Fire Maidens: Volume 1

Billionaires & Bodyguards

By: Anna Lowe

Narrated by: Kelsey Osborne

Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Three sizzling, suspenseful romances in one great collection!

Danger lurks over Europe, where a ruthless dragon clan plots to seize power in the grandest, most glamorous cities. The guardians of old have summoned a new generation of shifter heroes to protect the castles, cathedrals, and cobblestoned streets of their ancestral homes—and to seek out the last of the Fire Maidens, women coveted by the dark lords for their royal blood. Those women are absolutely off-limits to the young warriors tasked with protecting them. But destiny, of course, has other ideas….

This special edition box set includes....

Fire Maidens: Paris, Book 1: a vampire attack exposes Natalie Brewer to a whole new side to the City of Lights — and her own heritage. Can she really be descended from a legendary dragon queen?

2020 Raven Award Winner - Best Fantasy Romance

2020 Rone Award Finalist - Best Paranormal Romance!

Fire Maidens: London, Book 2: Gemma Archer meets Liam, a sweet, sexy modern-day knight who sparks sizzling desires. The problem? He’s as loony as some of her relatives. Dragons? Lion shifters? Werewolves? The poor man really seems to believe the tales he spins.

Fire Maidens: Rome, Book 3: Lena Castamolino is terrified. Every time the full moon shines, her body tries to turn into a wild beast. Could it have to do with her recent move to Rome — a magical city that called to her for years?

Ready to explore Europe with the alpha shifters of your dreams? Get your copy of Fire Maidens, Volume 1 today!

©2021 Anna Lowe (P)2023 Anna Lowe

Critic reviews

Winner Paranormal Romance Guild's Reviewers Choice Award: Best Vampires & Shifters Series!

binge

absolutely love Anna's writing, all her stories are worth reading and/or listening to. Can't go wrong if you are looking to read about mates.

Love these books!

Fire Maidens

Paris

This is going to be a great series. We move from Hawaii to Europe for this one, which is sort of an offshoot from Jewels of the Heart and Pearls of Desire. While you don't have to read either of these two series to understand this one, you should just because they are fantastic!

Natalie has followed her dream and come to Paris. She is all alone in the city of love but she isn't really here to find love, she is here to explore Paris and help out the less fortunate. She works to support herself, but she volunteers at a soup kitchen to give back. Her French is not the best and she uses the opportunity to improve it and to learn about the lives of those she meets there. She had never been one to believe in the supernatural, but lately she has been having strange dreams about, of all things, vampires. When a strange man comes into the soup kitchen she is not sure why she feels he is there to watch her, but for some reason he seems to be connected to the strange dreams. Vampire. Really? No, is must be her imagination.

Tristan has been hired by the guardians of Paris to patrol and report on vampire activity. He is drawn to one of the city's soup kitchens because of one of the volunteers. When he drops in hoping to catch a glimpse of her he is immediately on alert when he senses a vampire presence. It doesn't take him long to determine that the vampire is there for the same reason he is, Natalie.

So starts a life changing night for both Natalie and Tristan. It seems she is one of the sought after Fire Maidens whose presence in their specified city brings power and stability to the shifters who reside there and also, by association, the human population. Tristan's dragon has declared Natalie is his mate, but how can someone like him possibly be mates with someone as special as a Fire Maiden? There is no way the Guardians are going to allow that to happen.

We also get to meet Liam, who will get his story in book 2. Love me a lion shifter.


London

Another great book by Anna Lowe. You can read this one as a stand-alone, but the first book (Paris) gives a little more information about Fire Maidens and introduces you Liam.

Liam is an unusual shifter since he had a dragon for a father and a lion for a mother. All his life he has been told that his father was no good and died in a fight which caused his mother to die of a broken heart. He was raised by his mother's family and was made to feel inferior since he wasn't a "real lion."

Gemma has fled Boston where she was stalked by a crazy man and has come to live in London near her English father. She works part time at a map shop and gets involved with every civic cause that is worthy of her attention. She lives on a narrowboat on a canal, or at least she does until the owner returns to the country. She visits her crazy father who lives nearby and seems to be always worried about things like dragons attacking her, as if. There are no such things as dragons. Or are there?

