Touched by Fire

The Sentinels #2

by Catherine Spangler

Book 2 of the Urban Fantasy Romance series, The Sentinels

Since a brutal attack on her sister eleven years ago, Marla Reynolds has been emotionally frozen—but one man’s passion could melt her defenses.

For the past eleven years, Marla has avoided relationships with men. Then she meets Luke Paxton in a Houston bar and is upended by an intense attraction she doesn’t understand. But Luke does—it is an energy he must harness to achieve his goals. He is a Sentinel, a member of an ancient superhuman race. His purpose on Earth is to track unimaginable evil, and he needs Marla—willing or not—to help him focus his psychic powers. Kidnapped by Luke, who insists he’s a reincarnated Atlantian and that she’s a matched conductor for him, Marla thinks he’s totally crazy. But his superpowers and the undeniable link between them convince her otherwise. She agrees to work with him to track down a bomber that’s leaving a path of destruction across Texas. Luke tries to resist his growing feelings for Marla, but as he draws her deeper into a supernatural world, he finds himself torn between protecting humanity—or yielding to the fire of her touch . . .

— “Touched by Fire is a blazing hot romantic fantasy thriller that is impossible to put down.”—Leslie Tramposch, Paranormal Romance Reviews

— “Author Catherine Spangler continues her Sentinel series with a super-sexy and exciting paranormal thriller.”—Rob Preece, BooksforaBuck.com

— “Fans of fantasy romance, Atlantis, and/or emotional stories with strong characters will be drawn into Touched by Fire.”—Kelly A. Hartsell

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Magic, Contemporary

320 pages, ebook

First published October 2, 2007

About the author

Catherine Spangler is a bestselling and award winning author of the Shielder series (futuristic romance)and the Sentinel Series (romantic urban fantasy). She is a two-time Golden Heart finalist and a RITA finalist and has received numerous other awards and honorable mentions.

She is an active member of Romance Writers of America and her local chapter, Dallas Area Romance Authors. A frequent speaker at writers' groups and conferences, she has taught workshops on the creative process, writing techniques, writing paranormal romance, and goal setting.

She lives in north Texas with her husband and a menagerie of critters. She loves reading, taking naps on the sofa with a good football game for background noise, eating chocolate, and playing poker.

Catherine's fun fact: I celebrated the sale of my first book, Shielder, by drinking champagne from a plastic cowboy boot mug. My critique partners brought four of them to my house, along with the champagne. Drinking champagne from those cowboy boot mugs every time one of us sold a book became a tradition, which we still honor.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
This should come with a warning label. If you don't think physical control is romantic, you should not read this. If you find a man taking away all of your choices, grabbing you and carting you off to where he wants you, cutting you off from all others, violating your privacy and inserting himself into your life, romantic, then this might be for you.

I immediately got on here to see what other readers were saying about this and I could not believe that not one person had mentioned it. How am I the only person to have a problem with this kind of behavior?


When there is a glossary of terms that spans 3 whole pages, you know you're in for it. That's making it more complicated than it needs to be.

I was so turned off, actually almost repulsed, when I read that a conduction "raises sexual energies and has a physical complement--sexual intercourse--which further enhances the psychic energies." And several conductions are required to breach the Belian's shields. That is so utterly ridiculous. I'm so sick of sex being required in order to do things, or as a result of something. So many books have this and it's so overdone. Using someone for sex is sick. This idea is sick.

I was further annoyed to learn Conductors are humans psychically linked to some Sentinels. Here we go again. Christine Feehan does it and then all the knockoffs come out of the woodwork. This has all been done before. Why are you not coming up with your own ideas?

Also, it looked bad to say that a Conductor is always the opposite gender and there's a powerful sexual attraction in a match. 

I was annoyed just from reading the summary that Marla hasn't had a relationship in 11 years. Of course the woman has this self-imposed celibacy for a ridiculously long amount of time. When will women quit doing this to their female characters? I just have one question: Why? Why is it only the man who can have fun while the women have to experience physical/sexual travesty and be forever scarred for, in this case, over a decade? Women act like women cannot be physically attracted to anyone besides the hero. 

