Burn Zone

A Gay Firefighter Romance

By: Annabeth Albert

Narrated by: Iggy Toma

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

“If you’re looking for a new series with the same kind of found family, band of brothers feel you got from Albert’s Out of Uniform, this is the place to start!” (Small Queer, Big Opinions)

Introducing Annabeth Albert’s Hotshots series: The emotions and intensity of Chicago Fire with the raw, natural elements of Man vs. Wild.

Smokejumper Lincoln Reid is speechless to see Jacob Hartman among his squad’s new recruits. Linc had promised his late best friend he’d stay away from his little brother. And yet here Jacob is...and almost instantly, the same temptation Linc has always felt around him is causing way too many problems.

Jacob gets everyone’s concerns, but he’s waited years for his shot at joining the elite smokejumping team, hoping to honor his brother’s memory. He’s ready to tackle any challenge Linc throws his way, and senses the chemistry between them - chemistry Linc insists on ignoring - is still alive and kicking. This time, Jacob’s determined to get what he wants.

Close quarters and high stakes make it difficult for Linc to keep his resolve, nevermind do so while also making sure the rookie’s safe. But the closer they get, the more Linc’s plan to leave at the end of the season risks him breaking another promise: the one his heart wants to make to Jacob.

Danger lurks everywhere for Central Oregon’s fire crews, but the biggest risk of all might be losing their hearts. 

Hotshots
Book 1: Burn Zone
Book 2: High Heat
Book 3: Feel the Fire
Book 4: Up in Smoke

Also by Annabeth Albert:

Shore Leave
Book 1: Sailor Proof
Book 2: Sink or Swim

Out of Uniform
Book 1: Off Base
Book 2: At Attention
Book 3: On Point
Book 4: Wheels Up
Book 5: Squared Away
Book 6: Tight Quarters
Book 7: Rough Terrain

©2020 Annabeth Albert (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Excellent - with one quibble

This is an entertaining best-friend's-hot-little-brother story, and I enjoyed it when I read it on kindle. I was delighted when it came out in audiobook format, as I particularly like Iggy Toma. Be aware of one thing though: the story contains flashbacks which are in italics in the text, but except for the first two chapters which are dated, the time jumps are in no way noted in narrative form. As some of them are very short - sometimes as little as a couple of lines of dialog - I found it hard to follow even though I had read the book pretty recently. Really, some producer should have caught this, and somebody ought to fix it.

Otherwise, the book is great: well-researched detail about smoke jumpers, an interesting twist on the older brother trope, complications - age gap, family, and being coworkers - and terrific chemistry.

Most BORING listenning this year...

This was a drag to finish. This story was longer than need be. It was 95% of MC feeling sorry for himself but yet not being able to help himself by getting involved with the other MC. 3% of firefighter action and talks, and 2% of sudden realization. The characters were meek and uninteresting. The climb to the climax-less conclusion was a snooze fest. Good thing about audio is I just move my cursor to skim thru draggy-chapters.
I'm returning for my credit and not continuing with series. The second book's summary sounds as dull.

reasons, obscurity, things

Good storyteller, and good story tries far to hard. Throughout the first half you are struggling constantly to work out what all the obscure "reasons" and if there are so many, what are they. it was sooooooo frustrating.

Couldn't connect

I don't think I was as engaged with this one as I much as I wanted to be, and I'm not sure why. The story was good, and the scenes were steamy. I just didn't fully connect. Possibly because it was narrated in third person?

hmmm ... 3.5 stars

Would I listen to it again: ✔ - I enjoy Iggy Toma - so yes because of the narration.
Did the story keep me engaged: reasonably
Was I invested in the characters: not until the very end

📖 Story comment: 🤔 I'm on the fence with this one.
Now that I've finished it, I can say overall I enjoyed it, but I was expecting "more" fire action - it does have me interested enough that I've picked up the next in the series, but I was frustrated with the two MC"s while I was listening to it. Too much internal struggle with Linc and I wanted better for Jacob (a better/more supportive family and a better friend from Linc).

🎧 Narrator comment: I enjoyed Iggy Toma's narration, he suits the characters, has good cadence, inflections and intonations and it's easy to distinguish the characters from each other. Overall an enjoyable performance and he bought the characters of the book to life

I felt the audio needed a longer pause between the flashbacks (or something to indicate them like a timeframe or date), sometimes they were so short that they blended into the story and it got confusing.

------------------------------------------------------
📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 6
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list • 8 kept me up past bed-time • 9 recommended to family/friends • 10 own it in multiple formats • 11 keep a copy with me at all times
------------------------------------------------------

*** Fun, Hot Romance!!! ***

Author & narrator are a perfect blend for a great story; such a sexy, compelling voice for this beginning of a great series. This is my third listen to the adventure, and each time I appreciate something new that was missed before.
Ms. Albert does not disappoint in delivering a great plot, sexy romance, and by choosing Iggy Toma, a narrator whose delicious voice brings the passion home!!❤😁

wow I can't finish this. it's terrible

omg make it stop. the hot and cold, the no feelings to all the feelings, the constant trying to get his affection. the not beeing able to let go of a promise that should not have been made. I can't listen to this book past chapter 17. I'm just sitting yelling omg just move on and do something. not what I want to hear about over and over.

Wow....just wow!

I love Annabeth’s books but this was just a fantastic experience! Iggy Toma will go down as my ALL TIME favorite narrator, and this was one of the great ones. His characters just come to life and you feel like you are right there in the story. I didn’t know about smoke jumping and I loved that it was new to me. Don’t miss this! You must listen to it!!!

Sweet love story

Annabeth Albert does phenomenal research into her stories. I felt like I was there in the action. Great romance and good narration.

Lincoln and Jacob

Lincoln is a seasoned Smoke jumper along with his best mate Wyatt, 9 months ago he lost Wyatt to a fire, now his younger brother Jacob has shown up as a new Recruit. Wyatt warned Linc to stay away from his brother but that promise has kept them apart over the last 6 years. The smoke is hot around those two, not just at the fires. Another accident sees Linc confessing his love. Great way to start of A new series as this book was Hot af.

Really good and emotional firefighter story

Story: I loved the emotions in this story. We get a bit of an age gap trope, with best friend's brother and lon time pining for dessert. The characters were soulful, likable and the author input enough angst to make it interesting. I liked all the tidbits about fire jumpers training, they showed a lot of research went into it!

Narration: One thing that is easier in writing, than audio is marking flashbacks (italics in this case). As these are not marked in the audio in any way, jumps between past and present get confusing at times and really make it hard to follow the story. I think there should be some mark input into the narration to make up for the lack of italics.
Overall though, the voice and emotions all worked very well and it was a good performance.