Gemma will learn a lot about dragons, and lions, and wolves, and even ravens and unicorns. Join her and Liam as they flee across London and then to a "cozy" castle in Wales. Destiny.

I was given an advanced copy of this book by the author. My review is voluntary.


Rome

In this book, we get Sergio's story. You remember him, right? The hunky Italian wolf shifter who helped out Liam and Gemma in the last book? Well, he apparently has a really checkered past. Don't tell anybody but his family used to be a mafia superpower. Sergio did what he had to do to protect his mother and then hoofed it and joined the foreign legion. The Guardians of Rome have allowed him to come back and help out by spying on what is possibly a mafia wannabe. When he follows his "boss" on a photoshoot involving the guy's girlfriend, he is very surprised to find out the photographer is the newby dragon shifter he helped out in a park a few nights previous. He is even more surprised when his wolf continues to tell him that she is their mate.

Lena recently moved to Rome, the city she has always dreamed of living in. She doesn't understand why, since her move, on every full moon her body tries to change into some kind of beast. When she sees the good-looking man who she recognizes as the wolf/man thingy she saw in the park a few nights before, she doesn't know how to act. She has been having vividly erotic dreams about him ever since she met him. When he turns up at the house where she is renting a room offering to help her with her transformation problem, she is only sure that she would do anything to keep seeing him.

Find out what happens when a dragon and wolf find out they are meant for each other, right in the middle of a shifter battle. I was given an advanced copy of this book by the author. My review is voluntary.

Billionaires & Bodyguards Series

This is three great books together in one Fire Maidens volume.

Fire Maidens: Paris - Great start to the Billionaires & Bodyguards series
I can already tell that this series is going to be good. Natalie met Tristan at the soup kitchen where she volunteered. While there, vampires tried to attack and kidnap her because of her royal blood (of which she was unaware). Tristan holds them off, kills one and gets hurt in the process. All this so she could safely get away. Then she returns to the scene and finds Tristan hurt and barely able to move. She helps him back to his apartment and stays with him because the vampires that escaped will be looking for her.

While at his apartment, Tristan and Natalie become very close. His dragon recognized her as his mate. He cannot protect her alone so he takes her to his superiors. We meet Liam, Marcel and Jakleen. Liam is so funny. Marcel is a privileged, power-hungry b@stard who feels he is entitled to mate with Natalie but Tristan was not having it. Jakleen was a real snobby b!tch who dated Tristan in the past (and would want him back). She is trouble with a capital T but not in the way I expected. Ms. Lowe excels at writing b!tches and b@stards. There were quite a few moments where I was literally on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happens next, especially the scene in the tunnel when Natalie was being chased. You’d be surprised by who was behind all of it.

A lot happens in this book and Ms. Lowe has done a great job, as usual. Her books are easy to lose yourself in. With Kelsey Osborne’s narration and Ms. Lowe’s descriptions, you could “see” everything. I highly recommend this new series and cannot wait for book 2 to come to Audible.

Fire Maidens: London - Action, romance, suspense - loving this series!
I don’t know how Ms. Lowe does it. This book was so good! There were times when I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. If you like paranormal romance, you will love this book. She is an outstanding author!

The next Fire Maiden has been identified—Gemma. Liam and Gemma first meet on the Tube (London Underground) when she is being stalked and their connection is almost immediate. She fled to London because she was being stalked in Boston.

The Guardians of London tasked Liam, a mixed-blood lion shifter, with mating Gemma (she really is his mate), producing a child and then turn that child over to the Guardians to be raised. If he refuses, one of the others will be more than happy to step in and handle the task. Liam is surprised that the Fire Maiden is Gemma.

Liam talks to her about shifters, dragons and other supernaturals and she thinks he has PTSD and a little crazy. Her father had been telling her about dragons and she never really believed him but eventually puts two and two together. Her father spoke of the same things that Liam spoke of. When a dragon is after her, circling the boat she is housesitting, Liam rescues her and she witnesses his shift. The pace of this book is great! As with Ms. Lowe's other books, I got lost in the story. I couldn’t believe it when I was listening to the epilogue because I didn't want it to end!

Gemma turns out to be a very strong person when eventually confronting the Guardians, specifically Elektra, who was a b!tch. This book has a lot of drama and suspense and very good fight scenes with the villains.

