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Hot City Nights #1

A Burning Touch

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The nights in Mansfield are getting hot...an arsonist is terrorizing the town. But that is nothing compared to the heat Detective Jamie Keegan experiences after one look into the lovely eyes of India Cook. Only James doesn't believe a word about India's psychic talents. He knows all about charlatans. The beautiful lady is a fake but there's nothing fake about his feelings for her....

219 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 24, 1995

24 people are currently reading
110 people want to read

About the author

Patricia Ryan

62 books184 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Patricia Burford Ryan (born August 9, 1954 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States) is an American writer of romance novels as Patricia Ryan, mystery novels as P.B. Ryan and erotica novels as Louisa Burton. She is the twin sister of the romance writer Pamela Burford.

She won a Golden Heart award in 1994 in the category "short contemporary series" and a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her book Silken Threads also won a RITA, the top award of the Romance Writers of America, for "Best Long Historical Romance" of 2000.

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5 stars
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66 (40%)
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50 (31%)
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Jane Stewart.
2,462 reviews965 followers
April 12, 2014
2 ½ stars. Starts out great but last half was formulaic and not well done - includes stupidity.

Really good beginning. She’s married to a jerk. His sisters and mother look down on her. She takes a walk to get away instead of serving them drinks. She’s hit by lightning which activates her psychic abilities. She leaves the jerk, moves to a new town, tries to avoid people, meets a cop who doesn’t believe in psychic abilities. A lot of good conflict going on.

But later the story turns ordinary. Like too many other books. She desires him but she breaks up with him for a stupid reason. In the crisis, he does something stupid. And then they get together without addressing the problem for the breakup. Not enough thought was given to things.

This book was published by Harlequin. I’m sad to say this adds to my bias against Harlequin. They limit pages and they want fast writing. I really enjoyed two of the author’s other books “Pure and Simple” and “Hale’s Point.” Those were published by Hawkley Books - not Harlequin.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 215 pages. Swearing language: mild including religious swear words. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Setting: current day Massachusetts, New Jersey, and a little in Ireland. Copyright: 1996. Genre: contemporary romance.
Profile Image for Donna Porter.
1,034 reviews9 followers
August 20, 2013
This was a good book. It was about a medium named India and a policeman named Jamie. India tries to help the police solving a crime of arson. Of course, they think she is touched in the head. When Jamie tells the paper it puts India's life in danger. Now he is trying to protect her even though he doesn't believe in mediums. As they grow closer in their relationship it poses a problem for India. She doesn't know how to love someone who doesn't believe in her. It is a good read
Profile Image for Michele Packard-milam.
351 reviews10 followers
July 8, 2018
Engaging Story

Interesting characters and a good plot make this an excellent read. Just enough suspense to make it a truly satisfying mystery. I liked it a lot.
2,513 reviews42 followers
September 23, 2016
Dr. India Cook, a veterinarian, has ESP and is a psychic. She protects herself by wearing gloves to avoid human touch. When she touches someone she not only hears their thoughts but receives images of recent events involving that person. Her abilities started when she was twelve and then went away until they returned, during her marriage, when she was struck by lightning. India has since divorced her husband, who was abusive, and has moved away to try to hide her abilities. This works until she realizes that she has information that might help in an investigation into a series of arson fires. India goes to the police and meets Lt. Jamie Keegan. She tells Jamie what she knows and he does not believe her but thinks that she is a con artist. Jamie’s captain insists that he work with India and danger and romance ensues. This was a wonderful love story and a mystery that had me involved from the very beginning. I really enjoyed this book and was unable to put it down once the story grabbed me during the prologue. A must read!! I did receive a free copy of this book in return for an honest and fair review. Ms. Ryan’s writing style is fresh and keeps you turning the page! (by paytonpuppy)
433 reviews1 follower
September 10, 2016
I received a copy of A Burning Touch by Patricia Ryan in exchange for an honest review.
Note: this review contains spoilers!
There are times in a lot of people's lives when they think they are going crazy: too much stress, not enough sleep, all of the thing that can drive us to what we call crazy. The heroine of this book India Cook is just the opposite. She knows she isn't crazy, but everyone else thinks she is. She can see images and hear thoughts from touching people, so she wears darks glasses and gloves whenever she is away from home. Ever since she got divorced, she has lived and worked out of her late father's house.
But a firebug wants to destroy the town where India lives. India tries working with the police, but unbeliever Jamie Keegan isn't buying it. India and Jamie need to find a way to work together and to stop the firebug. The characters are well developed. I could feel India's panic when Jamie first kissed her. Can there be true love when there is trust but not belief? If someone doesn't doesn't believe in you can you truly trust them?
You'll have to decide for yourself. As for me, I'm looking forward to the next book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Linda.
781 reviews15 followers
September 23, 2016
Detective Jamie Keegan has had personal experience with fake psychics claiming to have information for the police. So when his boss asks that he work with a psychic on his current arson case, he is astonished. Even more so, when he gets a look at India Cook...absolutely drop-dead gorgeous with the most unbelievable eyes. India is not comfortable with her psychic abilities, but she cannot ignore the information she received related to this arson case. While she senses a physical attractraction to Detective Keegan, there is no ignoring the disdain he feels towards her "so called" psychic ability. Can they manage to work together to solve this case before it destroys more than just properties? I liked how the story started with India's back story before jumping to the present. While this is a romance novel, it also provides a good mystery as the arson investigation progresses. Warning: there is some explicit sex contained in this book. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
862 reviews
September 2, 2016
I received this book for an honest review. I also bought this book.

