be well defined and even relatable. The action is a bit heavy handed, but again with rewrite, I think that this book can hold so much potential that I'd even consider reading the second one. Now for the cons... there is one glaring mistake that this author has made and it's one that I had major difficulty getting past...editing. If it were simply bad spelling or one or two mistakes, I probably would have seen past this to get to the heart of the story. But, unfortunately, this book is filled with wrong verb tenses, sentences that start in past tense but end up in future tense. As a writer, I kept coming back to the same thing, where was your editor? I had to push to finish the book, mostly because I had committed myself to doing a review. Had I not given my word, I simply would have put the book to the side and left it. My suggestions are this: 1) Find an editor. Actually I would find two. As editors tend to cost money, I would find some willing authors that you can exchange this service with. Offer a review of their book in exchange for editing on yours. 2) Rethink some of your first person viewpoint. I know as a new writer I myself worked in first person, made it easier to tell the story, but for this particular story, I think third person would work better. 3) Give your characters more depth. I thought a few of the characters were a bit "high school", but if you had better defined them, I may have seen them in the light you intended. Lastly, the flipping back and forth between character viewpoints works for George RR Martin, he can flip within chapters, for this story it actually detracted from the action and really leaves the reader questioning the story line. Your story line should be a clear progression from beginning to end - there's a full chapter on William that I couldn't understand why it was in there. We never find out HOW he's captured, if he is captured and what he's exactly doing. I think that an editor would have caught this, and the story would have flowed better.
All in all, the story itself can be great, the problem is that there doesn't seem to be a clear focus. The characters can be great, but again they aren't well defined, they need to be real people. Lastly, the world you envisioned needs to come to life, and in the bad grammar, bad sentence structure and quick flips, you lost the reader. I think that you could take this one back to the drawing board and revamp it and it could be truly great. The imagination is there, the basic formula is there, but you need editing and you need focus. I don't want this to sound harsh, but you should have someone who can be honest with you read it before you publish. If all you hear is "it's perfect" you're going to be very disappointed in how the public and critics react. I admit that I received this as a requested review on "Shut up and Read" and it was my choice. The story was compelling, and I would be happy to reread it if you ever revamp it. I'd even be willing to help out with a little editing if you were interested. I hope you continue writing and see my suggestions as they are intended, constructive criticism. Good luck

[Eliza Leone · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received this book via RI&R for an honest review*

Great potential but in need of an editor to polish it up.
2 star writing
3 star story potential

Series: yes, book 1 of "The Fire of the Soul"
Characters: Anna, Victor, Christian, Shade, etc...
Setting: Victorian? and the Underworld
Sexual Themes: yes; rape on multiple occasions
Violence: yes; blood, torture, murder, rape
Suspected Target Audience: YA

Anna is a young woman who is betrothed before birth to the Vampire King, Victor. He life growing up was a rough one filled with only a few true companions and not much love. When it comes time for her to marry she is offered multiple men by her father who attempts to back-out of his deal with Victor. Luckily, Anna falls for him anyway...

All of this sounds very YA and not bad so far, here's my problem. Just like when Anna picks Victor over the other men, the story was riddled with unexplained choices or actions. There was very little of the character's thoughts portrayed to the reader and more of us being shown the outcomes. A third through the book we are introduced to the world of fae, mer-folk, etc. While they were interesting to read about it was never really clear if all of this was a known societal thing or if they were hidden races, just one example of how the plot was hindered by the writing.

The main reason I kept reading was the villain in the story, Christian. He was deeply emotional and just more compelling than all of the other characters combined (though I did want to know more about Shade and his past). Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the end of the book as his character was mostly neglected after the mid-point in the book. Seeing as how the story ended I am holding out hope for the second book to feature him more.

My main issue with this story is the editing... or seeming lack of it entirely. There were grammar errors, tense errors and WAY too many point-of-view switches. All of this made it extremely difficult to get into the book and I found myself wanting to skim more than read. The story has real potential and if expanded upon and spread out a bit, more explanations, and fewer POVs it could be a great read.

Recommendation:
For someone who is a looking for an easy YA read this may be a good one to pick up... if you can ignore the editing issue.

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I'll be honest here. If I'd realised this was a vampire romance, I probably wouldn't have read it. I've come across some vampire romances that were written well... but I'm afraid this wasn't one of them.

