Book Review: Taken By Fire by Sydney Croft

Taken By Fire
Author: Sydney Croft
Series: ACRO, book 6
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN-10: 0385342292
ISBN-13: 978-0385342292
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For more information visit Sydney Croft's website



After watching his friend burn to death, ACRO agent Stryker will do anything to find the woman with the pyrokinetic abilities who murdered him. But when he finally catches up to Phoebe, he discovers that she isn't who she seems. Melanie wants nothing to do with the evil organization ITOR that her sister Phoebe is a part of but thanks to a genetic experiment, both women share the same body. Melanie is often left to deal with the aftermath of Phoebe's violent and some times sexual dealings. When Stryker shows up with a knife in hand, Melanie convinces him that she's also a victim of her sister's cruelty and will do anything to help stop ITOR.

Melanie and Phoebe could not be more different. While Phoebe has the skills to set things on fire and thoroughly enjoys doing so, Melanie is capable of making ice and dreams of being able to fall in love. Stryker wants to hate Melanie because she has the face of Phoebe but it soon becomes obvious to him that she is nothing like her sister. She has an innocence to her that appeals to Stryker and makes him want to protect her, even from his fellow ACRO agents who want revenge for their fallen comrade. Part of what made me really like this pairing was how difficult it was for them. They have everything working against them but they take on each obstacle together and give everything they have to make their relationship work. What's the other part that had me liking their relationship? The sex. It's hot, up against the wall and sometimes involving interestingly shaped icicles sex. Aside from the physical part of the act, when they were intimate together there was a passion that would build each time and become more intense as their relationship progressed.

ACRO and ITOR are both secret military type organizations where the agents have different types of psychic abilities. The difference between the two agencies is that ACRO looks to help humanity while ITOR sales its services to the highest bidder. In Taken By Fire, the final installment in the ACRO series, ITOR has devised a plan to violently take over the world and ACRO and the information they can extract from Melanie about their enemy is all that is standing in its way.

All my favorites from the previous books are back for the final chapter. Annika and Creed are about to have a baby and Creed is worried about a deadly prediction his brother Oz made some time before he died. Speaking of Oz, who was also the lover of ACRO leader Dev, he steps in when Dev's new relationship with Gabe is in jeopardy right before his spirit completely crosses over. Both relationships have been dear to me since their beginnings and the authors really toyed with my emotions with uncertainty and possible deaths. Though I would have liked there to be a little more page time for each relationship, I was satisfied with how things ended.

Taken By Fire is everything you'd want a finale of a series to be. The final battle between ACRO and ITOR is everything that it was built up to be and Melanie and Stryker join a fantastic array of relationships after a emotionally and physically painful road. With a decent amount of action mixed in with complicated romance and a lot of steamy sex, Taken By Fire ended up being my favorite book of this series. If you haven't already picked up the ACRO books, I suggest starting at the beginning. There are a couple book in the middle that were less than stellar but overall this was a fast paced, action and smut packed series that I highly enjoyed reading.
My Rating: