Mini Review: Circle of Fire by Keri Arthur

Goodreads
Keri Arthur's site
Series: Damask Circle trilogy #1
Copy obtained: gift
Rating: 4/5

Sixteen teenagers are taken from their homes. Eleven bodies recovered, each completely drained of blood. Some believe vampires are responsible, Jon Barnett knows it's something far worse and, while trying to stop the killers, he soon becomes enmeshed in a web of black magic and realises he needs help. But fate gives him only one choice.

Recluse Madeline Smith is afraid of the abilities she cannot control. But when she is brought a warning of danger and her nephew goes missing, Maddie must learn to overcome this fear - and place her trust in Jon. But as the search for the teenagers becomes a race against time, the greatest danger to them both could be the feelings they refuse to acknowledge.

I've read and enjoyed Keri's Riley Jenson series so I thought I'd give this one a go as well as it sounded interesting. And I really enjoyed it!! It's very different from her Riley books, not nearly as sassy and far, far less sex (which personally, I find a bonus cause there was too much sex in the early Riley books for my tastes). It's got a grimmer feel to it and a constant foreboding that had me hooked from the start. I loved the two main characters, Jon and Maddie, their differences and the chemistry between them. The book is written in third person, from both of their points of view, meaning we get a chance to really get to know both better which I enjoyed.

Plot wise it's very good as well. It's not the fastest plot, but it's certainly engaging and hard to put down. I really liked the world building, with the different paranormal aspects and how they fit in to the story. I liked the growth of the story, how it unfolded as it went on. At the start things happened quite suddenly and I had a couple minor WTH?! moments. But it quickly smoothed out and became a really great read. To be honest, this is, in many ways, more to my tastes than the Riley Jenson series, which I do love as well. I loved the ending. Very intense and while it answered a lot of questions, it didn't wrap things up too neatly leaving nothing to the imagination. It was a very satisfying ending. I know the other two books in the trilogy focus on different people, so I'm curious to see what they're like. But I certainly think the writing and story here are excellent so hopefully they'll be just as good!!