I was really intrigued by the blurb of this book. When I read that, I really did want to read the book. And, also, the first chapter really grabbed my attention and made me want to read more, despite the vampire romance angle. Unfortunately, when the POV switched over to Anna, I couldn't bring myself to empathise with her. The main difficulty may have been the constant switching of first-person POVs. I kept getting dizzy and wasn't able to 'settle' in one character's head before being pulled into the next one's.

I did like some of the secondary characters, which made me waver in adding an extra star. Unfortunately, the interesting relationship between Victor and Kayden was overshadowed by Kayden falling in love with Anna.

I couldn't really see any of the characters as 'good guys', except maybe Meg and Simon. Victor's responsibility for what happened to Simon really destroyed any hope of me liking him as a character, to be honest. Shade was an interesting character, but I didn't like the strong hints of him also developing an obsession with Anna.

There were a lot of errors in this book, which also made it difficult to read. With a proofreader and sticking to one POV (two from first person is pushing it), I think this book could have been more readable, but I would have liked to see more depth to the characters. I also had no idea of where or when this book was set.

As it stands right now, however, I won't be reading a sequel to this.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this thinking paranormal romance, it's more dark and challenging. This is a very creative and strong written novel. Racquel Kechagias has brought a whole different world to life in this book, we meet all kinds of being like Victor is a vampire and King of Under World and has done black magic to get Anna for himself. Then Anna the human has had a life of pain from her father, so when one man shows kindness she falls. Victor knows Anna has a part of him in her soul, and with that she never has a choice of who she loves and must find away to deal with it. In his world is Skin-walkers, they change into another being or take over being someone else. They also have werewolves and some more beings like mere-mans and fawes. This book gives us a story of the dark side of emotions that Christian has, and his need to live off pain he creates. Christian is determined to have Anna, and will fight this battle that all beings from Under ground World will have to fight to bring back unity and peace to their world. This book has been a enjoyable experience, to open your mind to a whole new world is talented writing at it's best!! Racquel Kechagias you are a great writer and I couldn't wait to read the next.
3 and 1/2 STARS
I recommend to anyone that likes paranormal creatures,this is for you!!

[Nicky English · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fire Within is like Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings with vampires and other supernaturals thrown into the mix. Those who like this sort of medieval fantasy stories may really enjoy it. I admire the writer's effort in creating an entirely original universe with so many different kinds of creatures other than humans. At first I didn't like Anna too much because I thought she was a pushover, and she fell in love with Victor too fast. I'm glad she eventually gets to have some character development and we are given an explanation for her attachment for Victor. What a nice twist to the notion of soul mates! Originally I thought Victor and Anna would have this Beauty and the Beast kind of relationship. I was wrong. Victor is basically a good vampire who just wants love, and in this world the skin-walkers are the bad guys. However, I'm not too fond of the POV style, but it can be just a personal preference. The real problem that I have with the writing is the paragraphing. I prefer quotes to be stand-alone paragraphs for easy reading. Also, since most of the characters are nobilities, why are they called Mr and Mrs something instead of Your Grace or Your Highness? Am I missing something? Perhaps I watched too much Downton Abbey. :)

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna has always known she's different. Yet she strives to rise above her father's abuse no matter the cost. The demands her father places on her are in some ways unrealistic. Anna is supposed to meet with one of four potential suitors but finds she doesn't have the strength to dress for the occasion. Anna likes her potential suitor until he shows his true colors. Victor has waited seventeen years to meet his mate. He's angry with Anna's father Rupert for the farce of suitors. Victor allows for these petty games. When Rupert announces that it will be Anna's choice who becomes her husband Christian and Victor are both furious and filled with hope. Anna doesn't like Christian's possessive behavior which drives her into Victor's arms. Anna learns about the Underworld which is to say Vampires and Shape-Shifers are about to go to war. Will Christian leave Anna alone? What will Anna learn about herself? How does Anna's love change Victor? Your answers await you in The Fire Within.

I really enjoyed all aspects of this world. I found that characters strengths and weaknesses were a delight to read. I personally think this book is all about finding the strength within yourself to overcome any obstacle in your path. I definitely will look forward to the next book in the series.