Flirting with Fire

Blue Collar Brothers, Book 1

By: Piper Rayne

Narrated by: Kylie Stewart, Eric Rolon

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

Everyone knows that if you play with fire, you'll end up getting burned....

What happens when you attend a first responder's bachelor auction with your best friends? Well, if your name is Madison Kelly like mine is, your friends end up bidding on a date for you with your high school crush.  

That's right. Even back when I was "Fatty Maddie" to all my classmates, I had eyes for the quarterback of our football team. Not like I was the only one. Mauro Bianco may fight fires for a living, but he still sets my heart ablaze. One look at the rugged, muscular man he's turned into and I want to slide down his pole.   

One date. That's all I'm committed to. A few hours and I can tuck him back into that tattered old shoebox in my closet.  

As always, the universe has other plans. I never would've predicted that in a matter of days, he'd turn from my dream guy into my business partner - and that's when things got interesting.

©2018 Piper Rayne Inc. (P)2018 Piper Rayne

Not my favourite

This book was good, but not great. It was just slightly off the mark. It was a light and easy listen and there was technically nothing wrong with the writing style. The characters were a bit shallow and inconsistent and the storyline was fairly basic and predictable.

There were just too many cliches to make the book interesting. I am so over romances that use the ‘I’m a silly, self conscious girl with insecurities and hang-ups’ as the main plot line.

Ah, gotta love hot Italian men...

Maddie was THAT teenager in HS...the one with braces, a little overweight, nerd girl. The girl that everyone saw through...until that night in sophomore year when she drove hot jock, and senior, Mauro Bianco home home a bonfire. Mauro was a bit drunk but they hung out in the park across from his house and talked...and then he gave her ‘theee first kiss’. Of course, being a nerd, Maddie’s braces cut his lip...lol.
Now a decade later and Mauro is a hot firefighter and Maddie has here own business flipping houses. She attends a charity auction where her friends won her a date with Mauro. Maddie was excited but then the date was a bust...ending with Mauro calling her a ppl pleaser. Maddie decides to get over that longtime crush and focus on her business. This time she is bidding on her former childhood home...then, surprise, Mauro shows up to bid in the same property. The pair decide to partner up and buy the property instead of driving up the price for each other. So begins the new friendship of M&M. Friendship becomes more but can it move forward when the widow of Mauro’s former partner seems to have her sights in him? You will fall for the Bianco brothers and their parents! Can’t wait for the next Bianco brother’s story.

Humorous story line with serious moments

Even though I’ve read the book version of this story, the narrative gives it so much more life. Voices are now going to be these characters in my head every time I read it.

Wonderful story, great performance!

I swear that Piper Rayne is trying to knock another of their books off my #1 favorite list. I say that because I’ve never had one of their female protagonists mirror parts in the deepest, darkest corners of my heart. However, I am not surprised that my favorite duo did it. Flirting with Fire is a beautiful story of letting go of past impressions and reaching for that golden future.

Maddie…with the exception of the braces, I was her in high school. There was that one guy that made my heart speed. I was and am like her the way she is now when it comes to other people. And again, like her, when I relax, that’s when the funny comes out. I love her relationship with her best friends so much! That one scene in the house in the beginning had me giggling then outright laughing!

Mauro…*sigh* can I just please have him? I love his sense of humor and his big…heart (what were you thinking I was gonna say? LOL!). There were times I wanted to smack him upside his head like his mama does, but other times, I wanted to hug him! He’s not perfect. Far from perfect, but he is so perfect for Maddie.

Gah M&M forever! Piper Rayne, ladies, I don’t know how you do it. And let me say, I’m not completely happy about having that mirror into my high school years. However, what eclipses that is the message of this story. It’s one that my friends have tried to beat into my head for a long time. Figures that Flirting with Fire would be the one to make me feel that lesson. Thank you, ladies. (Sprinkling unicorn glitter over my favorite duo)

As for the performance, the female narrator has the perfect voice for Maddie, but her tone at multiple points sounded bored, which annoyed me since there's nothing boring about this book from beginning to end, even the sex scene narration made me wince. That is the sole thing that kept the performance from being a 5-star rating. However, the male narrator is absolutely how I imagined Mauro sounds! Even the voices he used for Cristian and Luca were perfect to my ears! He did a fantastic job!

Great book!!

Really enjoyed this book!! Excited for the next two books. This was my first from the author and it was great. Highly recommend!!

M & M Forever

I really enjoyed the audio version of this book. I have read the book before but the narrators, Kylie Stewart and Eric Rolon really bring the characters to life. I love this new series about the Bianco brothers! This is Mauro and Maddie's story -- M&M. Maddie had a crush on Mauro when they were in high school. He was the popular football star and 2 years older. Maddie was the nerdy girl with braces and overweight. Fast forward 9 years and Maddie's friend bids and wins Mauro, now a firefighter, at a charity auction for Maddie. They get one date. It didn't go too well and Maddie still holds their high school encounter against Mauro. Even though Maddie still sees herself as the nerd, she has turned into a beauty. Mauro is quite the hero in every way. The way Mauro tries to get Maddie to see what he sees in her is wonderful. The way Maddie and Mauro's love story evolves is beautiful. I like the way Piper brought back as Maddie's neighbors a couple from the previous series. Reed and Victoria. I love the relationship between the Bianco brothers with all their bantering. We'll get to see Cristian and Luca's dates in the rest of the series. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

The narrators made this story so enjoyable!

5 Crazy Ass Must Listen/Read Stars!!!!!

Audible Review:
OMG! The audiobook just made this story so much better! Kylie Stewart and Eric Rolon were cast perfectly. They are the perfect voices Maddie and Mauro. The story just came to life and made it that much more enjoyable.


Reading Review (09/18):
Piper Rayne is back at again! They make one heck of a writing duo! Each new story they bring is so fresh and easy to get drawn into the story. Flirting with Fire had me right from page one.

I absolutely loved this story and Mauro and Maddie! Their characters were so real and were easy to connect with.

I also loved all the feels. The laughter, the swoons, and the drama that surrounds Mauro and Maddie kept me glued to this story.

I can not wait to get my hands on the next two book and learn more about the brothers, Cristian and Luca.

Wow

Brilliant book and wow what a cliffhanger can’t wait to listen to second book in this trilogy.