Quick Review: Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz

Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz is book one of the Dreamlight Trilogy, part of the Arcane Society series. This particular series (The Dreamlight Trilogy) contains three books, one written by each of the author’s three pseudonyms: Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, and Jayne Castle.

Fired Up bookcover

Fired Up
Dreamlight Trilogy Book 1

Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz (Paperback)
Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz (Hardcover)
Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz (Kindle)
Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz (Other ebook formats)

Fired Up has an interesting set of characters that trace back to the time of Sylvester Jones, the creator of the Founder’s Formula, and it focuses on the Winter’s Curse.

Book Description

Book one of the Dreamlight trilogy.

More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsessionfueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Driven to control their psychic abilities, each man’s decision has reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations.

Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts-just the beginning, he believes-of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can’t do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the gift to read the lamp’s dreamlight.

Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but their sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both. Danger surrounds them, and it doesn’t take long for Chloe to pick up the trail of the missing lamp. And as they draw closer to the lamp, the raw power that dwells within it threatens to sweep them into a hurricane of psychic force.

You’ll probably need to read some of the earlier Arcane Society books, since I’m noticing a trend toward less stand-alone books. Or maybe it’s just that so much has happened now that it’s impossible to get it all out in current books without ruining the flow. The good news is that this might be true of the contemporary set novels (published under author name Jayne Ann Krentz), but less so for the historical set novels (by Amanda Quick), and not at all for the paranormal futuristics (written by Jayne Castle).

For Fired Up, though, much of the backstory is vague and I believe it wouldn’t be easy to follow unless you’ve read the previous contemporary novels in the Arcane series.

I’ve read them all, so it’s no problem for me. Since they’re all pretty good books, and some are excellent, I suggest that you just go out and read them all. These are hardcover releases, so any public library is likely to have copies of all these books, with the possible exception of the Jayne Castle books (released in paperback), which is the situation at my local library.

Story Heaven