Fever Paperback – March 1, 2012

I *really* wanted to like this book. I love the Renegades books (written as Skye Jordan), and this seemed right up my alley. I held off buying it for awhile because of the high ebook price tag, but I just wanted to read it SO BADLY.It was okay. There were just so many things about it that I didn't like. I get that Taz was supposed to be supremely unlikable. I got he was racist right away, I didn't need to go through 1/4 of the book listening to his crude racism every time he opened his mouth. There were a hundred other ways she could have pulled that off without using every insult and racial slur ever created.And honestly, now that I'm finished with the book, I still don't see what use he played in the story.My next complaint was the main couple. Again, I really wanted to like Alyssa. She was smart and feisty, and I was all for her fighting for all she was worth. My problem with her was the million times I wanted to scream at her to STOP MAKING THINGS WORSE. I know pushing was a huge character trait of hers, and endearing to Teague, but it just became grating. I think the main reason it bothered me was while she had every reason to be freaked out and terrified, especially of the psycho Taz, other than Teague was an escaped convict, we never really saw him as scary. I can't exactly claim she was TSTL, but it felt like Swan deliberately put her in situations where she could make the situation as difficult as possible for everyone.Which is my major issue with the story, I think. Instead of building the physical and emotional connection between Teague and Alyssa, Swan kept vital information from not just the reader, but between characters, giving them nothing to trust each other on or reasons to really like or respect each other. At every possible moment, Alyssa was trying to escape and get Teague arrested again, and Teague spent more time getting them out of the situations her rashness got them in, when that time could have been spent doing something else to build the relationship.I loved that Teague appreciated Alyssa's pushiness. And I liked that once she decided to trust him, she threw herself in his corner, determined to help him whether he wanted her to or not--but then as soon as her brother showed up, she went back to questioning Teague, until she had proof he wasn't using her.As much as I hate to hear (as an author) that the story had so much potential, I wanted more from this story. I wanted more romance and less the characters pain-in-the-ass bad decision making.

Fever was an edgy, gritty romantic suspense that took me by surprise in a good way. Alyssa is a tough as nails doctor who gets kidnapped right at the start of the book from the hospital where she works by a man she assumes is part of the Aryan Brotherhood (he has prison tattoos, etc.). Teague Creek is not a soft or sweet hero. In the beginning he rubbed me the wrong way a little and it was because he was so closed off and well, edgy. He almost crossed the line from bad boy edgy to something darker, but luckily he never did. However, his darker personality and the way he acted was in line with someone who had been in a rough prison for three years and once I finished I was glad the author painted him the way she did. It was very realistic that he would have had to join a gang in prison for protection. Sad, but realistic.Teague is a man on a mission and he had to kidnap Alyssa to complete it. He was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit and he's determined to make a clean escape, find his daughter, and escape to Mexico. Nothing goes as he planned and that starts with his kidnapping the wrong woman (he doesn't realize it at the time, but Alyssa does and she wisely keeps her mouth shut because she thinks that's the only thing keeping her alive at the time). Alyssa was a very tough heroine who realized she was in a bad situation and fought with everything she had to get out of it. I only wish she'd been a little more developed (I wanted to know more about her relationship with her family).SIDE NOTE: I should definitely mention that in the first three chapters there are a few racial slurs that took me by surprise. Then, in chapter 4 and 5, there are more than a handful of slurs. They didn't come from the hero or heroine, but from a disgusting villain (who eventually got what he deserved) and some gang members, but if this is something that will bother you, I recommend not reading this romance. Even though some of the language made me really uncomfortable, I appreciate that the author didn't take the easy way out and showed a racist exactly how he was: as a disgusting monster.Overall this was an action-packed, non-stop ride of suspense and danger. Nothing about this book was `easy', especially Alyssa and Teague's relationship. They bickered, flirted and outright argued with each other sometimes and the sexual tension (after about chapter 6) jumped off the pages. I'm a huge fan of romantic suspense and paranormal elements so combine the two and I'm probably going to be happy. (Think something along the lines of old school romances like Dream Man by Linda Howard). There was an extra thread of paranormal elements in this book that tied into the conspiracy theory of why Teague had been framed for murder and sent to jail. He gained sort of super healing/fire powers five years before in a warehouse explosion and it's all part of why he ended up in jail. Overall the combination of the two genres was very well done and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author.