I didn't care for the opening scene with a raging case of "this pub has crazy static issues" to explain the energy between them, nor the plain, glasses-wearing, plump Marla doing a "who, me?" routine, not believing Luke could actually be interested in her. That is not attractive.

Rebecca, her loose British friend who stared at Luke and said she didn't want to take her guy home because he was a poor comparison to Luke, said she hadn't seen Marla with a man the entire 3 years she's known her and thought she was homosexual, "mind, not that you acted like one." How does one act?? In the next sentence she wrote that Marla suspected many people thought something was wrong with her. Probably don't want to use the word wrong right after someone suggests you're gay. 

And FYI, having the hero persuade the heroine to agree to go out on a date with the hero is massively uncomfortable. In his POV we had to hear about how he used "mild mental inducement" for her to agree to go out with him. And with one glance he catalogued her license plate # and car, so he had her name and her address. If he couldn't woo her at dinner to help him, because he's talked to Adam about how he can charm her, then he'll have to resort to his other plan. He hopes it won't come down to that. How ominous. Do you want to be mentally manipulated into going out with a stranger when you don't want to?

Luke went to her house after she stood him up, used his powers to unlock her house, scared her dog, and threatened to knock it out completely. Are you sure he's the hero? Because he acts like a villain. Another question, do you want a stranger breaking and entering your home, believing you are there and that he can control you?

He went on to disarm her security system and make her dog go unconscious. The psycho thought lying in wait in a woman's house when she got home was a good way to talk to her. What a predator! I actually felt bad for her when she was trying in vain to protect herself, having flashbacks to exactly this scenario with her girl friend and her ex. Luke grabbed her arm, pulled her around, then swung her up against the door, then pulled her into the living room, pushed her down on the couch and told her to stay there. 

She lost control of her body and found herself unable to move or think clearly as he took those abilities away from her. She managed to get her gun, and then the sexist male scorn ensued as he asked if she knew how to use it. Please keep doing that, authors; it's so funny. 

And then the worst thing that can possible happen happened: the author made the heroine turned on by her captor/tormentor/stalker. 

"The man was probably about to dismember her--after raping and torturing her--and she wanted him to kiss her!"
Do you realize the gross absurdity of that statement? How does this line ever enter someone's head up, much less get published in a book?

For someone who has "no trouble charming women," he sure didn't know what the hell he was doing with Marla. He kept commenting that he was bungling it but didn't stop TELLING HER that she was coming with him, forcing her to be calm and accept his domineering demand that she uproot her life for his stupid cause, and then packing her clothes for her. What the F is happening? F$&?!

She woke up at his place the next day and thought he'd kidnapped her. When he came in the room, she tried to run away and he pinned her to the bed. "She was basically helpless." He commented again that he had "mishandled" it. Because he's a predator. And then it happened again. She was turned on. "How could she react this way to a stalker/kidnapper/possible rapist-murderer?"
"Like I said, don't try anything. Unless you want me monitoring your bathroom visits." She nodded her understanding." 

Here's another brainwashed author who wants readers to swallow the diseased, sexist pill that kidnapping, stalking, threatening, manipulating, and coercing is not only okay, but romantic and sexy. I am not buying it, so stop selling it. 

I was pissed the freak off and skimmed the next couple pages to see where this would go. Luke, the domineering b#%*$?@, allowed her to have her purse, but told her he took her gun, pepper spray, knife, cell phone. And nail clippers. "Their eventual return could be negotiable."

Oh hell no. First you control her reactions, then you break into her house and sit waiting in her living room for her to come home when she stood up FOR A REASON, SO TAKE A HINT, and then you kidnap her, bring her to your house, and steal all of her possessions that she could use to defend herself from your crazy ass? I'm sorry, he's good with women? 

He kept commenting that he was mangling it. Did he really think waiting in her house and abducting her was going to work? He knew she didn't know anything about what she was or what he was. She's an ignorant human. It is laughable that the author would pass this Neanderthal off as a charmer of women. 