My favorite genre is romantic suspense with a touch of paranormal and this book met all my expectations. Jamie is a police detective who was raised by his aunt was a phoney fortune teller while India is a truly telepathic.

India has no control over her gift and has chosen to live her life alone never touching anyone. There have been several fires set in her town by an arsonist who is threatening to burn bigger structures each week. While feeding her stray cats she sees one of them has been burned so India takes her in to her veterinary clinic to treat her. As soon as India touches the cat she is overwhelmed by a vision of flames, pictures of ornate iron work and a young man feeding the cat. She feels that she must give this information to the detective in charge of this case...Jamie. He, of course, doesn't believe her and so begins their story.

I really enjoyed this book.
Profile Image for Diana.
1,746 reviews
May 24, 2014
India Cook is a psychic who wants to help find the arsonist who has been terrorizing her hometown. Detective Jamie Keegan is in charge of the arson investigation and doesn't believe in psychics, but finds himself drawn to her.

This was a book that left an impression on me in high school, and I finally tracked it down and reread it. It didn't really live up to my memories of it, as it seemed to race through many things, including any sort of relationship development between India and Jamie. There were also lots of formulaic additions that seemed to just serve to ramp up the tension, such as India being inexplicably phobic of fire. It's a cute story, but not all that realistic (even discounting the ESP factors).
Profile Image for Janice Hougland.
243 reviews13 followers
September 1, 2016
Jamie, a detective working on an arson case, sure doesn’t believe in ESP or trust psychics and consequently has a hard time accepting the help of one named India, even at his captain’s request. But Jamie also has a hard time fighting his attraction to India while they work on finding the elusive arsonist. The arson case took some decidedly scary and dangerous turns as Jamie and India worked on their unusual relationship and made for a very well-written, exciting story. A complimentary copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
177 reviews4 followers
October 11, 2016
A romance thriller is what this book was. It doesn't start out how you would imagine, but definately keeps you interested and wondering the whole way through.
Jamie is not about to trust a physic to solve his case, but the beautiful India is going to test him. India has a talent that has not made her life easy and she just wants to be left alone, but when jamie wants to help her, the electricity flies and it will be hard to put out these fires
Profile Image for Kimberlie.
1,231 reviews
December 25, 2013
For a short story about a psychic romance, it was great. I liked the author's style of writing enough to read more. Plenty of heat!

Two annoying little pet peeves: referring to her psychic abilities as "her power" made her sound like a superhero, and the repeated comparison to his "blue sense" got old after the first three times. Otherwise, a great weekend read.
Profile Image for Tonya Thomas.
Author 20 books6 followers
November 13, 2011
This was one of my favorite of Ms. Ryan's books -- probably because it has a paranormal thread to it. India is a great character, and the whole arson story really stayed with me long after I'd finished the book. This one's a keeper and I'm going to read it again.
Profile Image for Marcella.
368 reviews3 followers
November 24, 2015
Nice and fast read. The only thing that bugged me was how long it took for him to believe in her abilities. In real life I don't think their relation would have gone anywhere, but hey, this is romance. I'll probably be reading more by this author.
Profile Image for Shannon.
Author 2 books17 followers
August 18, 2013
Despite some editing issues, I really enjoyed this short story.
Profile Image for Allyson Simonian.
Author 14 books46 followers
November 9, 2013
This is the first book I've read in the Bodyguards Boxed Set (Summit Authors) and I loved it. The scenes where India has psychic abilities with Jamie are incredibly tender and sweet.
Profile Image for Helene.
368 reviews2 followers
October 6, 2013
I read it in less than a day! It was a good story.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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