Liam’s friend Sergio has a large role in this book and he was awesome! He had Liam and Gemma’s backs throughout the book. The ending was a good set up for Sergio's book.

Fire Maidens: Rome - Sergio and Lena
Lena was a photographer and Sergio a guardian. He stumbled upon her when she was in mid shift. Sergio was on assignment following Vincente (a bad guy) so he ended up at a photo shoot with Lena and Amber. Amber was a piece of work and so full of herself. Amber wanted Lena to photograph her on Vincente's yacht. The bad guys thought Amber was the Fire Maiden when they saw the stone turn brilliant, but when they later realize it is Lena, Sergio had to get her off the yacht. I love how they escaped by taking one of the jet skis. When they reached land, Sergio took a motorcycle. From there, the action really takes off. There were quite a few “edge of your seat” moments because you know the bad guys would not be far behind them and eventually find them. Loved the fight scene and when the bad guys were trying to capture Lena. All he!! breaks loose when they do. Ms. Lowe always has a good balance of action and romance and she manages to pack a lot into her stories. This book was so enjoyable that I would have loved it to continue longer. As always, Ms. Lowe's bad guys are really bad, each in their own way. The b!tch, Jackleen, makes an appearance in this book. I hope Ms. Lowe plan to write a story about Marco who claims not to want a mate.

Kelsey Osborne did a great job with the narration of all three books.

A great bundle of audiobooks!

Paris

This is going to be a great series if it continues on like this book is. I loved everything about this story. From vampires and dragon shifters to fights and finding your mate this book has everything you can hope for and more!

London

Just like the first book in this series, I absolutely loved this book! So much action and love as well as attempted deception and an awesome surprise with our lovely shifter this time. I don’t want to give anything away but will tell you that you will love this book!

Rome

In this installment of the fire maidens you get another couple that is fierce when their other half is in danger. These two are the perfect pair for each other and neither fights the pull so you get so much more of their love for each other than in the previous books. Love, love, love this couple!

Overall this is a fun book bundle that will keep you entertained for hours!

Three Adventures in One

Anna Lowe never fails to provide stories full of romance and adventure, and the narrator does a wonderful job at bringing the stories to life. While these stories can be read in any order, the characters from the first stories tend to show up in the later books, so it's better to read them in order. Climb aboard and enjoy the fun in these three books.

ROMANTIC, ADVENTUROUS, ENTERTAINING, A1 NARRATION

ROMANTIC, ADVENTUROUS, ENTERTAINING, A1 NARRATION
SO SO romantic, you will just love this set of books featuring beautiful, strong, courageous and humble woman that care about community and those that need a hand. These girls find themselves drawn to their biological home, even if they don't know it yet, that includes the history of their ancestors and a paranormal existence all around them they never knew about.
These stories are entertaining ,as each character is introduced, we learn about the struggles and soon the rewards to those with good hearts.
Travel around the globe as you read ,with each book set in a famous location where the bad guys and the good guys fight for supremacy. There is a damsel in distress at the center of the mystery but don't be misled these women are strong, feisty and independent. Paranormal shifters , old and grumpy or young and enthusiastic these characters are sure to keep you as entertained as they did me. No cliff hangers but with guaranteed happy endings.
I have all Anna Lowes books and find they are so satisfying they can be re-read/listened further down the track.
If you want a feel good, romantic paranormal series then this author is for you, you won't regret it.
The narration is in a beautiful easy listening voice that compliments the characters and all the action.
RECOMMENDED

Fun listen!

Fun to get 3 full books in the Fire Maidens series all together! You get Fire Maidens: Paris, London, and Rome! Really enjoy this entertaining paranormal series!

The narrator does a good job. She gives a solid, clear performance. I’d like to hear more emotions coming through in her voice, but I’d recommend listening.