Marla said people would notice and start looking for her, and he replied that her work was closed next week--conveniently--and her coworkers wouldn't miss her, and he knew this because he read her email. That was so absolutely scary, no terrifying, that a stranger would look into your place of business and find out your schedule. Women live in terror of this happening, of your home being discovered, of someone finding out your car and personal info, breaking into your house, and stealing you, cutting off your contacts, and Luke did it all. WTH is wrong with you that you would use an entire gender's greatest fears, in a romance, as ways to make the hero sexily "controlling?" Controlling is not sexy. Domination is not sexy. 

And what is worse than all this? The woman allowing it. I was disgusted with Marla as she thought it was "too bad" that he'd taken away all of her potential weapons, nodded when he told her he'd monitor her in the bathroom if she tried anything, sat down when he told her to, and calmly talked to him like he wasn't a scary kidnapper. That is a heroine I can't respect.

This proved to be too scary for me to read as I imagined this actually happening in real life, and I'm deeply disturbed paranormal romance authors are not only passing this off as normal but romantic.

[Kitt Crescendo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Different World

I love finding new, unique books. So when my book challenge included “Hero kidnaps Heroine” I figured I’d try this one out. I was not at all disappointed.

In this story, the heroine was the emotionally stunted and wounded soul. Not that the hero was perfect…well, except maybe his physique and his bad boy sexiness.

Why would a stud like that kidnap the damaged heroine? He’s supposed to be his even keeled one. Right? But she has powers she hasn’t quite tapped into that, when combined with his, can help save countless lives. And when he tries to gain her help the right way she blows him off….

What’s a hero to do?

And then there’s what they need to do to open their chakras and maximize their joint powers… Ooh-la-la! This book was definitely high on my “yum!” scale.

[Monique Atgood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those “They HAVE to do it, to save the Earth” books.

Honestly, I expected more from a Spangler book. She is an impressive author, who strongly writes in the “Alpha Male Forces Heroine To ‘X’” genre.

SYNOPSIS:
Hero is a ‘reincarnated Atlantisian’ who is a super cop who chases down “Belians’, evil ‘reincarnated cult worshipers from ancient Atlantis’. Heroine, is his perfect match as a ‘conductor’, a human who magnifies hero’s tracking abilities by ahem. Umm. Ok. They make it like monkeys in order to increase some energy or chakra or some such excrement.

Problem is, the heroine was traumatized by an attack years ago, and she’s not interested the monkey allegory with the hero or anyone else.

This nice group of super cops called “Sentinels” along with their human “Conductors” work together to track down a vicious ‘Belian” bomber, and then set up the reader so they HAVE to read the next book because the characters are so compelling.

CONS:
I hate reincarnation stories. People aren’t aluminum cans that get recycled.

The story was all chase chase chase, with little drama.

I know Spangler is capable of more, and this one just didn’t deliver it for me.

PROS:
I’m a glutton for punishment, so I already bought the next book in the series.

I liked the characters that this book set up, so I overlook the stupid story line, and go with the flow and completely suspend all reality when I settled down with it.

IMO:
I am much more impressed with Spangler’s sci-fi “Shielder” series.

I liked the characters in this book, but not the story line. It was beyond brainless. But Spangler’s skill as an author and her creative characters forced this reader to finish the novel. And buy the next one. God help me!

[Christine Rains · Rating 4 out of 5]

After witnessing a brutal assault on her sister and having her empathic powers opened, Marla wants nothing to do with men. In fact, she hasn't felt any attraction to men until she meets Luke Paxton at a Houston bar. The connection is frightening, and Luke isn't subtle about getting what he wants. She thinks he's crazy when he says she's a conductor and he's a Sentinel, and they must work together to stop a monster killing innocents. Marla doesn't want to be near him, but she can't let the evil blow up more children. Even though she has Luke protecting her, she finds herself looking into the mind of pure evil, and she might not survive to stop it.

This is the second book in Spangler's Sentinel series, and it's just as explosive as the first. It's a fast-paced paranormal romance with a marvelous mythology surrounding Atlantis. I do love learning about the history of the Sentinels and their modern organization. It's unique in the genre and opens the world to so many new possibilities.