Paris

Loved the premise with the whole fire maiden scenario and that the books in the series will take place in different European cities. Here's hoping for cities in Ireland and Scotland! This one is in Paris, and it was fun to touch on some of Paris' attractions. Natalie is surprised to learn that supernatural entities exist; vampires, shifters, etc., but she's even more surprised to learn that she may have more to do with that world than she anticipated. She ends up meeting Tristan; a dragon shifter, who helps protect and support Natalie. Unfortunately, old fashioned ideals get in the way of their connection. Also, an unfortunate, stuck-up supernatural gets in the way as well. The vampires aren't exactly making things easy for Natalie as well, so she's dealing with a whole lot. I love the whole mate connection, and Tristan and Natalie are really sweet together. I do wish Natalie felt a bit more for Tristan or that what she’s feeling came across better, but overall, they have good chemistry and definitely some heat between them. Entertaining adventure for Natalie and Tristan! I'm really excited to read the next book!

London

Fun series! Loving that each book is at a different famous city; cool for the characters to interact with some of the famous sites. Sweet connection between Gemma and Liam. Heartfelt and steamy! As always, love the shifter aspect. Lions and dragons in this one! The characters are still dealing with the old timers being stuck in their way; man they need to change with the times. Liam is trying to protect Gemma, but that can be difficult with multiple enemies on the loose. I liked the backstory with Liam and seeing the growth within him. Entertaining read! Looking forward to reading the next book that takes place in Rome!

Rome

Loving this series so far! This one I believe is my favorite too! Cool beginning with Lena not knowing that she’s a dragon shifter, so she has no idea why her body is trying to shift. Sergio, a wolf shifter, comes across her and offers support. That’s just the beginning of Lena and Sergio’s problems; they have a couple groups of bad guys after them, makes for some great suspense. Love how honest Sergio and Lena are right away; no games is always refreshing, and I love how accepting she is of the whole shifters thing. Lena is a tough cookie that uses her common sense. Sergio is adorable. These two have some majorly hot chemistry! Sweet and sexy connection! Plus, a shifter council that doesn’t completely suck! The story was engaging right from the beginning. Loved the Rome setting, the action, and the magical elements. Excited for the next book in Portugal with Marco!

Thoroughly Enjoyable Boxset

Book 1:
I am loving this new series by Ms. Lowe. It's fun with lots of humor and suspense. Can't forget to mention it takes place in Paris, beautiful Paris. What more can we want with a sweet romance story.

Ms. Osborne did a lovely job with the narration.

I enjoyed the story. While it mostly follows the pattern of the previous series, there were a couple of twists that surprised and please me. It kept the story fresh and engaging.

Natalie is a sweet yet feisty heroine with a heart for the downtrodden and no room for snobbery. Tristan is practically perfect in every way. He's strong, handsome, fearless, and noble. He's also determined to protect Natalie and make sure she has the final say in her life.

I loved the secondary characters in the guardians group, especially Clara and Hugo. They are so sweet and adorable. I also enjoyed Liam, the lion shifter. In many ways he reminded me of Del from the "Aloha Shifters: Pearls of Desire" series. There is obviously a backstory with him which I can't wait to learn about in the next story.

Book 2:
This is another well-crafted story by Ms. Lowe. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Gemma and Liam. He was sweet, charming, and funny. Gemma was smart and sweet. Loved the side characters of Gareth, Sergio, and Gemma's slightly addled father. I even found Electra amusing. She was the perfect semi-villian.

The narration was well done.

Book 3:

Another thoroughly enjoy listen! I loved that the action started right away with Lena dealing with her inner beast that definitely wanted out. Of course, our hero, Sergio, is there to lend a hand. I liked their interactions throughout the story as well. As usual, I enjoyed the side characters, especially Ariana and Dante.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the audiobook. I also purchased the Kindle versions of each book.

Exciting stories

What is not to love of a collection of stories that allow you the luxury of travels while you are working. Paris with Tristan and Natalie is a wonderful story full of adventure, danger and romance. Dragons, gargoyles and vampires are a very wild ride in the city of Paris. You will enjoy the ride.
London has Gemma and Liam handling werewolves, lions and the ever present dragons. As in all the fire maiden books there is an unimaginable situation to escape with the added bonus of a romance.
Rome has Lena and Sergio fighting around Rome trying to escape all the people trying to capture Lena. I highly recommend this series of books.

Wonderful Series

I had already listened to and read all the books in this wonderful series as they were released but if you've missed them and enjoy paranormal shifter love stories, expertly written with wonderfully well-drawn characters and attention to detail in the descriptive locations then this is a series you'll not want to miss.

Fire Maidens Paris is the first book, it is a standalone series which again features some great characters Natalie and her Mate Tristan. Natalie believes herself to be human, she has grown up knowing nothing at all about shifters or the supernatural world. She is in Paris because for years she has dreamt about the city and it has been her dream to live in it. She has found herself a tiny apartment, works in a bar and helps out at a homeless shelter.

But one night whilst working at the shelter she encounters two very different men, two men who will change her life forever! One is a vampire and one is a dragon shifter - she is about to see a whole new side to Paris. As she leaves the shelter she is attacked by four vampires and a gargoyle but is saved by Tristan a dragon shifter. They go home to his apartment to keep her safe and the next day she is taken to meet the Guardians of Paris and is told that she is descended from a powerful legendary shifter queen, that she is, in fact, a Fire Maiden and that she is the saviour the shifters of Paris have been waiting for.

She is assigned a bodyguard, Tristan, who has returned to Paris after a decade in the Foreign Legion. His mission now is to prove himself to the Guardians of Paris and to protect the city. Being appointed as a bodyguard for Natalie is both a blessing and a curse, it's a blessing because he gets to be close to her and a curse because Natalie is off-limits, she is his charge and he feels way out of his reach.

But just because he's been told to guard and protect but don't touch doesn't mean that the smouldering desire they both feel will go away. When Natalie is captured by bloodthirsty vampires working in tandem with Jacquline, a power-hungry she-dragon she has to dig deep and fight for both her life and Tristan's. With so much at stake, they must win!

Next comes Fire Maidens London, telling Liam and Gemma's story, she fled to London to escape a stalker in the US. She's settled in well, is house-sitting on a long boat on the canal and has a job she enjoys in a bookstore. But her main driving force seems to be good causes of all kinds and whilst travelling on the tube to a rally she sees a man very similar to her stalker. Just when it looks like he's going to attempt to get too close a tall attractive man gets on the tube and stands between them. This is Liam, a lion shifter working for The Guardians of London.

She's decided to avoid men, but that is impossible to do when she instantly feels a connection to Liam her rescuer. But when he starts talking about her being in danger from dragons and tells her about other shifter species she believes him to be suffering from some form of mental disorder just like her father.

Liam is a shifter of mixed blood, his father was a dragon and his mother was a lion. He's an anomaly and looked down upon by his pureblood lion relatives. So when he's offered a job with the Guardians, he accepts hoping to prove his worth to them. The same day he met Gemma on the tube he was given a new task by them, meet, seduce and mate the newly found Fire Madien who just happens to be Gemma. His skills will be put to the test as he attempts to keep Gemma, his mate, safe not only from their enemies but also from the Guardians themselves.

There are lots more I could tell you but that would involve more spoilers than I want to give so I will just say that I loved this book, I loved Liam who was so loving and strong, I loved Gemma who was such a strong and good person and I liked the main supporting characters, Garath a raven shifter and Sergio Liam's friend and one sexy wolf shifter!

Then there is Sergio and Lena's story in Fire Maidens Rome, we were introduced to Sergio a character who intrigued me in the previous book and if you like me have been eagerly awaiting his story then you won't be disappointed.

Sergio has a checkered past, like all his team members in the Legion it's not something he's proud of but he did what was necessary to protect his mother and it made him who he is. Because of his past and what he knows The Guardians of Rome have asked him to come back and help with what could be a mafia problem. When his "mafia boss" visits a photoshoot involving his girlfriend Sergio goes along and is shocked that the photographer is the dragon shifter he met recently. As if her being a shifter isn't enough his wolf insists that she's his mate.

Lena has always dreamed of living in Rome and now she's living there but she doesn't know why on the full moon her body tries to change into a beast but what kind? At a photo shoot, she sees the man/wolf she met in the park recently.

Later Lena is shocked when Sergio comes to the room she is renting and offers to help her with what has been happening to her, can he be trusted?

The narrator of these books is the super-talented Kelsey Osborne, the voice of Anna Lowe who always delivers a moving and exciting performance which always brings all the characters to life. I love the way this author and narrator work together to deliver books of such quality. The research of the locations for this book carried out by Anna Lowe was very thorough, I know well the areas in both London and Wales featured in Fire Maidens London and her descriptions are bang on!

I was given this audiobook as a gift and am voluntarily writing my review.