Marla is an unusual heroine. She's not the damsel in distress nor is she the beautiful killer. It's refreshing to see a protagonist that isn't the genre stereotype. Luke, on the other hand, is a super Alpha. All muscles, dripping with sex appeal, and forces things to go his way. I felt overwhelmed by him at times just as Marla did, but he does redeem himself later on.

I've already started the third book!

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful and painful and clunky.

Like watching the awkwardness of Padme and Anakin in Episodes 2 and 3...with dialogue written by George Lucas. On. Every. Single. Page.

Just...no. I would throw my book across the room in frustration, but my book is my ipad, and I'm rather fond of it.

"Could this dialogue be any worse? More cliche?" Yes. Yes it could.

"How many times must I roll my eyes before I give up?" Far too many.

Why must there be the unattractive female with the wild hair and ugly glasses who "gets" the uber-hunk with her witty banter (not that witty) and strength of character (she's kinda average and whiny, honestly)? Why must she be a virgin? (Yes, plot and backstory and motivation...blah, blah, puke. It doesn't work.) Why do very powerful men who can read emotions, move things with their mind, etc. require sex with a female to catch a bad guy?

Contrived much? Yes. Yes it is.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

**MINOR SPOILERS**
This book is the second book in the Sentinel trilogy. I think it can be read as a standalone. Other characters from the series appear. The author has won awards for her writing, but I think it was for her other series.
In this world, the Sentinels are the good guys in the battle of good vs evil. The Belian are the evil guys. Their ongoing war has been going on since the time of Atlantis. Over time, the Sentinels and the Belian are reincarnated over and over again. If the Sentinels can, they send the Belials to Saturn for rehabilitation. The Sentinels can have psychic visions if they find a conductor that helps them amplify their powers.
Marla goes to a bar with a friend who ditches her to talk to someone she is interested in. She meets Luke who immediately recognizes her as a conductor. He asks her out and uses his supernatural abilities for coercion to get her to agree. But, because of a terrible event in her past and her own lack of confidence in her looks, she decides not to meet him for the date. He decides it is a good idea to break into her house and wait for her in the dark. When she walks in and sees him, she is terrified, and he grabs her which only makes her more terrified. Anyone with an ounce have sense would have known this was a terrible way to see her for the second time. But he just says he is handling this all wrong, and he does not seem contrite. He says he won’t hurt her, but if someone was waiting in your house when you got home would you think he was a good guy?
He follows up this behavior by using his skills for coercion to make her agree to come with him. He kidnaps her and brings her to a run down house. When she wakes up, she is not reassured (imagine that) and he tells her that he just wants to explain the situation. He uses telekinesis and coercion to get her to listen. By this point, I was pretty done with the way he acted.
Later in the book, he is upset that Marla put herself in danger and Luke says “If you ever pull a stunt like you did today, I’ll have to forgo my vow to never hit a woman and put you over my knee.” Just no. This is never ok. Prior to that, I was planning to give the book two stars and it was at this point it dropped to one.
His boss even tells him that she needs to be willing for the conduction to work, but he keeps manipulating her. When she figures out what he is doing, she asks him to stop. He agrees and then keeps doing it. He made her fall asleep when she was tired and rationalized it as being for her own good.
The book was told mostly from Marla and Luke’s point of view, but there were a few scenes from the point of view of others. When Marla was young, she witnessed the r*pe and beating of her sister, Julia. Julia appears in the book as a wonderful secondary character. The third book in the trilogy is her story. The male main character from that story, Adam, appears and comes across as insensitive, high handed, and arrogant. It made me lose interest in reading that story. Because of the attack, Marla had decided to remain a virgin.
Luke tells Marla he is trying to find the person who set the bomb that killed a school bus full of children. Despite her shock, she believes what he tells her to be true and she agrees to help him. Then she finds out that the conduction works more successfully when it is done during s*x. Never mind that people are usually distracted by/during s*x. For him, it is clearly no big deal. Not only has he had s*x many times with different conductors, but he has had experience in other circumstances as well. When she says no to the s*x, he cannot believe it. He clearly takes it lightly or as part of her job and has no understanding why a kidnapped, coerced, newly informed person would not want to immediately give it a go. (By the way, the author makes it clear that he is good looking and ripped, so that makes some of this ok.)
He would have pushed for the s*x but found out that Marla is a virgin. That was taboo and he finally drew a line.
I read this book about 15 years after it was published and some of the social contexts were dated.
When the Sentinel and the conductor do a conduction, they open the 7 chakras in order to try to prompt a vision. The second chakra relates to sexuality and the conduction fills them with lust. It seemed like a construction for the sake of the story, but in general, I would think it would not be great to have this kind of connection with others/co-workers. In addition, the 7 chakras are: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, crown. The third eye is supposed to help with seeing the big picture and following your intuition. The crown is associated with awareness and intelligence. To me, it would have made more sense for the conduction to help them with the third eye and crown chakras, though I am not an expert on how chakras work.
When they meet the couple from the first book in the series, Marla is told that Sentinels can father Sentinel children and no birth control can stop it if the next Sentinel who wants to be born chooses them. So, not only did Luke want to have s*x with her, he does not tell her about the risk of pregnancy. Unbelievably, there is an explanation that despite all of the s*x with conductors Luke has had, he has not fathered any children.
Small spoiler… later in the book, Marla initiates a kiss with Luke. He initially participates but when she senses that he wants to stop, she continues. It is not ok for men to do this to women, and it is not ok for women to do this to men.
A smaller issue: it seemed unlikely that Luke’s home would be in such disrepair.
I do not recommend this book. I could not get past the coercion and inequality in the relationships. I finished it in order to write a review and I was glad when I was done.

[Stacie]

This is the story of a Sentinel whose job is to find an evil spirit who is going among humans to kill. He meets a woman who is a "conductor" and she can increase his power to track the enemy. However, the conduction is increased through the sexual act. When he recommends that they "increase" his power, she admits that she is a virgin. The law of his people state that he can not use a virgin to conduct an increase of his power.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 3 out of 5]

After surviving an attack and watching her sister get raped, the heroine has sworn off men and basically lived the life of a hermit. They only reason she's at the bar that night was to be the DD for her friend. Much to her surprise and confusion, the gorgeous man seated next to her decides to press her for her time. She knows what she looks like. Sort of frumpy, glasses and a bit chubby, she is far from the type of woman any man let alone this hunk picks up at a bar. She is skittish and so not seductive or flirtatious but his intensity towards her is....nice, even if he doesn't understand it. When he convinces her to have dinner with him the next night, she agrees, but she knows she'll stand him up. He's not looking for someone like her and she's a 30 year old virgin who is too afraid of men to get into any relationship.

The hero is a Sentinel- aka a reincarnated Atlantian. When he sees the heroine, he knows she's a Conduit- aka a human with psychic powers that when paired with a Sentinel and produce powerful magic. He can tell from her body language she is not used to men and for a man used to woman falling all over him, it's a change. Too bad, this is the one woman he needs to fall under his charm. He's never felt such an intense connection with a Conduit before and with the Belian- aka a bad reincarnated Atlantian- bombing public places and killing hundreds of people, he needs her help to track him down.

When she stand shim up for is dinner date, he kidnaps her and little dog and brings her to a rental house. Though he realizes it's a mistake and wrong, he's desperate for her help. She at first thinks he's the enemy, he's kidnapped her after all but when he shows her proof of her powers and her rule in the fight against evil, she agrees to help him. But because she's a virgin, he says not conductive sex-which is the most powerful magic tool. Instead, they try to do their best to find the Belian with basic conductive rituals with limited success.

The heroine's psychic connection to the villain allows them to get close but it always seems they are one step behind.

The hero is a loner time and not looking for a committed relationship but he can't deny that he's grown attached to the heroine. Still, it seems the issue of stopping the Belian could be easier then sorting out his feelings for the woman he's come to love.

This book was better that I was expecting. I got it into my head that this wasn't a stellar series but I don't know how true that is. The first and only book I read by this author, I read some 7 years ago so my prejudice was stupid. I did like this book but it wasn't great. It started out good and it kept a level of humor that I liked.

The plotline was interesting what with the psychic connections and the time sensitive hunt for a serial bombing but it was peppered with very slow dialogue and a rather uneventful plot considering the subject matter. The character had alright chemistry but it was far from this all consuming passion. It was more like a friendship turned lust than anything and at the same time, the lust felt very forced because being a Conduit and a Sentinel they are naturally drawn to each other.

The heroine was an okay character. I found she would throw fits and storm away when the hero turned her down for sex and that was so not cute. Otherwise, I liked her submittance to the greater good and the fact that she forgave the hero for kidnapping her. The hero was a bit lukewarm in my opinion. He was pretty, and he was kind but he wasn't over the moon to die for. He wasn't really-romantic. All in all, I was pleased with this book. Be that because I wasn't expecting much or that it was actually well written in a mystery.

[★Moonrise · Rating 5 out of 5]

An urban fantasy romance, Touched by Fire could also be described as a crime drama, as the characters--although supernatural in nature--are chasing a very real criminal committing very real and violent crimes throughout Texas. It is a well written book with fully developed characters. Gripping and action-packed, this novel will keep you hooked till the end!

Marla Reynolds is still working through issues related to a trauma from eleven years ago. Her coping mechanisms have left her in a position to function in the world, while remaining emotionally frozen and separated from the possibility of a romantic relationship. She is also very hard on herself, and lacks confidence in her ability to be a desirable candidate for a relationship. So when she agrees to join her friend for drinks she is shocked to find herself not only attracted to a handsome stranger at the pub, but perplexed by his attraction to her! The chemistry is undeniable, especially when they shake hands. Marla is confused. However, the handsome stranger, Luke Paxton, is fully aware of what is happening... Marla is his matched conductor.

As a Sentinel--a reincarnated Atlantian with super human abilities--finding a matched conductor is crucial to conquering evil that is lurking in the city, waiting to strike at any moment. In fact, the evil has already reared its head, and time is of the essence. But Marla's apprehension is a barrier... Luke will need her help, but the choice must belong to Marla. She agrees to meet him the next night for dinner, at which point Luke will begin to explain the connection between a Sentinel and conductor, and its significance. But when Marla stands him up he decides drastic measures are in order.

Luke puts Marla in a dreamlike state and takes her to his home where he knows she will be safe. Although his intentions are noble, his actions set the stage for mistrust and fear that will be yet another barrier to overcome. Marla is forced to confront her traumatic past. More importantly, she is forced to find her inner strength if she is to overcome past traumas and learn to trust herself again. The journey is far from easy. And although Luke's actions are extreme, underneath it all he is proving to be a loyal and fiercely protective man that Marla finds herself beginning to understand. As she discovers the root of her own abilities, she slowly accepts her role in the supernatural world... and it is no small role. But can she learn to put her trust in Luke? Her life, and the lives of others, may depend on it.

If you enjoyed the first book, you will want to read this absorbing second installment in the series! The romance is worth the wait, as the chemistry between characters is explosive! I am looking forward to the third book, and eager to see where the author will take us on this exciting journey!

Reviewed by Stephanie
★★★★★
5 STARS

Read more reviews at Moonrise Book Blog: http://www.moonrisebookblog.com/2014/...

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd in a series featuring Sentinels - reincarnations of Atlanteans, on earth to battle against reincarnations of Atantean baddies. They need conductors - humans with pyschic abilities who are able to boost the sentinel's natural abilities. Yes, sex is the main way this happens. But in this title, the conductor - Marla - is still recovering from a serious trauma and, according to the rules, she can't conduct sexually, as it were.

[Wendy coling ( trowbridge) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the way luke screws up around marla. Kidnapped her and can't explain things, it's funny. The dogs great and her sister meets Adam who realizes she is his bond which is next book. Together with Damien and Kara they get the bad guy.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far my favorite in the series! As with the first, just enough 'paranormal' infused with 'romance' wrapped in a shiny 'mystery/thriller' bow! Add to that witty sarcasm and humor and this is my choice to represent the series on my Fabulous Shelf!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

More porn than book 1.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Karen Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

4